This week’s blogs: rescue me

This week's blogs: rescue me

This week's bloggers ponder which businesses should be rescued before the recession hits

The government is making it clear that ‘fairness’ is the agenda which should
drive the way we all deal with the consequences of the recession and how we get
out of it. Business secretary Peter Mandelson is also thinking about which
strategic firms need to be saved.

As a consequence, we believe that Lord Mandelson now needs to take centre
stage and deliver an industry rescue statement to take emergency action before
the recession bites too deeply.

He needs to commit the government to taking immediate action on how any
administrations, administrative receiverships or liquidations actually take
place to ensure that first priority is given to employees of a business instead
of the business’ bank.

David Bailey is professor of economic policy and
international business, University of Birmingham, and John Clancy

blogs.birminghampost.net/business

Anyone who has tried to see live music in the last few years will have
noticed how tough it has become to secure tickets for concerts. Events seem to
sell out in a matter of minutes (hours for less popular bands) ­ even when
tickets are £100 a pop. Gig-going has become a national pastime.

But the credit crunch is taking its toll here too. As one promoter told The
Guardian: ‘It’s getting harder to sell tickets. Bands that tour regularly are
finding it harder. People are seeing bands maybe once [during the life of] a
record, whereas they used to see them a couple of times.’

And it gets worse. Complaining that a recent show by teenage ‘heartthrobs’
McFly hadn’t sold out, manager Matthew Fletcher told the paper: ‘We put our
tickets on sale just as the economy was slowing down, our album came out the
week Lehman Bros were going under, and we couldn’t have had an album and tour on
sale at a worse time.’

I never had investment bankers down as McFly’s core audience.

Damian Wild is editor in chief and publisher of
Accountancy Age

accountancymatters.accountancyage.com/

Larry Elliott said in The Guardian that the lessons of the financial crisis
are instructive. Almost every piece of advice rammed down the throats of poor
countries by the Washington consensus ­ privatise, liberalise, de-regulate ­ is
now being turned on its head in the west.

He’s right. But as he also notes the IMF are still applying the Washington
consensus prescription in the developing world. This has to stop now. It has
failed.

Richard Murphy of Tax Research UK
taxresearch.org.uk/blog

Share

Subscribe to get your daily business insights

Resources & Whitepapers

Why Professional Services Firms Should Ditch Folders and Embrace Metadata
Professional Services

Why Professional Services Firms Should Ditch Folders and Embrace Metadata

3y

Why Professional Services Firms Should Ditch Folde...

In the past decade, the professional services industry has transformed significantly. Digital disruptions, increased competition, and changing market ...

View resource
2 Vital keys to Remaining Competitive for Professional Services Firms

2 Vital keys to Remaining Competitive for Professional Services Firms

3y

2 Vital keys to Remaining Competitive for Professi...

In recent months, professional services firms are facing more pressure than ever to deliver value to clients. Often, clients look at the firms own inf...

View resource
Turn Accounts Payable into a value-engine
Accounting Firms

Turn Accounts Payable into a value-engine

3y

Turn Accounts Payable into a value-engine

In a world of instant results and automated workloads, the potential for AP to drive insights and transform results is enormous. But, if you’re still ...

View resource
Digital Links: A guide to MTD in 2021
Making Tax Digital

Digital Links: A guide to MTD in 2021

3y

Digital Links: A guide to MTD in 2021

The first phase of Making Tax Digital (MTD) saw the requirement for the digital submission of the VAT Return using compliant software. That’s now behi...

View resource