Faisal Islam has left Channel 4 News. This is an archive of his blogs.
As George Osborne unveils plans to deliver a surplus in the next parliament if the Tories are re-elected, Economics Editor Faisal Islam goes through his numbers to see how and if this can be achieved.
Plush apartments across London are being snapped up by foreign buyers – who choose them off-plan at glitzy events held across Asia. It’s forcing up prices back here – in an already inflated market.
It was quite some shock to hear a political leader announce a “freeze” in energy prices. But is it really a return to old-school socialism?
Britain’s housing system offers only a broken ladder for first-time buyers. But is Labour’s promise to build 200,000 new homes a year by 2020 achievable?
If some statistics that 75 per cent of London’s new build are bought abroad are true, then net housing stock available to ordinary Britons may well be going down not up.
Economics Editor Faisal Islam says the chancellor will claim victory as the economy seems to be showing signs of recovery. But he warns that turning the corner could become a roundabout.
The European Union says all evidence suggests that President Assad was behind the chemical attack in Syria – and that it should be treated as a war crime. But stops shorts of backing military strikes.
Wonga boss Errol Damelin tells Channel 4 News his payday lending firm is benefiting from a “generational shift” away from credit cards and unauthorised overdrafts.
There are two Mark Carneys. There is one struggling to get the barbecue of UK growth prospects up to cooking temperature. And conversely there is one that in 2015/16 might have to put out a raging credit-fuelled inflationary consumer conflagration.
The public sector has been a huge employer in Middlesbrough but now those jobs are disappearing. Has the private sector come forward as the government promised?
Seaside Devon shows starkly how high house prices are pushing down quality of life. We meet local people affected by the squeeze and asks if a housebuilding push can help.
The new Bank of England governor’s pledge to keep interest rates low until unemployment falls is a big innovation – and a signal to the British public to spend, writes Economics Editor Faisal Islam.
Mark Carney tells Channel 4 News the Bank of England has sympathy for suffering savers, as he announces interest rates will be kept at record lows for years to come to help the economic recovery.
Economists are using the word “storming” to describe the UK economy after a survey for the red-hot services sector showed growth levels at their highest since before the credit crunch.
Outgoing Bank of England Governor Sir Mervyn King’s insistence that banks shore up their balance sheets met with widespread resistance – but Barclays is leading the way.