Sharon White appointed as chief executive of Ofcom
Senior Treasury official will become first black woman to lead media industry regulator when she replaces Ed Richards in March• Sharon White – from Leyton schoolgirl to Ofcom leaderOfcom has appointed...
View ArticleGeorge Osborne welcomes fall in inflation – video
The chancellor, George Osborne, says Tuesday's inflation figures show the government's economic policies are working. Inflation has fallen to a 12-year low of 1%, according to the Office for National...
View ArticleGeorge Osborne’s five reasons to be cheerful
The growth in UK wages is a welcome arrival for a chancellor desperates to create a feelgood factor for the general electionGeorge Osborne is calling Wednesday’s wage growth figures a “major moment” in...
View ArticleGovernment to resume sell-off of its stake in Lloyds Banking Group
Announcement takes City by surprise and could reduce shareholding to 20% in run-up to electionThe government is to resume the sell-off of its stake in Lloyds Banking Group over the next six months,...
View ArticleGeorge Osborne questioned by MPs about the autumn statement - as it happened
Rolling coverage of all the day’s political developments as they happen, including David Cameron and Ed Miliband at PMQs, and George Osborne being questioned by the Treasury committee about the autumn...
View ArticleThe Guardian view on Conservative cuts and public opinion: polls apart |...
David Cameron and George Osborne are going where Margaret Thatcher feared to tread on cuts. A new Guardian/ICM survey suggests the voters are getting decidedly nervousThe more it dazzles on the day,...
View ArticleDeficit mania and balanced budgets are a political fraud | Seumas Milne
George Osborne’s cuts-without-end plan has backfired, but the political class is in thrall to economic nonsenseIn Westminster and medialand George Osborne has a reputation as a master political...
View ArticleDavid Cameron’s Christmas is becoming a turkey
The economy was meant to be his gift from Santa, and Cameron wasn’t happy the grinch opposite him had just unwrapped itIt’s easy to fall prey to compassion fatigue at Christmas. You know how it is....
View ArticleBank of England committee remains divided over interest rate rise
Minutes from December meeting show two members voting again for increase, saying dip in inflation has clouded Bank’s viewThe Bank of England’s interest rate setting committee was split in December when...
View ArticleRoyal Mail sell-off undervalued firm by £180m, report finds
Review concludes that company could have been sold for up to 30p more a share, but it involved considerable riskThe government could have made £180m more from the £2bn sale of Royal Mail last year but...
View ArticleThe Guardian view on Britain’s broken council tax | Editorial
It once promised local control, public benefit from property wealth and protection for the poor. Today Britain’s council tax fails on all three countsBy factoring out inflation, and then factoring in...
View ArticleWhy Russia’s financial crises keep on coming
Until Putin faces up to the country’s economic challenges and invests in a modern manufacturing sector, low oil prices will always tip it into turbulence, recession and crisisVladimir Putin had his Jim...
View ArticlePutting a value on volunteering in the age of austerity
Individuals should be encouraged to volunteer because of the personal benefits, while businesses stand to benefit from a more skilled, productive and better-motivated workforce, writes Larry...
View Article‘We need permanent revolution’: Thomas Piketty, 2014’s most influential thinker
The French economist, whose book on inequality became a bestseller, tells Owen Jones about his extraordinary year – including his sudden rise to stardom and his battles to defends his ideasFor a man...
View ArticleIs George Osborne a closet Keynesian?
No matter how much a politician advocates short-term pain for long-term benefits, voters will stomach only a certain amount of suffering, writes Robert SkidelskyThere is a growing apprehension among...
View ArticleUK’s current account deficit is worrying – and Osborne has no strategy to fix it
The chancellor has pledged to cut the budget deficit, but lacks a plan for dealing with Britain’s other deficit now at 6% of GDPThe deficit. For the past five years George Osborne has talked about...
View ArticleBlows for Osborne as growth revised down and current account deficit soars
ONS says UK economy did less well than initially thought, reducing annual growth rate to third quarter from 3% to 2.6%George Osborne’s hopes of using a strengthening economy as the springboard for...
View ArticleThe economics quiz of 2014
Are you savvy about secular stagnation? Familiar with financial repression? Well versed in Wonga? Find out with the brainiest economics quiz of the year ... Continue reading...
View ArticleRight-of-centre ideology has lost us the war in Afghanistan and much more...
The ignominious retreat from Afghanistan is emblematic of a wider malaise that is afflicting Britain todayIt is part of Britain’s national self-image that we win wars. The army may be smaller than it...
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