Digital Look

Expert Views

Nationalisation at Christmas
Monday 22 Dec 2008
Given the desperate state of the UK economy, the Government has decided to introduce some exceptional measures and to extend its nationalisation plans.
What a Silly Measure
Monday 15 Dec 2008
The FTSE 100 index is generally a rotten measure of investment success. Over the decades it has been made up of a hotch potch of various companies and sectors which have come and gone as regularly as an estuary tide.
After hating the 8 – watch out for the malign 9
Monday 08 Dec 2008
Beware of consensus – it is often an excuse for complacency. However, when looking at 2009 there seems to be a growing consensus that it’s going to be a year of recession – you may have “hated the 8” but now prepare for the “malign 9”.
Some Chipped China?
Monday 01 Dec 2008
We are by now quite used to those more descriptive Chinese expressions and terminology – they often seem to come with references to wildlife and nature as well as often with a more Confucian style.
Spend Spend Spend – Please!
Wednesday 26 Nov 2008
And so the cry goes up – “tax cuts – give them the money and they will spend our way out of this recession”. Oh the power of popular mantra. With all of the forward thinking of an excited Tigger on speed, the politicians of the world seem wide eyed with excitement in the hope that they have found the answer to economic alchemy and the end to our economic recession.
Blowing the Tanks
Monday 17 Nov 2008
It feels a bit like the scene in that iconic German film “Das Boot” when the submarine commander orders all the tanks to be blown in a vain effort to try and stop the damaged U-boat from sinking.
If you go down to the Woods (Bretton) today you are sure of a big surprise.
Monday 10 Nov 2008
This week the meeting of the “G20” in Washington on the 15th has the opportunity to be an extremely important event.
Who needs Gunpowder?
Monday 03 Nov 2008
In 1605 Guy Fawkes wanted to destroy most of the English establishment and its parliament along with its new Scottish King, James VI, with some good old fashioned gunpowder. Several centuries later Mr Fawkes should have been an investment banker because he could potentially have achieved the same (apart from the Regicide) without the need of a flickering taper in a dark cellar but rather just with the sale of a toxic bond or two.
Halloween Masks
Monday 27 Oct 2008
It's been getting darker - not just because of the UK changes over to Winter timing - but rather because last week was when those in power finally admitted to the inevitable; that we are in for a recession, and probably quite a prolonged one at that.
“Back in the USSA”
Monday 20 Oct 2008
The land of the free and the stalwart of the capitalist system, America stands as the bulwark against socialism and as the advocate of the free economy.
No need to hunt for Red October or Blowing the Dam (and a grossly extended metaphor)
Monday 13 Oct 2008
So will it work? The truthful answer is that it has to. There is no “plan B”.