Any other business
Why the British Steel crisis is not about Brexit
There’s a strong sense of déjà vu in this week’s steel crisis. The whole Brexit saga seems to have been…
Metro Bank was the wrong model for its place and time
This column has long been a fan of the concept of ‘challenger banks’ offering alternatives for personal and small business…
Let’s face it, we’d steal China’s secrets if we could
On the matter of whether former defence secretary Gavin Williamson was the real ‘H’ in Line of Duty, I admit…
Why women make better senior bankers than men
If you’re a bloke in a suit who’d like to apply for the governorship of the Bank of England (deadline…
We need an inquiry into the Elizabeth Line farce
If you know my personal history with Barclays, you may be wondering whether I’m for or against Edward Bramson. To…
Why passengers won’t mourn the passing of Virgin trains
‘Virgin trains could be gone from the UK in November,’ blogged Sir Richard Branson from his billionaire hideaway after the…
Germany’s economy is crashing – but its fall may help save us
This is no time for schadenfreude — but take comfort from the fact that the UK isn’t built like Germany.…
UK business investment has nosedived – what’s to blame?
Business investment in the UK declined in all four quarters of 2018 to complete a year-on-year dive of 2.4 per cent,…
The real winner from Brexodus won’t be Frankfurt, Paris or Dublin
How big is Brexodus — the flight of business and people from the City of London in parallel with our…
Merging two unhappy companies is a recipe for disaster
It never works to take two unhappy companies and blend them into a bigger pile of misery. That’s the way…
What shares would a post-Brexit ‘Optimist Fund’ include?
The nation certainly needs optimism this week, so what better moment to start building our ‘UK Optimist Fund’ of shares…
Don’t hate housebuilders who profited from Help to Buy. It wasn’t their fault
Was Help to Buy a timely market intervention with a valid social purpose or a political gimmick that unintentionally showered…
What’s the worst line of business you could be in, if we’re heading for no deal?
What’s the very worst line of business you could be in, if we’re heading for a no-deal Brexit? Not finance,…
The UK car industry is reversing back to the 1970s
When I wrote a fortnight ago, in the context of Nissan’s decision not to build its new X-Trail model at…
![John Maynard Keynes [GETTY IMAGES]](https://www.spectator.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/GettyImages_3296722.jpg?w=410&h=275&crop=1)
What would Keynes make of a looming no-deal Brexit?
‘It is seldom wise to sacrifice a present evil for a doubtful advantage in the future,’ wrote John Maynard Keynes…
The Nissan move shows Britain is losing its competitive edge
Has ‘Jay’ Powell gone wobbly, or does he know something we don’t? That was the question being asked after the…
The super rich aren’t all bad – some even pay their taxes
Paying tax — which many of us have been doing this week before HMRC’s 31 January deadline — is a…
Nobody who’s anybody was at Davos this year. Here’s why
Nobody who’s anybody is in Davos this week and, as usual, neither am I. World leaders from Donald Trump to…
An energy crisis is looming – but ministers are distracted by Brexit
Transfixed as you were by Westminster chaos, did you also spot the news that Hitachi is about to cancel or…
Why Macron is happy to leave Renault’s chief shivering in his Tokyo cell
In France after New Year, the only gilets jaunes I spotted were a rather dejected bunch near an autoroute exit.…
A seven-year winter or a pleasant 2019? Your guess is as good as mine
A friend reminds me that she sold her house last summer because I warned her 18 months ago that Brexit…
All I want for Christmas is a City time machine
Are smartphones fuelling a pandemic of youthful anxiety and depression? That’s the question parents will wrestle with this Christmas as…
Who’s really to blame for the Crossrail fiasco?
There’s been a strong sense of pre-Christmas turkeys coming home to roost in this week’s news, as stories I’ve written…
How a betting business saved Stoke-on-Trent
I wrote last week of my fear that we’ll never ‘take back control of our fish’, as Brexiteers ardently wish,…
Nissan’s Carlos Ghosn was a tall nail. But was he really a bent one?
The arrest of Carlos Ghosn and the move to oust him as chairman of Nissan in Japan has stunned the…
