Yesterday I spoke at a Fabian Society seminar on Trust and the City. My basic argument was that our interactions with financial markets, like all meaningful relationships, have to be built on trust. more »

The chancellor delivered his budget yesterday against an un-envious background. The whole world is in recession, trade has fallen off a cliff and all countries are facing the dilemma of fiscal stimulus v balanced budgets. In those circumstances yesterday's budget got the balance right. more »

We know now the causes of the financial crisis – excessive risk taking by banks encouraged by an incentive structure that was short-term and asymmetric (rewarding high returns but not clawing back if things went wrong) more »