Barclays
The tragic misfortune of Mike Lynch
Twice I met the tech tycoon Mike Lynch (missing, feared dead, as we went to press), once a decade or…
The case for keeping business taxes low
Why should business pay tax at all? That’s a provocative but forlorn question to ask in Budget week. Business pays…
Britain’s economic fate doesn’t depend on Heathrow
Hit-and-miss, heavy-handed, but a necessary use of justice to deter repetition. That was my summing-up, last year, of the Serious…
Coronavirus is a chance to buy cheaper – but it comes with a health warning
If anything, stock markets have been slow to respond to the spreading coronavirus outbreak. Stories of Chinese supply interruptions, from…
Facebook’s new currency is not to be trusted
Friends of former Barclays chief executive John Varley — I don’t mean ‘people who speak to the media on his…
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…
History will judge UK ministers harshly for the Irish backstop
We may or may not hear news soon of a settlement of the Irish border issue that will allow Brexit…
So farewell Toys ‘R’ Us, the predator that became the prey
I remember the arrival of Toys ‘R’ Us in Britain, because as a young banker in 1984 I was tasked…
Running a bank’s tough. That’s no reason to start handing capital back
A mixed bag of annual results from the big banks. RBS, still 73 per cent owned by the taxpayer, recorded…
Investors were right to sell Carillion shares when they spotted trouble ahead
The fallout from Carillion’s bankruptcy spreads in slow motion — just as the outsourcing and construction giant’s finances gradually stretched…
Portrait of the Week: Oxfam faces losing funding as crisis grows over abuse claims
Home The Charity Commission said it would hold a statutory inquiry into a scandal in which Oxfam staff paid for…
Could the Serious Fraud Office put an end to Barclays as we know it?
The Serious Fraud Office has upped the stakes in the case of the controversial $3 billion Qatari financing that saved…
The truth about Brexit? One professor’s guess is no better than another’s
Removing all trade and tariff barriers as part of a hard Brexit would generate ‘a £135 billion annual boost to…
The death of investment banking as we know it? Bring it on
Oh woe. Investment bank profits are evaporating after a disastrous contraction of trading revenues reflecting zero-to-negative interest rates, weak commodity…
An object lesson in PR from David Cameron and Justin Welby
I don’t think there is a Royal College of Public Relations, but if there were, it should teach a course…
Portrait of the week
Home An official analysis by the Cabinet Office said that if Britain left the EU it would lead to a…
Sell the London Stock Exchange if you must. But not to Frankfurt!
The London Stock Exchange is no longer the red-hot crucible it once was, given the multifarious ways by which shares,…
France can’t build its own new nuclear power stations, let alone ours
Amid all the turmoil in global energy markets, we should not lose sight of the UK power programme that we’re…
After the Black Friday flop, shops can get back to what they do best
The high street flopperoo that was ‘Black Friday’ may have something to do with terrorism fears, or even the downturn…
The spectre haunting George Osborne
Rather more attention was paid last week to the strange position of George Osborne’s feet than to the dark shape…
Some good came out of the negotiating chamber this week, but it concerned Iran rather than Greece
As an occasional lecturer on the abstruse topic of the efficacy of sanctions in conflict resolution, I find myself much…
Which behaved worse: callous Thomas Cook or cynical Barclays?
Which is worse, morally and reputationally — to be Thomas Cook, shamed by its refusal to show proper human concern,…
Watch out: Standard Chartered is even trickier to manage than credit default swaps
One day you’re an elder statesman, chairing top committees and pontificating on Question Time, and the next you’re out in…
Santander’s secret: to conquer the world, stay like a small-town bank
Four years ago, I wrote that I knew no dark rumours about Santander, the rising force in UK high street…
Rona Fairhead will be good for the BBC – but who was so keen to nobble her rival?
Hats off to Rona Fairhead, the former Financial Times executive who will succeed Lord Patten as chairman of the BBC…
