BBC (October 27)
“The impact of Brexit on the UK economy will be worse in the long run compared to the coronavirus pandemic.” According to Richard Hughes, the chairman of the Office for Budget Responsibility, “leaving the EU will reduce the UK’s potential GDP by about 4% in the long term” while the impact of the pandemic is forecast as a 2% contraction of GDP.
Reuters (September 16)
“Australia’s new security pact with the United States and the UK, seen as a move to contain China, may worsen strained ties with its biggest export customer, but China’s insatiable appetite for resources may limit its punitive responses.”
Tags: Australia, China, Contain, Customer, Export, Insatiable, Punitive, Resources, Responses, Security pact, Strained, U.S., UK
The Guardian (April 30)
“It is time for a public inquiry. The coronavirus crisis has been an extraordinary period for the UK, and the toll substantial. More than 127,000 people have died, children have lost years of education, and we have seen the largest drop in GDP since consistent records began more than half a century ago…. While the government has done some things well – the vaccine programme is an undisputed success so far – there are sincere, legitimate questions about many of its other choices.*
Tags: Coronavirus, Crisis, Drop, Education, Extraordinary, GDP, Government, Legitimate, Public inquiry, Questions, UK, Vaccine
Investment Week (April 9)
“JP Morgan chairman and chief executive Jamie Dimon claimed Brexit ‘cannot possibly be a positive’ for the UK in the short term as he warned that the investment bank may one day move all European business out of London.” The bank’s 19,000 UK employees include 12,000 in London.
Tags: Brexit, Dimon, Employees, European, Investment bank, JP Morgan, London, Move, Short term, UK
New York Times (March 21)
“Gig companies have drawn billions in venture capital funding to help underwrite a system that is a race to the bottom for labor protections. But it doesn’t have to be that way.” Britain’s Supreme Court has ruled that Uber must now classify its drivers as workers. “If Uber can sustain its business while granting drivers improved guaranteed benefits and a financial safety net, then surely that model can be replicated elsewhere.” Uber drivers and other Gig workers “deserve the opportunity to make financial headway.”
Tags: Benefits, Drivers, Gig, Labor, Opportunity, Protections, Safety net, Supreme Court, Uber, UK, VC, Workers
Guardian (February 10)
“Across the UK, firms and consumers are discovering costs of Brexit that Mr Johnson denied. That denial was born of a failure to understand the trade-off between regulatory autonomy and market access. The prime minister swapped seamless trade for notional sovereignty and passed the cost on to unsuspecting businesses. Naturally, he wants to blame the EU for any pain. These are not teething troubles in implementation of the deal. They are the deal.”
Tags: Blame, Brexit, Consumers, Costs, Denial, EU, Failure, Firms, Johnson, Market access, Regulatory autonomy, Seamless trade, Sovereignty, Trade-off, UK
New York Times (January 27)
“For months now, wealthy countries have been clearing the world’s shelves of coronavirus vaccines, leaving poorer nations with little hope of exiting the pandemic in 2021. But a fresh skirmish this week has pitted the rich against the rich — Britain versus the European Union — in the scramble for vials, opening a new and unabashedly nationalist competition that could poison relations and set back collective efforts to end the pandemic.”
Tags: Collective efforts, Competition, Coronavirus, EU, Nationalist, Nations, Pandemic, Poison, Poor, Relations, Rich, Skirmish, UK, Vaccines, Wealthy
Economic Times (December 21)
“The United Kingdom has endured in one form or another for hundreds of years but between Brexit and the coronavirus, the country is creaking and some suggest it may be on the verge of breaking up entirely.”
Tags: Breaking up, Brexit, Coronavirus, Creaking, Endured, UK
Reuters (December 13)
“A final Brexit without a trade deal would damage the economies of Europe, send shockwaves through financial markets, snarl borders and sow chaos through the delicate supply chains across Europe and beyond.” British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen agreed to extend talks beyond Sunday. “With a succession of deadlines missed, time is now critically short.”
Tags: Borders Chaos, Brexit, Damage, Europe, Financial markets, Johnson, Leyen, Shockwaves, Supply chains, Trade deal, UK
Financial Times (December 10)
“When the dust settles on the UK’s departure from the EU, few doubt that London will remain a major financial centre for the foreseeable future, as well as by far the largest hub in the European timezone, but there will doubtless be headwinds.”
Tags: Brexit, Departure, Doubt, Dust, EU, Financial centre, Future, Headwinds, Hub, London, Settles, UK
