Outsourcing Failure – new report on why councils are bringing millions of pounds worth of services back in-house- insourcing is now the way for local authorities to cut costs and improve quality
Posted on 29th May 2019 Leave a Comment
It appears that councils are finally realising that outsourcing is not the grail of service delivery. Private sector involvement does not always mean lower costs and higher quality.
Outsourcing leads to fragmented service delivery. Bringing delivery in-house means councils regain control.
Initially, back in the 1980s private sector involvement did being cost reduction, but this is not found to be the case anymore.
Councils across the UK will need to rethink their delivery model. Private sector is warned, changes are coming.
UK’s economic outlook is bleak as the boost from Brexit stockpiling will unwind
Posted on 28th May 2019 Leave a Comment
Brexit has induced uncertainty into the UK economy. Stockpiling may have help improve recent economic growth, but this will unwind. Furthermore, data shows the economy suffers from underemployment and limited growth in salaries, leaving little room for higher consumer spending.
For the good news…there is nothing on offer Andrew Sentance and David Blanchflower.
Brexit sees London fall behind New York as top financial hub
Posted on 28th May 2019 Leave a Comment
Ongoing Brexit uncertainty is harming Britain. A large industry pool shows New York overtaking London as the foremost global financial hob. Other European cities are also catching up in the ranking.
https://news.sky.com/story/brexit-sees-london-fall-behind-new-york-as-top-financial-hub-11729892
Britain regrets Brexit: European election results show a solid majority for Remain
Posted on 28th May 2019 Leave a Comment
The conclusion from the European Elections is fairly clear. There is no majority for Brexit. The result increases uncertainty in terms of the direction the U.K. takes. Will government push ahead?
Virgin Trains takes government to court over West Coast route
Posted on 25th May 2019 Leave a Comment
More trouble for the Government, and not for the first time with Virgin Trains. U.K. rail franchising is a troublesome business for Government. Based on past evidence, one may expect Virgin to come out well on this one.
Brexit No deal fear – CBI comes out strongly against risk of no deal
Posted on 25th May 2019 Leave a Comment
The CBI is getting becoming very concerned about the direction of Brexit. With recently political developments, a U.K. no-deal exit from the EU is more likely. The CBI – opposite the majority of the ruling Conservative Government- thinks it would put the future vision of an all-island economy in peril.
Comfort for all number crunchers – Even the Office for National Statistics gets it wrong sometimes…
Posted on 24th May 2019 Leave a Comment
Article says that Britain’s statistics agency miscalculated April inflation data published, understating the true rate of price growth, after using incorrect petrol and diesel prices.
Railcar economics are as complex as the movement of freight…in the US there are over 1.6mn rail freight cars, but more than 0.9mn are not in use on any given day…
Posted on 23rd May 2019 Leave a Comment
Interesting article that highlights how complex the economics of rail freight is – and although margins are high and operations complex, it is clear that better scheduling – improving computer software – could lead to less redundancy.
http://www.freightwaves.com/news/economics-of-railcars-are-complex
More Brexit uncertainty – Theresa May shelves her Brexit Withdrawal bill…heading to ‘no deal’?
Posted on 23rd May 2019 Leave a Comment
Britain faces more uncertainty over Brexit – the Withdrawal bill agreed with the EU is shelved. There is no direction, apart from the so-called no deal option now. This will not help busiensses and investors.
British Steel has been placed into compulsory liquidation, putting up to 25,000 jobs at risk
Posted on 23rd May 2019 Leave a Comment
U.K. government has a serious problem on its hands but no time to address it as all attention is elsewhere.
State Aid rules may be an issue, but how can a government be the promoter of private market while thinking tax payers should bail out private companies?
However, one could also wonder if some people embraced the false promises Brexit offered when they should have listen to other voices?
The whole story shows a fundamental problem with PE investors and misaligned of incentives. Should more be done from a political perspective?
https://news.sky.com/story/british-steel-insolvency-plan-places-thousands-of-jobs-at-risk-11726024
