Business Comment

Stephen King: Prosperity is a matter of timing

I am about to be grossly unfair because, for the purposes of this article, I am going to assume that Labour loses the general election on 6 May. This, I stress, is not a prediction but, instead, a way to allow me to offer some economic comparisons.

Inside Business Comment

Small talk: Lighter regulation on main market creates uncertainty for Aim

Monday, 12 April 2010

To coin a phrase now used by just about the boss of every company, large or small, in recent months as the economy has emerged from the recession, we are "cautiously optimistic" about the prospects for Aim for the rest of the year.

Margareta Pagano: How the Tories' NI plans play at the Dog & Whistle

Sunday, 11 April 2010

Labour's 1 per cent rise is seen as a tax on jobs

Chris Watling: So which leader is right about the economy, the Keynesian or his rival?

Sunday, 11 April 2010

Economic View

Stephen Foley: Crisis inquiry will not find smoking gun

Saturday, 10 April 2010

US Outlook: The chairman of the US commission of inquiry into the financial crisis complains that $8m is far too little money for an investigation of this size and scope. He's right – but thank goodness he wasn't given any more. On the evidence of the past few days, it is clear that $8m is going down the drain.

Stephen Foley: It's time to fight for net neutrality

Saturday, 10 April 2010

US Outlook: This hasn't been the best week for those of us who think that internet users should be guaranteed equal access to the information superhighway. The principle of net neutrality means no "fast lanes" for corporations, who want to pay more so that their video content can be allowed to overtake that of smaller bloggers and start-up companies. It also means that internet service providers cannot throttle heavy users, as the US cable firm Comcast did when it throttled some customers who were using BitTorrent to share music and video.

David Prosser: BA and Iberia still face turbulence

Friday, 9 April 2010

Outlook Let us hope this is not a taste of what is to come from a merged British Airways and Iberia. When the agreement between the two finally touched down yesterday it was more than a week late, with the airlines having originally set 31 March as the deadline for signing the deal.

Sean O'Grady: Bailout or not, the Greek crisis will last until her economy is fixed

Friday, 9 April 2010

Economic Life: There is nothing to stop a state in a single currency zone from defaulting. Look at New York City in 1975

David Prosser: Charity begins at home

Friday, 9 April 2010

Outlook Here Is an idea for Alistair Darling, or his successor. So anxious is the National Bank of Greece, the country's largest bank, about the parlous state of the public finances that it has launched an appeal to patriots. The bank now operates a "Solidarity Account", into which members of the public can make deposits to help pay off Greece's debts (those members of the public who aren't on their knees thanks to the Greeks' austerity measures).

David Prosser: Car makers helped to stay on the road

Friday, 9 April 2010

Outlook Farewell scrappage, which ended last week and helped to produce a 27 per cent increase in car sales during March, according to data yesterday. Almost half of that rise was down to the scheme: without scrappage, sales growth in February would have been only 14 per cent.

David Prosser: Balancing riches with relevance

Thursday, 8 April 2010

Outlook What does Lord Mandelson think about the pay of Bart Becht, the chief executive of Reckitt Benckiser, who took home benefits worth a little over £90m last year? In the good old days of new Labour, the business secretary famously pronounced the party "intensely relaxed about people getting filthy rich" (though the second half of the quote – "as long as they pay their taxes" – is often forgotten). A decade or so on, however, Lord Mandelson seems a little more uptight about boardroom largesse, laying into Barclays Bank's Bob Diamond at the weekend for his earnings.

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