i Newspaper
 
TheIPaper
The Independent around the web
E-break Time
Independent Crossword

Jeremy Warner: Stubbornly high inflation poses challenge for Bank

Outlook Is it good or bad news that inflation is proving so resilient? The good news is that the deflationary threat, which only a few months ago seemed as if it might plunge the world into a second Great Depression, is now receding fast. The downturn is slowing and may even be reversing.

Jeremy Warner: Europe's banks still need plenty of medication

Outlook: Economic recovery is being hampered by lack of confidence in the eurozone banking system

Jeremy Warner: Banking crisis may end up costing taxpayers nothing

Everyone wants better public services, but we've reached a point of disillusionment in the Government's ability to deliver them

Jeremy Warner: Has anything really changed in banking as Barclays exits BGI?

Outlook: Would Barclays be disposing of Barclays Global Investors (BGI) at all, let alone at this stage in the cycle, were it not for the banking crisis and the need to raise more capital? Probably not, John Varley, the Barclays chief executive, admits candidly.

Jeremy Warner: Rising bond yields point the way to economic recovery

Outlook Government bond yields around the world are soaring as inflationary expectations rise and debt management agencies struggle to fund record peacetime fiscal deficits. Both in the US and the UK, 10-year yields are back above 4 per cent, a level not seen since October last year. This is a complete reversal of the situation of just three months ago, when to many it looked as if the world was about to be engulfed by deflation and a second Great Depression.

Jeremy Warner: West Bromwich saved for the nation?

Outlook West Bromwich Building Society seems to have won a reprieve. By persuading holders of £182.5m of subordinated loans to convert their debt into instruments that would qualify as core tier 1 capital, West Bromwich hopes to avoid enforced merger with someone else, or the even more unpalatable end of falling victim to the Government's shiny new special resolution regime, the fate that befell its sister building society up in Dunfermline.

Jeremy Warner: Recession may be over but not the pain

Outlook All of a sudden, the green shoots of economic spring seem all around us. Some of them may even be turning into smallish shrubs, if not quite yet fully grown bushes. According to estimates published last night by the National Institute of Economic and Social Research, which is second to none in the accuracy of its forecasts for the UK economy, March marked the trough of the recession, with the economy actually growing in April and May.

Jeremy Warner: Bank needs true outsiders on financial stability

Outlook Nobody is going to disagree too much with the four directors appointed yesterday from the Court of the Bank of England to the newly created Financial Stability Committee. Roger Carr, Sir David Lees, Mark Tucker, and Harrison Young all no doubt make worthy guardians of banking stability.

Jeremy Warner: Sky in the spotlight as Setanta teeters

Outlook Ofcom's efforts to force BSkyB to make its sport and other premium content available to rival pay TV providers on a wholesale basis have been so long drawn out that whatever the eventual outcome, it will come too late to save Setanta, the sports broadcaster which is threatening to collapse into administration under a mountain of unpaid bills. Setanta stopped taking new subscriptions yesterday. Not that there were many anyway, but it would seem to be the beginning of the end.

Jeremy Warner: Horlick applies the due diligence to herself

Outlook Well there's a thing. The mystery bidder for Bramdean Alternatives turns out to be none other than Nicola Horlick herself, the "super-mum" who already manages the fund.

Jeremy Warner: C&G pays the price for Lloyds banking merger

Outlook So farewell then Cheltenham & Gloucester, whose high street brand dates back to the mid-19th century but, like so much else, is now falling victim to the relentless march of "progress" – in this case the cost-cutting integration of Lloyds TSB with Halifax Bank of Scotland.

Jeremy Warner: Tories must engage in Europe to defend the City

Outlook: The supposed government-in-waiting seems not properly to recognise the dangers

Jeremy Warner: Taxpayer gets £2.3bn payback from Lloyds

Outlook: Once confidence goes, there is almost no amount of capital that can guarantee a bank's safety

Jeremy Warner: Best not to count on those green shoots

The case for a double-dip recession is all too easy to make
iJobs Job Widget
iJobs Money & Business

Finance Business Analyst - Banking - £500pd

£500 per day: Orgtel: A top tier banking client urgently requires Finance Busi...

Senior Finance Project Manager

£425 - £550 per day: Orgtel: Senior Finance Project Manager - £550 - Bristol -...

KYC ANALYST

£150 - £250 per day: Orgtel: KYC Analyst - London - Banking - £150-250/day C...

Finance Governance Manager - Banking - £500pd

£500 per day: Orgtel: A top tier banking client urgently requires Finance Gove...

Day In a Page

'There is a battle going on inside us that is never discussed'

Masculinity in crisis?

'There is a battle going on inside us that is never discussed'
Have US shock jocks gone too far?

Have US shock jocks gone too far?

An incendiary remark from Rush Limbaugh may be the beginning of the end for outspoken right-wing US broadcasters
The ‘Beverly Hills’ of Surrey pays more income tax than big cities of the North

The ‘Beverly Hills’ of Surrey

Elmbridge pays more income tax than big cities of the North
Heavenly Bodies

Heavenly Bodies

Michael Landy's artistic marriage made in heaven... and hell
'He will always be a friend': Jackie Stewart backs Polanski

'He will always be a friend'

Jackie Stewart backs Roman Polanski
The price of pacifism: Refusing to go to war is finally being recognised as a brave act

The price of pacifism

From the Second World War refusenik to the 19-year-old Israeli, Holly Williams talks to five people who risked shame and suffering to take a stand as conscientious objector.
'It was mass hysteria': Jason Isaacs on groupies, theatre bores and snogging James Bond

Jason Isaacs: Groupies, theatre bores and James Bond

To millions, Jason Isaacs is one of Harry Potter's arch enemies – but his wife prefers him as a Scottish TV detective.
Notes from a small island: Is Sealand an independent 'micronation' or an illegal fortress?

Sealand: 'Micronation' or illegal fortress?

Thomas Hodgkinson spent a week at the tiny platform off the Suffolk coast to find out.
Not a bad bone: Mark Hix cooks with cutlets and ribs

Mark Hix cooks with cutlets and ribs

If you ignore cutlets and ribs, you'll risk missing out on some delicious and easy meals, says our chef.
The experts' guide to summer: From getting fit for the beach to recreating that Olympic buzz

The experts' guide to summer

From getting fit for the beach to recreating that Olympic buzz
Sex, drugs and fast cars: The legend of James Hunt has set Hollywood hearts racing

Legend of James Hunt has set Hollywood hearts racing

Early glimpses of Ron Howard's film Rush suggest it will portray Hunt as a high-living lothario, with an insatiable appetite for partying.
Macklemore: 'I don't have moderation when using drugs and alcohol. It was hurting my life'

Macklemore: 'I don't have moderation'

The next Vanilla Ice or the next Eminem? Macklemore doesn't have a record contract – but he does have the UK's biggest-selling single of the year.
Don't be shy: Bill Granger's Sri Lankan recipes

Don't be shy: Bill Granger's Sri Lankan recipes

Sri Lankan cuisine is light, sunny, wonderfully spiced – and so easy to cook from scratch. Just as soon as you've broken into the coconut, that is.
Sir James Dyson’s latest project: Cleaning up hospitals

Sir James Dyson’s latest project: Cleaning up hospitals

Doctors are hailing the revamp of a Bath neonatal unit, where babies sleep more and feed better, as the model for patient care
One man returns to Argentina's town that drowned

One man returns to Argentina's town that drowned

Epecuen was submerged under 10 metres of water in 1985. Now the floods have gone – and 83-year-old Pablo Novak has moved back in