The UK economy is in recession. The ONS’s confirmation that we are technically in recession managed to be both important and perhaps the most meaningless piece of news of this year. Often with a recession there is a ‘will we or won’t we moment’ as GDP figures are closely watched to see if the economy … Read more
March of the tech titans: Compared to newcomers like Just Eat, the Silicon Valley giants don’t look overvalued at all, says ALEX BRUMMER By Alex Brummer for the Daily Mail Published: 21:50 BST, 12 August 2020 | Updated: 22:18 BST, 12 August 2020 The biggest winners from the pandemic have proved to be companies with … Read more
Frasers Group forced to delay results AGAIN: Retailer, formerly known as Sports Direct, claims it needs more time to complete its accounts By Tom Witherow For The Daily Mail Published: 21:56 BST, 12 August 2020 | Updated: 22:17 BST, 12 August 2020 Accounting blunder: Frasers Group chief executive Mike Ashley Investors in Mike Ashley’s Frasers … Read more
ALEX BRUMMER: Yet more spending will be necessary to tackle the Covid-19 growth and jobs catastrophe By Alex Brummer for the Daily Mail Published: 22:01 BST, 11 August 2020 | Updated: 22:50 BST, 11 August 2020 Disentangling the latest jobless figures is a nightmare. But it goes without saying that, as furlough is phased out … Read more
At the beginning of this crisis I wrote, ‘If banks fail us now, they will never be forgiven.’ We bailed them out in 2008. It was their turn to save us. Yet nearly five months on, there are queues lining the streets because branch hours have been slashed, customers are being refused help at the … Read more
ALEX BRUMMER: Pledge to keep Arm in the UK in doubt as Softbank tries to offload smart chip pioneer to Nvidia By Alex Brummer for the Daily Mail Published: 21:50 BST, 10 August 2020 | Updated: 21:50 BST, 10 August 2020 Business Secretary Alok Sharma and the City referee the Takeover Panel need to keep … Read more
The Bank of England says on Thursday that this will be the deepest dip in the economy for a hundred years. Then on Friday, the Halifax reports that house prices hit an all-time record in July. It is certainly a strange juxtaposition – so what’s going on? The UK is not alone in this contrast … Read more
Rishi Sunak has that rare quality among politicians of sounding as though he means what he says. Using the jargon, he comes across as authentic and his enthusiasm makes him immensely likable. Even his nickname, Dishi Rishi, is complimentary rather than derogatory. Again, rare for a politician. Tough call: Chancellor Rishi Sunak admits there is hardship ahead … Read more
Maybe it will come as a huge relief to learn that the Bank of England is no longer forecasting the worst downturn in 300 years and only the biggest for a century but then again maybe not. Doomy historical comparisons are one way of illustrating the scale of the crisis. But our economy, from Amazon … Read more
Statistics on the economy are, to most people, just a remote and abstract jumble of numbers – right until the moment they are the one to have lost their job. It happened to my father in the 1980s and it is happening to hundreds of thousands of people right now. Yet there seems to be … Read more