Monthly Archives: November 2009

This morning’s financial news is dominated by fears that the state-owned Dubai World is about to default on its debt repayments. And guess which bank has the largest exposure to Dubai World? Of course, that’ll be good old Royal Bank of Scotland, underwritten … Continue reading →

Most commentators are decidedly underwhelmed by the recommendations of the Walker Review. Most of the attention has been focussed on bankers’ pay and, specifically, the decision not to force banks to publish the names of staff being paid over £1 million … Continue reading →

Labour’s slight revival in the opinion polls has the newspapers discussing the possibility of a hung parliament.  As Andrew Rawnsley says, a hung parliament would reflect the public mood: People are sick of Labour but reluctant to swallow the Tories. That points to … Continue reading →

Here’s an interesting and rather disturbing story. Earlier this year the recruitment firm Hays was accused of racism after three employees claimed they were subjected to abuse by colleagues and managers.  The employment tribunal started this week and the accusations were repeated … Continue reading →

The news that October’s budget deficit was the highest since 1993 had all the Labour-hating newspapers jumping up and down with barely concealed glee. The suggestion that this is all Gordon Brown’s fault is being relentlessly pushed by his enemies. He … Continue reading →

I haven’t had time to write anything about the blustering from bankers and their cheerleaders in response to the government’s plans to regulate City bonuses. Read Alex McGarry’s piece in the Spoof instead. It’s along the lines of what I was going to say, … Continue reading →

Another week another story about bankers’ bonuses. When I heard the headline this morning about how the government plans to give the FSA powers to strip bankers of their bonuses I wondered how the hell it was going to work. Surely, I … Continue reading →

Barclays and HSBC posted upbeat results today and the question everyone wants to know is, “Does this mean the recession is over?” No, stuff that! The question everyone really wants to know is whether or not they will be paying bonuses, … Continue reading →

With a little nudge from Brussels, the government has decided to break up the state backed mega-banks into smaller retail banks, a bit like the ones we used to have in the olden days. These are going to be Boring … Continue reading →