On this morning’s Today Programme Alistair Darling came as close as I reckon he’ll ever come to setting out his stance on guaranteeing bank deposits. He said: “What we do in relation to that will differ from institution to institution…what I will do is in every single case and every single instance…I have been very
This is the best financial advice I’ve heard all week: If you had purchased £1000 of Northern Rock shares one year ago it would now be worth £4.95. With HBOS, earlier this week your £1000 would have been worth £16.50, £1000 invested in XL Leisure would now be worth less than £5, but if you
I just got some stats about how many homes bought in the last year would have been covered by the stamp duty suspension were it to have come in 12 months ago. I’m surprised by the number frankly – no doubt I’ve spent too much time in London where a place for £175,000 is something
Harriet Harman is about to let the spectre of positive discrimination out of the bag. The Equality Bill before parliament today gives employers the right to choose an ethnic minority candidate or female candidate over another a white male, specifically because they are an ethnic minority or female. This is a mistake. A company should
It’s the big vote on the Planning Bill today. As seems to be the way of things at the moment, the Government has made last minute changes to placate angry back benchers threatening a bit of laldy, as they say in Scotland. The most controversial part of the Bill is the creation of an Independent
Alistair Darling’s stubborn refusal to accept the economic statistics in front of him is getting a bit silly. Now anyone can prove something with stats – two out of three people know that – but Mr Darling’s insistence that the UK economy will grow by up to 2.25% in 2008 in the face of what
