Author Archives: Rick

Corporate purpose: a new dawn or a defensive ruse?

Posted on 15 January, 2021 by Rick

Is the corporate zeitgeist changing? After 30 years of shareholder primacy and focus on shareholder value, the language seems to have shifted. In what may be a sign of the times, the FT has started a Moral Money Forum, focusing … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 3 Comments

Brexit bureaucracy – it’s not a bug, it’s a feature

Posted on 12 January, 2021 by Rick

After four years during which Brexit dominated UK news, it still seems to have taken British businesses by surprise. As evidence of the disruption mounts, business groups are calling on the government to ‘do something’ to sort out the mess. … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 24 Comments

The outcry over LTNs is not a culture war – it’s more serious than that

Posted on 17 December, 2020 by Rick

We knew the latter half of 2020 would see arguments about Brexit, lockdown restrictions, masks and the US election. What we didn’t foresee was that, in many places, the row of the summer and autumn would be about Low Traffic … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 21 Comments

The almost-but-not-quite recovery

Posted on 1 December, 2020 by Rick

The latest forecast for the UK economy from the Office for Budget Responsibility shows an almost-but-not-quite recovery. It starts off v-shaped with a rapid bounceback, then becomes tick-shaped as the recovery slows. The tick has a long tail and, over … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 5 Comments

The recovery won’t be V-shaped

Posted on 13 October, 2020 by Rick

Last week’s GDP figures showed the depth of the economic contraction during the lockdown and the extent of the bounceback afterwards. The decline was unprecedented but so was the subsequent growth. This is what happens when you switch the economy … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 7 Comments

The end of the furlough and the new social divide

Posted on 18 September, 2020 by Rick

“It’s begun,” said Resolution Foundation chief executive Torsten Bell, as the increase in unemployment fed through into the labour market statistics for the first time. He also reminded employers that there were 45 days to go until the end of … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 6 Comments

Britain’s reputation trashed for the sake of a three word slogan

Posted on 14 September, 2020 by Rick

Theresa May was horrified by the idea of a trade border between Great Britain and Northern Ireland.  “No United Kingdom prime minister could ever agree to it,” she said. No sovereign state, least of all one that still claimed world … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 41 Comments

Why Conservatives love the culture war

Posted on 1 July, 2020 by Rick

I bet Dominic Cummings did a little happy dance when someone scrawled graffiti on the Cenotaph during a Black Lives Matter protest. He probably opened a bottle when the Archbishop of Canterbury announced a review of statues in churches. These are … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 16 Comments

This recession could be long and deep

Posted on 20 May, 2020 by Rick

If, like me, you have spent some of your lockdown time catching up with stuff you recorded earlier in the year, you will have experienced that strange sense of watching something from a bygone age. The adverts, in particular, feel … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 6 Comments

Don’t make the self-employed the punchbag of the next recession

Posted on 22 March, 2020 by Rick

Two months ago, few people had heard of Rishi Sunak. He is now about to go down in history as the most interventionist peacetime chancellor. His plan to pay 80 percent of the wages of employees kept on by their … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | 15 Comments