Faisal Islam has left Channel 4 News. This is an archive of his blogs.
As the Bank of England Governor warns UK banks to build up their reserves the eurozone catastrophe talk is ratcheting up in the countdown to the European Council next Friday. Economics Editor Faisal Islam reports.
There’s an already existing meltdown affecting everyone in Britain. The Institute for Fiscal Studies have outlined the scale of the squeeze British people face. And it’s incredible in whatever currency.
Here’s ten questions that arise for the Chancellor from the fiscal horror show that is the OBR document.
…the OBR’s advice will be the most unwelcome since Thomas Becket’s to Henry II, writes Economics Editor Faisal Islam.
So from a chopper above the Thames I see a nation that used to build the world’s infrastructure that now wants the world to build ours. Infrastructure spending not by our government, but from abroad — from state guaranteed companies – from the Arab world and China paying for Britain’s infrastructure.
Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg is expected to announce £1bn, opportunities for 500,000 18-24-year-olds, and funding for work placements, apprenticeships and work experience to fend off the scourge of youth unemployment.
It’s rare that the government serves up a truly astonishing statistic. But the latest affordable housing stats certainly qualify, writes Economics Editor Faisal Islam.
Yet another housing initiative is announced, but will it make up for the 260,000 planned homes that have been pulled by councils? Marrying local planning with the free market is a risk for the UK’s housing market.
On Monday, David Cameron will announce a significant housing scheme including some sort of mortgage indemnity scheme for new build homes. There are many many questions about such a well-intentioned scheme designed to help rebuild the broken lower rungs of Britain’s housing market.
When David Cameron travels to Berlin to meet Chancellor Merkel, top of the agenda will be coaxing the European Central Bank in Frankfurt to act as last resort lender to the Eurozone’s troubled nations reports Economics Editor Faisal Islam.
It has been pretty clear that these figures reflect existing weakness, not a crisis that exploded in July/August.
There has been over the past three years a tremendous amount of guff written about the financial crisis being the end of capitalism. While I can see the attraction, in communications terms, of indulging the idea that these events form part of an epic transformative narrative, unfortunately it is completely untrue.
German politicians, reared on the cult of low debt and low inflation, fear that the European Central Bank is losing its Bundesbank DNA, blogs Faisal Islam.
Democracy is from the Greek “Demos Kratos”. People power. So what of Technocracy? Technos Kratos. Robot power? Well they weren’t invented then. But Technos means method, art or skill. And so, today we bear witness to the rise of the technocrats. Please feel free to play this whilst reading this blog, click here to listen.…
If the world is reluctant to contribute to the euro bailout to save Greece, how on earth can the Eurozone hope to save Italy? Economics editor Faisal Islam reports.