UK News
Insights from the UK and beyond
from MacroScope:
What me, British economist?
Time was when a British education had a cachet, especially among Britain's far-flung colonial territories.
But could the prestige of even a Cambridge or Oxford degree be a little dulled in these parlous days for the British economy, now labouring under massive public debt and a decade-high unemployment rate? 
That appears to be the case in the former British colony of Singapore, whose rapid economic development since independence in 1965 has seen it accumulate hundreds of billions of dollars in reserves and attain a GDP per capita on par with Italy.
The city-state's newest opposition politician Kenneth Jeyaretnam has complained that the Singapore press -- often accused giving more favorable coverage to the ruling party -- has been referring to him as a "British-trained economist".
from MacroScope:
Crisis, what crisis, time again in Britain
Britain's recession, like the downturns in most other places, is being hailed as either having reachえｄ bottom or tailed off in its decline. The latest to trumpet the beginning of the end is the British Chambers of Commerce, which said business orders and sales had continued to fall in the second quarter but at a slower pace than previously.
So does this mean that the Bank of England will soon start raising interest rates from the negligible 0.5 
percent reached last year as policymakers sought to pump liquidity into a failing economy? Not according to researchers Capital Economics, which argues in a new report that market assumptions of higher rates at an early stage are misplaced. They offer three reasons:
What if it’s not the economy, stupid?
Gordon Brown is counting on a swift economic turnaround. It’s probably his Labour Party’s only hope of avoiding a humiliating electoral defeat to the Conservatives next year.
The latest news on the economy has certainly got people in Downing Street smiling. The housing market is stabilising and some commentators are even talking about Britain becoming the first major country to pull out of the recession.
from The Great Debate UK:
Apocalypse Now: A return to high borrowing, high taxes and weak growth
--Gerard Lyons is chief economist at Standard Chartered. Any opinions expressed are his own. --
Britain is clearly a Jekyll and Hyde economy. Or that at least is what the Chancellor would like us to believe. The bad news we are now seeing in the economy, public finances and across parts of the financial sector will not last. We are in the Mr Hyde phase. But, don't worry, we will soon be back to the normal Dr Jekyll soon.
In for a penny, in for £175 billion
It may not be tax and spend exactly, but it’s definitely tax and borrow.
For the best part of 12 years, Labour has pursued essentially conservative (with a small ‘c’) economic policies, steadily underburdening itself of the ‘fiscally unreliable’ tag that some earlier Labour administrations were (wrongly or rightly) saddled with.
And for most of the past 12 years, as the global economy steadily expanded and Britain’s along with it, with aggregate wealth rising smoothly, Labour looked strong at the helm each time the budget came around.
from The Great Debate UK:
Little room for manoeuvre in budget
--Gerard Lyons is chief economist at Standard Chartered. The opinions expressed are his own. Lyons will also blog his post-budget thoughts on The Great Debate.--
The outcome of this financial crisis depends on the economic fundamentals, the policy response and confidence. Chancellor Alistair Darling presents this Budget in an environment where the fundamentals are poor, confidence has been shot to pieces and the credibility of policy and his ability to spend any more is being widely questioned.
Green shoots in the housing market?
House prices have dropped, interest rates are low and plenty of people are straining at the leash to get on the housing ladder.
Now the Nationwide Building Society says house prices have risen for the first time since October 2007.
Snow event?
When in Rome . . .
As I watched the snow fall gently from London skies on Sunday night, I asked an acquaintance if I would have to go to work the next day.
My Canadian “snow radar” — fine-tuned from living in the snowy cities of Toronto, Ottawa and Halifax — was telling me that there wasn’t going to be much accumulation, but given the regular daily London transit delays in fair weather during the rush hour, I had a gleeful feeling a “snow day” might be in store.
How far will central banks go in 2009?
The year 2008 has been filled with unprecedented events and all-time lows, a financial system overhaul and global turmoil. Could the New Year herald positive re-evaluation and a positive turnaround? And in what has been a year of sleepless nights for many, will a nation steeped in debt start to curb excess?
Rate cuts figured high on the news agenda as banks undertook radical measures to stabilise the economy. Within the space of one week, Britain saw the lowest base rate since the mid-1950s, the ECB took its rate to a two-and-a-half year low, the U.S. Federal Reserve aggressively slashed rates and a 175 point reduction was made by Sweden’s central bank.
The key question remains – will governments run out of weapons to boost the economy in 2009?
from The Great Debate UK:
Put your questions to David Cameron
(UPDATED Dec 18 - This post is now closed for questions)
Conservative Party leader David Cameron will be speaking on the economy and the credit crunch at Thomson Reuters' Canary Wharf office on Monday, followed by a question and answer session.
The Tory leader has argued that two main problems face Britain at present – a recession coupled with a record level of government debt, and that the government is trying to tackle one while ignoring the other.
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The Wall
