Banking
Angry, funny, timely
It’s not Paul Murray’s settings or themes — decadent aristocrats, clerical sex abuse, the financial crisis — that mark him…
Farewell to the City’s stroppy regulator: a modest sop for the new bank tax
A City insider at last month’s Mansion House dinner told me the Financial Conduct Authority had become ‘a bit of…
The wrong man
Why Jim O’Neill isn’t fit to run the Northern Powerhouse
Late news: what was really served at the Mansion House banquet
Last week’s deadline did not allow me to report from ringside at the Mansion House dinner, but there was so…
The surfer, the sailor and the horseman: prosperity is all about personal stories
The tectonic plates of economic life rumble and shift. As ever, market watchers are obsessed by big themes — and…
Unequal struggle
Joseph Stiglitz, the left’s favourite economist,on making the free market work
Only the Tories can meet the aspirations of Ikea’s hard-working families
If Ikea were a constituency, it would be a three-way marginal. That was my thought one morning last week as…
Cheap shots and uncosted bribes are drowning out vision, wisdom and optimism
The interesting thing about Labour’s pledge to abolish non-dom tax status — a squib designed to trap Tories into expressing…
Why this long-awaited FTSE100 peak deserves only a small cheer
The FTSE100 index has at last breached 7,000, surpassing its peak of 30 December 1999 and provoking moderate celebration among…
A truly radical review of business rates is worth more than all the Budget spin
Of all the measures talked up ahead of the Budget, the reannouncement of a ‘radical’ review of the business rates…
Something useful for your Budget, George: fast-track approval for challenger banks
In my Yorkshire town of Helmsley the NatWest branch, originally an outpost of Beckett & Co of Leeds, has closed…
Diary
It’ll be a Skype interview, says the producer from Greek television, and not live. In TV-speak that usually means not…
Green must answer for HSBC’s faults — but he’s another victim of big banking’s perils
Stephen Green — the former trade minister Lord Green of Hurstpier-point, who became this week’s political punchbag— was always a…
This time round, the eurozone looks robust enough to get rid of its Greek problem
Ever since European Central Bank president Mario Draghi declared himself ready, in July 2012, ‘to do whatever it takes to…
Will 2015 witness the Triumph of Probity and Prudence? I’m not betting on it
You might recall a column I once wrote about a party at the Wallace Collection. It took place in late…
Thank heavens for Welby!
For decades, interventions of the Archbishop of Canterbury in national debate were like a sporadic bombardment of small pebbles against…
Kilkenny Notebook
‘What is a Minsky moment, anyway?’ asks Gerry Stembridge, an Irish satirist. ‘I’ve been reading about them in the papers…
Italy takes the stress-test booby prize as the old Spanish fox emerges the winner
Continuing last week’s theme, it was the Italian banks — with nine fails, four still requiring capital injections — that…
Stormy October: Germany stumbles, shares fall and bankers take another bashing
October is always a turbulent month, and I’m feeling uneasy about this one. The FTSE100 index, which looked set to…
Will Osborne’s tilt against Double Dutch tax dodgers play into Farage’s hands?
George Osborne’s promise to crack down on multinational companies’ avoidance of UK taxes by the use of impenetrable devices such…