Author: julianhjessop

Bank of England tees up rate cuts – at last

The Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) left its key interest rate on hold at 5¼% this week, as expected, but there are some clear signals that cuts are coming soon. For a start, Dave Ramsden (Deputy Governor for Markets and Banking) joined Swati Dhingra in voting for an immediate reduction to 5%. This … Continue reading Bank of England tees up rate cuts – at last

Six ways Britain can fix its looming retirement crisis

Larry Fink, head of the global investment giant Blackrock, devoted a fair chunk of his latest ‘Chairman’s Letter’ to the challenges posed by an ageing population. As he put it, “America needs an organized, high-level effort to ensure that future generations can live out their final years with dignity”. These challenges are much the same … Continue reading Six ways Britain can fix its looming retirement crisis

The libertarian case for Brexit – restated

Back in January the IEA published a blog post by Emmanuel Comte with the title “Why Brexit was a mistake, from a libertarian perspective”. I believe this judgement is wrong – or at best, premature – but the libertarian case for Brexit does often need restating. Dr Comte, a Senior Research Fellow at the Hellenic … Continue reading The libertarian case for Brexit – restated

Bank of England edges towards a summer rate cut

The Monetary Policy Committee’s decision to leave interest rates on hold at 5.25% this week was unsurprising, but there were some welcome hints that cuts are coming soon. The market reaction was consistent with the slight dovish tilt: 2-5 year government bond yields fell about 5 basis points (these correlate closely with the cost of … Continue reading Bank of England edges towards a summer rate cut