After the Olympics last year, I found myself in a lot of trouble with readers. I pointed out that the whole thing had come in massively over budget, and that there was no way of …
The trouble with government ‘megaprojects’
Category: Blog
The Dutch tax system: a model for Scotland to follow?
I’m thinking about tax systems. Scotland has a wonderful opportunity to offer real change over the next year or so. It won’t, of course. But if it did want to reform the tax system, for …
The unbeatable tax advantage landlords have over first-time buyers
How do we make houses more affordable for first-time buyers? How about we start by making them less affordable for buy-to-let buyers? A new report suggests that landlords are currently subsidised by the rest of …
Scottish ‘independence’ won’t be real independence. So why bother?
Tomorrow is the SNP’s big day. The party will be unveiling its White Paper, a very long document that it hopes will turn its campaign around. However from what I know of it already I …
An independent Scotland will need to do things better
More on Scottish independence, reasons for and against. I sat on a panel at an independence conference. In the Q&A bit, an audience member said that she found being patronised by the English very offensive …
Higher fees don’t necessarily mean better performance
I wrote in one of my editor’s letters a few weeks ago about an elderly ex-partner of one of the UK’s big investment firms telling me that when he started out, the management fees on …
Ultra-low interest rates are not normal, and not fair
When I was interviewed for the BBC’s Panorama last week, the presenter, Adam Shaw, asked me why interest rates can’t just stay low forever. The answer is because if they do you’ll get inflation. Lots …
Our banks need to be run by real bankers
I think ex-Co-op Bank chief Paul Flowers has just done us all a favour. His behaviour in front of the Treasury Select Committee last week, alongside this weekend’s slightly stunning revelations about his personal life, …
One bet on house prices you really don’t want to take
I’ve written here several times about the UK’s housing bubble. Until quite recently, it was deflating nicely in the north and getting there in real terms at least in the south. Not any more. Prices …
House prices: the government wants them up, you want them down
A month has passed since the second stage of Help to Buy was introduced. You can read more about this in this week’s magazine, or watch the Panorama on the matter tonight (I’m in it, if …