Over the last few days we’ve been presented with rather different perspectives on future directions for financial regulation and the City of London. The forces of conservatism are seeking to reassert themselves, arguing for a limited regulatory response to the manifest and manifold problems already exposed. In Two […]
[Originally posted at Dale&Co, 22/07/12] Last week’s reversal over Lords reform may turn out to be key moment in the life of the Coalition. In retrospect it may appear the point at which it all started to unravel. It was swiftly followed by another Cameron-Clegg relaunch, but that […]
One of the first things Grant Shapps did when he became housing minister was shelve Labour’s plans, developed out of the 2008 Rugg Review, to implement a system of registration for private landlords and letting agents. His view was that the sector faced enough regulation already. He has […]
It is surely not simply the feverish atmosphere that always takes hold as the end of term approaches. The backbench Tory revolt over Lords Reform has genuinely destabilised the Coalition. The party leaders may have been back out on the road in a show of unity. They may […]
[This is the text accompanying my presentation to the 2nd Social Liberal Forum Conference: “Social justice across generations”, King’s College London, 14/07/12. Not all of it was delivered on the day, because of the way the session panned out and because there’s too much of it. My thanks […]
Obviously, in the twenty-first century it would be better to say “statespersonship”. But that’s a bit unwieldy. And it’s not yet a thing. So I hope you’ll let me off. I’ve been reflecting on this issue a lot over the last few days. It was triggered by last […]
Over the last day or so I’ve tweeted and retweeted a few times about Lords Reform. I’ve brought much of this comment together here via Storify.
The audacity of Barclays’ actions in seeking to manipulate LIBOR is not in doubt. The scandal, quite apart from exposing how odious and unethical some of Barclays’ business practices were under Bob Diamond, has exposed profound weaknesses in the microstructures of financial markets. These weaknesses should not come […]
Information on the performance of the private contractors responsible for delivering the Government’s Work Programme is beginning to leak out, seemingly despite the best efforts of the Department for Work and Pensions to keep us all in the dark. And the news is not good. It appears that […]
… as opposed to straight down the line Liberals? This is a question that we perhaps don’t reflect upon as often as we might. Now would seem as good a time as any to do so. In fact, it is an extremely pertinent question at this precise moment. […]
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