Uruguay recently won a landmark case against the tobacco firm Philip Morris International. The company sued the Latin American state after it introduced two measures affecting tobacco packaging: that graphic health warnings cover 80% of cigarette packets, and that tobacco … Continue reading
Being British means that, for most of my life, I have been able to share in that certain level of condescension that we have when it comes to our American cousins. You know the one. The one that sneered at … Continue reading
David Cameron’s recent “Corruption Summit” garnered a great deal of publicity for his alleged battle against international corruption and ‘war’ on aggressive tax avoidance. However, as well as the positive headlines, more astute commentators were at pains to point out … Continue reading
Barack Obama’s visit to Britain, brings with it plenty of chatter about the so-called “special relationship” between the US and the UK. Coming as Britain prepares for a referendum on European Union membership, the visit has already kicked off a … Continue reading
If you rely on the BBC for your diet of news, you probably will not have realised how embarrassingly haphazard and poorly produced the once universally praised BBC News’ output has become in recent years. The slow and painful decline … Continue reading
The Panama Papers leak sheds some light on the intricate ways in which the wealthy can exploit secretive offshore tax regimes. As well as charging minimal or no tax to residents and non-residents, the main characteristics of tax havens are … Continue reading
Anastasia Nesvetailova, City University London Labour party leader Jeremy Corbyn this week unveiled his new team of economic advisers. He hopes they will help build a set of policies capable of countering the narrative of belt-tightening austerity which delivered David … Continue reading
In September, I blogged about the hollow morality of the UK & US refusing to pay hostage ransoms to ISIS because it “rewards” the crime and “puts others lives at risk”. Apart from saving lives, among the key reasons for … Continue reading
The Tory party and their plethora of think tanks drone on and on about institutional BBC bias in favour of left-wing views. It has been an evidence-free complaint for many years but they have now extended it to include the BBC’s … Continue reading
Just last month, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) approved J.R. Simplot’s genetically modified potatoes. The potatoes are made to produce less acrylamide, a suspected carcinogen — and they are the latest in a long line of genetically modified organisms … Continue reading
On 5 December 2014 the US congress approved an “omnibudget” that included provisions drafted by the banking behemoth Citigroup that repealed a key part of the Dodd-Frank Act banking reforms requiring banks to place their high risk derivatives businesses into … Continue reading
The telling sentence in NPR’s report that US attorney general Eric Holder plans to step down once a successor is confirmed came near the end of the story. “Friends and former colleagues say Holder has made no decisions about his … Continue reading
Although we were told that things would be different here, the payday loan industry in the UK has largely followed the unethical business practices of their cousins in the United States. This means extortionate interest rates, swamping late payers with … Continue reading
There are hedge funds operating in every market where underhand amoral spivs can turn a profit. One of the most profitable and (you guessed it) ethically questionable is the market for so-called “distressed assets”. A distressed asset is a security or other … Continue reading
In the securities industry, much of the multi-trillion dollar trading that occurs in the markets remains un- or under regulated. One such under regulated market is the trading of Credit Default Swap‘s, the banking industry’s own weapons of mass destruction. … Continue reading
I Am Incorrigible 