Gary Gibbon
Few European Union members want Russia to get away with its actions in eastern Ukraine. But the next phase of anti-Russian sanctions would involve EU countries taking a significant hit themselves.
Jon Snow
Offered the chance to bash a banker, Swiss voters have gone most of the way, making Britain seem even more out of step – not only with Europe but also with public opinion.
Jon Snow
Amid the slurry of excessive bonuses and the exploitation of unsuspecting small and medium-sized businesses, the government has had a dramatic change of heart on banking.
It is the Bank of England governor’s piercing assault on bankers that sticks in the mind from today’s important speech in Brighton. He doesnt quite join Occupy the City, but he does suggest that British capitalism’s very legitimacy is up for grabs if bankers go too far on pay.
Jon Snow
As Lord Myners admits that 70 per cent of all share dealing is undertaken by computer systems that allow a trader to hold a share for a nanosecond before selling, Jon Snow asks: is it a good thing to have achieved the socialist ideal of a nationalised RBS bank?
Post-meltdown Mansion House was always going to be a little different from the traditional orgy of self-congratulation, backslapping, and an ever lighter regulatory touch. But in the end the bruising speech came from the governor of the Bank of England rather than the chancellor of the exchequer.