Sean O’Grady | Independent Blogs

Murdoch’s empire: some predictions

Blogging, even for those of us infrequent contributors, is partly about blowing your own trumpet I suppose. Well, I have to say that some predictions I made about what would happen to Murdoch’s empire last week on Sky News newspaper review were hopelessly wide of the mark – by being too timid.

By Sean O'Grady | Notebook - A selection of Independent views - | Monday, 18 July 2011 at 12:11 pm

11

The High Street: A perfect storm

A much overused phrase, but “perfect storm” pretty much sums up the traumas the High Street is going through right now. As we all know, the last few years and months have seen some famous names disappear, from Woolworths and MFI in the depths of the recession, to Focus DIY, Habitat and Oddbins this year, [...]

By Sean O'Grady | Econoblog | Wednesday, 29 June 2011 at 2:00 pm

14

IMF on the UK

George Osborne will be happy with the IMF’s verdict on the UK, which is pretty supportive of his policy.

By Sean O'Grady | Econoblog | Monday, 6 June 2011 at 1:47 pm

14

How to rebalance our economy

The economists who object to George Osborne’s policy are both right and wrong. Annoying and perhaps inevitable as this is usually the case in matters of practical economics. I appreciate it requires explanation.

By Sean O'Grady | Econoblog | Monday, 6 June 2011 at 11:45 am

5

Do low corporate tax rates reduce revenues but fail to create jobs?

The TUC report out today argues that low corporate tax rates reduce revenues but fail to create jobs. Their argument is that the UK enjoys “an extremely competitive tax rate. More than 90 per cent of UK businesses pay the small business rate of 20 per cent while the effective corporate tax rate for large [...]

By Sean O'Grady | Econoblog | Saturday, 28 May 2011 at 12:00 am

2

Who will lead the IMF?

As caretakers go, the IMF’s acting leader, First Deputy Managing Director John Lipsky is at the top of the janitorial premier league. Were it not for his nationality and the fact that he has declared he wants to stand down from Fund duties since the autumn, he would be a perfectly plausible candidate to take over from Strauss-Kahn permanently. As an American, however, he is by long convention debarred from the top job at the IMF, the usual rule being that an American runs the World Bank (currently Robert Zoellick) and a European gets to be boss of the IMF.

By Sean O'Grady | Econoblog | Monday, 16 May 2011 at 4:52 pm

7

Bank of England’s Inflation Report

I spent this morning at the Bank of England’s Inflation Report press conference. Talk about inflation. Far too much of the time was eaten up by a series of Socratic dialogues between BBC personalities and the Governor. So some of us had no chance to get a word in edgeways, even though we strictly observe the convention that it is supposed to be one query per correspondent, not three or four.

By Sean O'Grady | Econoblog | Wednesday, 11 May 2011 at 1:16 pm

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Sorry, Gordon. You’re not the man for the job

I may be very, very wrong on this, but the vibes I’m picking up in Washington at the IMF’s spring session is not encouraging for Gordon Brown’s bid to become boss of the IMF. Here are some reasons why Mr Brown is not best placed to succeed Dominique Strauss-Kahn

By Sean O'Grady | Econoblog, Notebook - A selection of Independent views - | Monday, 18 April 2011 at 9:46 am

5

Home thoughts from the IMF

I’ve never heard the Chancellor compared to Goldilocks before. Yet here at the IMF Spring Meeting in Washington the Fund’s chief economist, Olivier Blanchard, did just that. Though he did not mention Mr Osborne by name he clearly had him in mind when he advocated “smart fiscal consolidation that is neither too fast, which could kill growth, nor too slow, which would kill credibility”.

By Sean O'Grady | Econoblog | Monday, 11 April 2011 at 8:15 pm

7

Why are we so keen to pay off our mortgages?

To me, much the most interesting piece of news today is the bank of England’s; figures on “housing equity withdrawal”.

By Sean O'Grady | Econoblog | Monday, 4 April 2011 at 1:50 pm

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