Uber – a disruptive technology?
Uber’s arrival in London over the last two years has received a mixed response. By some it has been lauded as a progressive solution to their transport woes. By others it is regarded as an aggressive, and fundamentally unfair, competition for black cabs and has been heavily criticised over its perceived tax avoidance. There were […]
CEO compensation and Jamaican demands for reparations: two sides of the same coin
David Cameron’s visit to Jamaica last week led to vociferous demands for the UK to pay the Caribbean island billions of pounds in reparations for slavery. Most people here reacted with predictable eye-rolls and sighs. Slavery was abolished throughout the British Empire in 1833, nearly two centuries ago. Jamaica has been independent since 1962, over […]
Um Bongo: a spotlight on modern social and economic behaviour
Readers who either had young children or were children themselves in the 1980s will recall the Um Bongo jingle. The advert assured us it was drunk in the Congo. A survey published last week to mark the 60th anniversary of British television advertising showed that no fewer than 32 per cent of the total sample […]
Bridget Rosewell speaks at RGS event: Is London too big to succeed?
Last week leading Economist Bridget Rosewell spoke at the Royal Geographical Society’s 21st Century Challenges event titled ‘London: Too big to succeed?’. Chaired by City Hall Editor for London’s Evening Standard Pippa Crerar; Bridget Rosewell, Lord Adonis and Jules Pipe discussed London’s ever growing economy and population and the toll of this on its infrastructure. […]
How do you deal with someone who thinks the Earth is flat?
Imagine you are relaxing at a bar enjoying a drink after a hard day’s work. The person next to you strikes up a conversation. Initially he seems reasonable. But soon he begins to go on at length about how the Earth is flat and how a misguided cabal of scientists hides this truth from us. […]
The national accounts are the new JK Rowling
A potential candidate for the world’s most boring book is the Office for National Statistics’ National Accounts: Sources and Methods. This book, all 502 pages of it, is currently available in hardback on Amazon for just 1p. It does exactly what it says in the title. It gives a detailed description of how the data […]
Whatever it is, Corbynomics is not mainstream
A group of economists hit the headlines last week with their claim that Jeremy Corbyn’s policies are supported by mainstream economics. Perhaps the best known of them is David Blanchflower, a Monetary Policy Committee member when Gordon Brown was Chancellor. He predicted before the 2010 General Election that under the Conservatives, unemployment would rise from […]
Keynesians are wrong: Cutting public spending can boost economic growth
The key aim of George Osborne’s economic policy has been to eliminate the financial deficit of the public sector. The main way of trying to achieve has been to squeeze public spending. The orthodox economic textbooks maintain that this withdraws demand from the economy, and so leads to the growth rate being slower than it […]
Response to Cecil the Lion’s death is a sad lesson in the irrationality of public opinion
Alas poor Cecil! Close personal friend of mine, sadly dead now. The catchphrases of the Scottish comedian Bob Doolally capture the outpourings of grief among the Twitterati at the death of the now famous lion. The mourning is mixed with incoherent rage, as long-standing opponents of torture and capital punishment demand that the American dentist […]
500 additional FTE jobs and over 1,200 new homes at Cherry Park development
Volterra recently supported Westfield’s application to build a mixed commercial and residential scheme at Cherry Park. The proposed scheme is to the south of Westfield shopping centre in Stratford and adjacent to the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, falling within the London Legacy Development Corporation area (LLDC). The scheme comprises of retail and flexible commercial floorspace […]
