The long-awaited Bribery Act 2010 was today (8th April) given Royal Assent and so has passed into law. The purpose of the new act is to reform the existing criminal law (which dates back over 100 years) and to provide a new, modern and comprehensive scheme of bribery offences that will enable courts and prosecutors [...]
As everyone must now know, Gordon Brown has finally set the date for the General Election for 6th May 2010. After recent months of a “phony war” the electorate finally has its chance to vote on the record of the Labour government in general and of Gordon Brown in particular. But not everyone realises that [...]
We now have official confirmation of what we have all known for months, if not years, the UK General Election will be held on Thursday 6th May. Since he bottled out of an early election following his unopposed “coronation” as Labour leader and thus also Prime Minister, it was clear that Gordon Brown was going [...]
History was made on this day when the London Stock Exchange (LSE) finally, after 200 years, allowed women to enter its premises as employees. One of the ten women in this first intake commented that the Exchange was the “last bastion of misogyny” and that business at the Exchange seemed to be carried out “at [...]
Some 100,000 employees of the state owned British Steel Corporation (BSC) caused the shut down of the company’s furnaces in protest at what they called a “derisory offer” of 6% pay increase from their management. The strike quickly spread to privately owned steelworks. Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher condemned the strike – called by the Iron [...]
For some unknown reason, business owners and managers make things more complicated and complex than they need to. Frankly business is not that complicated. A business exists to make a profit. If it doesn’t then give it up. In order to make a profit a business must offer a product or service that has appeal within a market, it [...]
£130 Million wasted in yet another “quick fix” Labour initiative! Three years ago the Labour government announced that the UK Passport & Identity Service (part of the Home Office) had estimated that 10,000 false passports were issued every year. This was, they said, unacceptable and a new procedure which would see all new applicants face an [...]
The Liberal Democrat Shadow Chancellor has been a stern critic of the Isle of Man, calling us a haven for tax dodgers. He also demanded that the Isle of Man be closed as a ‘tax haven’ and for banks receiving investment from the UK Government to shut offshore operations. Despite that he accepted an invitation [...]
Official figures release today show that there have been massive increases in both personal and business bankruptcies as the credit crunch continues to bite. The lack of working capital, usually provided by bank overdrafts or secured lending together with the problems of obtaining credit insurance have been blamed for a 98% increase in companies going [...]
The UK Labour government has a well earned reputation for timing announcements it knows will be unpopular to coincide with major new stories so that the bad news gets buried. Remember the infamous memo on 9/11 “[today] is a very good day to get out anything we want to bury” sent by Jo Moore, advisor [...]
There has been a sudden upsurge in scam emails purporting to come from PayPal. These look like a receipt for a bogus payment to various named people. If you get one of these then DON’T CLICK ON THE CANCEL LINK – that’s where the phishing bit is!!! The emails have the giveaway salutation “dear Paypal member” rather than your real name, [...]
The Law Society has just published a report entitled Reforming Bribery setting out proposals which it intends should clarify and simplify the existing laws. Anyone in business should be aware that there already are established offences of bribery and corruption on the United Kingdom statutes. International pressure is increasingly being applied to stamp out activities [...]
In his Pre-Budget Statement on Monday Alistair Darling quietly dumped legislation intended to outlaw income splitting arrangements among individuals that would have effectively forced small, family-run businesses to pay more tax. For some years now the Labour government has tried to take action against income splitting arrangements which it considers “unacceptable tax avoidance”. Leaving aside [...]
Today it was announced that two of the major retailers in the UK have gone into insolvent administration. If Woolworths and MFI are in such serious trouble what hope is there for other High Street and out-of-town retailers like Dixons, Currys, Staples, PC World etc? The problem for small businesses and consumers is that [...]
Amid much hype and to no-one’s surprise, yesterday Alistair Darling cut the standard rate of VAT to 15% with effect from the 1 December 2008. The cut is temporary and so on 1st January 2010 the standard rate will return to 17.5%. The 15% rate will apply to the supply of goods and services currently [...]
David Cameron has called for Gordon Brown to cut the red tape surrounding government contracts to allow smaller, newer firms to win business. The Conservative leader says less than one in five contracts from the government goes to small firms and this should be changed as it is responsible for buying goods and services [...]
I enjoy watching Question Time on the BBC each Thursday. It can be amusing and entertaining usually because of the crass stupidity of some of the panellists. I don’t object to politicians and celebrities displaying their ignorance and political bias as at least it helps us make an informed opinion about them, but sometimes they [...]
As of today’s date 24 MPs have signed an Early Day Motion which on the face of it is supportive of small businesses but in actual fact is totally pointless. In fact it could be evidence, if such is needed, that MPs really have no idea of the realities of business life. The motion reads: [...]
For years now the European Union severely limited the ability of national governments to reduce VAT rates – which fact seemed to have escaped Tony Blair who promised cuts during the 1997 General Election though he “found out” later. Good excuse not to keep your manifesto promises eh? However following a meeting earlier this month [...]
Google recently reached an agreement with the Authors Guild and the Association of American Publishers (AAP) under which the firm will pay $125 million to resolve outstanding legal actions against it in relation to its Google Book search service, which offers full-text searching facilities to users. The agreement, reached after two years of negotiations, is subject [...]
