Big losers Construction company Carillion collapsed with debts of £1.5 billion. How does that compare with other UK corporate failures? Overend Gurney & Co, a bank, collapsed in 1866 with £4 million in liabilities (£400 million at today’s prices). Polly Peck failed after a fraud probe with £100 million in debts (£217 million). Barings Bank
For Jeremy Corbyn and his allies, there has been no far-left takeover of the Labour party or its governing National Executive Committee. It’s true that, this week, Corbyn supporters came to control the majority of the NEC, completing their command of the party apparatus. But they see this as getting rid of the last of
Home Carillion, the construction and service-provider with 20,000 employees and many contracts for the public sector, went into liquidation with debts of £1.5 billion, owing 30,000 businesses £1 billion. The government said it would pay employees and small businesses working on Carillion’s public contracts ‘to keep vital public services running rather than to provide a
A beastly business The quote is 1A/92/18D from the poem ‘A Visit from St Nicholas’. The theme was the names of the eight reindeer in the poem. Three were highlighted whilst the others each suggested three unclued lights: Dasher (26, 63 and 83 — sprinters); Comet (12, 48 and 64 — astronomers’ names given to
From ‘The Bolshevik negotiations with Germany’, 19 January 1918: We think that the fact is fairly emerging from the negotiations that the Bolsheviks are not, as some people supposed, the pliable tools or even the agents of Germany, but are idealists genuinely inspired by their mania. Of course, a great deal of harm may be
This piece first appeared as the leading article in this week’s Spectator magazine. It is only a few months since gloomy economic commentators were confidently predicting that the world was about to plunge into a dark era of protectionism. Yet the global economy begins this year in its healthiest state ever, growing faster than any
It is only a few months since gloomy economic commentators were confidently predicting that the world was about to plunge into a dark era of protectionism. Yet the global economy begins this year in its healthiest state ever, growing faster than any time since 2011. There has been a change in political rhetoric, but not
Long lives and pension pots Sir: Jon Moynihan is too optimistic about the prospects for further increasing life expectancy, and too gloomy about those of the pensions industry (‘Falling Short’, 6 January). The wondrous advancements of medical science have offered little to solve the most pervasive problem we now face: declining mental health. It seems unlikely
Many people are gloomy about 2018. But some things are improving every year… Natural disasters These killed 9,066 people in the world in 2017, fewer than any year since 1979. From 2008 to 2017 an average 72,020 died in such disasters. Fifty years earlier (the period 1958-67) the average was 373,453. Life expectancy The current
It is only a few months since gloomy economic commentators were confidently predicting that the world was about to plunge into a dark era of protectionism. Yet the global economy begins this year in its healthiest state ever, growing faster than any time since 2011. There has been a change in political rhetoric, but not
Home Theresa May, the Prime Minister, tried to shuffle her cabinet, but Jeremy Hunt, the Health Secretary, refused to become Business Secretary and stayed put with the words ‘Social Care’ added to his title. Sajid Javid, the Communities Secretary, had ‘Housing’ tacked on to his. Justine Greening spent three hours with Mrs May and emerged
Deployment of a GRABBING CRANE (1D) is required to complete entries at 11, 13, 21 and 23. 1A, 19 and the puzzle’s TITLE (35) are synonyms of GRABBING; 5, 18 and 41 are types of CRANE, which is also the surname of Washington Irving’s character whose first name is ICHABOD (28). First prize John
Theresa May’s reshuffle is underway. Here are the key points so far: Justine Greening has quit the government; Damian Hinds is the new Education Secretary David Gauke becomes the Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice Esther McVey becomes work and pension secretary Karen Bradley is the new Northern Ireland Secretary after James Brokenshire resigns due to ill
Among the many new political maladies of our age, one has been left largely undiagnosed. This is Trump Derangement Syndrome, a condition whereby intense dislike of the 45th president renders sufferers unable to understand what he is trying to do or allow that he is capable of success. Trump is hard to admire, it’s true,
A church for all people Sir: I enjoyed reading Ysenda Maxtone Graham’s account of debates in the Church of England in the interval between our parish mass for Advent 3 and our service of nine lessons and carols (‘Mission impossible?’, 16 December). She asks whether the church is planning ‘a back-door “evangelical takeover”’. The simple
Did that happen? What psychics foresaw for 2017: — ‘Crash in euro, Denmark and Italy leaving the EU; North and South Korea becoming one country as Kim Jong-un is overthrown; a worldwide flu epidemic’ (Craig Hamilton-Parker, ‘psychic who predicted Brexit, Trump and Nice attack’, the Sun, 20 January 2017). — ‘Moon will turn green; two
Among the many new political maladies of our age, one has been left largely undiagnosed. This is Trump Derangement Syndrome, a condition whereby intense dislike of the 45th president renders sufferers unable to understand what he is trying to do or allow that he is capable of success. Trump is hard to admire, it’s true,
Home In a message for the New Year, as though it were an immemorial custom, Theresa May, the Prime Minister, said: ‘Most people just want the government to get on and deliver a good Brexit, and that’s exactly what we are doing.’ It seemed a long time since, just before Christmas, Damian Green had resigned
