BBC News – How one woman can cause economic boom or bust. Sobering thoughts for those economists who think data is the be all and end all of an argument. Sometimes it’s just plain misleading unless you understand a) how it was collected b) what it relates to c) how small some samples are. As
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I’ve been having a courteous debate with Tom Worstall over the last week on the incidence of financial transaction taxes (yes I know it sounds surprising, but it’s also been true).  At the end of it the best Tim could say was: For myself, before we decide to change the taxation system for the globe’s
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Intercity trains upgrade postponed | UK news | guardian.co.uk . It’s claimed that: A £7.5bn contract to replace Britain’s ageing intercity train fleet has been postponed after the government blamed the state of the debt markets and slow growth in passenger numbers for creating uncertainty over the deal. This makes no sense at all. We
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Letters: Despite the mistakes, we need bankers | Business | The Guardian . There’s been an amazing response to the letter of which I was a co-signatory in the Guardian yesterday on banking in the letter’s page of the same paper today. Stuart Fraser, who is chairman of the, policy and resources committee, City of
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No more free lunches. My blog mentor, Dennis Howlett, is moving to a partly paid for approach to blogging. Much of his content will be free. Some value added will be paid for. As he says: That’s taught me a lesson: see, hear, enjoy, consume‚Ķbut think. That doesn’t always make me popular. But then I’m
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FT.com / Currencies – Sterling hit by double-dip recession fears. As the FT notes: The pound dropped to a fresh nine-month low against the dollar on Thursday and also lost ground against the beleaguered euro on fears the UK economy had not escaped from recession in the fourth quarter. Sterling fell to a low of
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MPs act to stop vulture funds using UK courts to pursue poor nations | Business | guardian.co.uk . Vulture funds would be banned from pursuing the world’s poorest countries for debts in the UK courts, under a private member’s bill that has won the backing of the government. MPs will vote on the second reading
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Letters: We need wholesale reform of the banks | Business | The Guardian . From this morning’s Guardian: As Jill Treanor reports (Anger escalates over Royal Bank of Scotland plan to pay £1.3bn bonuses, 25 February), this week’s announcement by the 84% tax-payer-owned bank will be unpalatable to the vast majority of British citizens. The
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FT.com / Companies / Banks – RBS pays more than 100 staff a £1m bonus. The FT notes: Royal Bank of Scotland admitted on Thursday that more than 100 of its investment bankers will take home bonuses of at least £1m for 2009, a year in which the government-owned bank posted a net loss of
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