Shire Pharmaceutics, a FTSE100 firm worth GBP5.5bn, is to relist its head office offshore for tax reasons. Global firms (as Shire now is) can report profits anywhere – and Shire will move to Jersey and pay tax in Ireland (where corporation tax is 12.5% for trading income, not 28%). It is a move explicitly “designed
Can things get any worse for Gordon Brown? With the news this morning that a minister is threatening to quit, our Dear Leader needs something to change. And quick. On that front, he seems to be pinning his hopes on a cabinet reshuffle this summer. According to the Telegraph, those due a promotion include Jim
I’m talking about kidneys of course. Over to Alex Tabarrok: Only one country in the world has eliminated the shortage of transplant kidneys. Only one country in the world has legalized financial payments to kidney donors. That country is Iran. In an important report, transplant surgeon Benjamin Hippen argues that the Iranian system has saved
Astonishingly, this story seems to be true: THE railway station bar, once a classic venue for romantic encounters, has fallen victim to the health and safety police. When Michael Leventhal, a London publisher, wanted to impress his date on her birthday, the longest champagne bar in Europe seemed to be the perfect setting. So Leventhal,
Charles Crawford, formerly Our Man in Warsaw, Sarajevo and Belgrade, thinks we should have told the Saudis to hop off and let the BAE corruption trial proceed. Not because anti-corruption investigations are good in themselves but because it would have been a demonstration of toughness. In the longer term, then, the national interest would have
You don’t have to be an Anglican or even especially religious to think that this Oxford Evensong set to jazz is very cool. Beautiful. (You can listen to it again for the next five days by clicking on “Choral Evensong” at the link.)
You might not be permitted to dance at the Jefferson Memorial in Washington, but London’s Liverpool Street Station is definitely flashmob-friendly. The world’s first-ever RickMob gathered there on Saturday… Groovy, baby: According to the BBC: A British Transport Police spokeswoman said: “We monitored the incident. There were no problems, no arrests. They did what they
Tomorrow’s Times splashes on the news that Digby Jones will resign before the next election as he is not prepared to say that he supports Gordon Brown during an election campaign. The Times reports that the former CBI head made the remark at a private event at the end of January. Brown must wish that
George Osborne had a bit of a rough ride on Channel Four news at 7pm and the Labour Party has gleefully sent around a transcript. Jon Snow put to him that “the IMF says that our growth is going to be 1.6%, not only this year but next year as well, and that outstrips any
Still undecided on who you’d have as London mayor? If so, this nifty “Who should I vote for?” quiz that Sky have put together should help you decide. It asks questions on a policy-by-policy basis, and then picks your man for you. Simplicity itself. Any surprising results for CoffeeHousers? Do tell…
So – in an effort to save taxpayers’ money – David Miliband is to permanently vacate his lavish official residence. Over at Three Line Whip, Con Coughlin is disappointed by the move, thinking it will undermine the stature of the Foreign Secretary – “Foreign visitors expect to be received in some style when they come to London”. David Hughes counters by
A first for British politics – standing room only in a speech about economics. George Osborne was at Policy Exchange laying out his “alternative view” and, as he went, ticking many of the boxes I had for him. The first half of his speech was a punchy critique of Gordon Brown, pointing out times where
As Centre Right reveal, today’s Evening Standard records a cut poll lead for Boris. Their latest YouGov poll has Our Man on 45 percent (down 4 on the last poll); Livingstone on 39 percent (up 3); and Paddick on 12 percent (up 2). Things look rosier when second preferences are allocated – Boris lands 54 percent of
It is a modern ritual that when a party political leader’s fortunes plummet – and Gordon Brown’s certainly fit that category – there is talk of a leadership contest and, specifically, of a “stalking horse” candidate. Here’s an entertaining look in Slate at the origins of the phrase. But, for most of us, the words trigger
Here are some posts made over the weekend: Matthew d’Ancona thinks Gordon Brown is his own worst enemy. Fraser Nelson charts Brown’s reign of error. Peter Hoskin tracks the growing sentiment that our Prime Minister won’t make it to the next election. And James Forsyth stresses the importance of May 1 to the Government, and
Every day now brings another set of bad headlines for Gordon Brown. Today, there’s that dire poll in the FT–which Pete mentioned, the news that a cabinet minster told Nick Robinson that “the danger we face is that we are just too damaged to recover”, and a whole slew of columns laying into the Prime
Difficult not to make comparisons between any number of world leaders and the image of a trapped but powerful figure lashing out in impotent rage, bellowing incomprehensibly, half man, half beast, viewed with a combination of terror and pity. Whether you agree or not, I’d recommend catching John Tomlinson in the title role of Harrison
George Osborne couldn’t have hoped for a better background to his speech at Policy Exchange today than this FT poll. It finds that some 68 percent of UK voters don’t have any confidence in the Government’s ability to deal with recent economic difficulties. The FT also polled voters from other leading economies – such as
Did you know that you can be arrested for dancing at the Jefferson Memorial? Julian Sanchez explains. Megan also leaps into the fray. Almost no-one writes sensibly about house prices. Thankfully Chris Dillow is a bird of rare common sense. Norm remembers Botham at Brisbane. Happy days. If Clinton could be the “first black President”
This blog is, I just realised, one year old today. Jings, who’d have thunk it? Anyway, thanks to all those who linked and, of course, to all who have visited and read and left comments and all the rest of it.