Spear's Salon
Strong Opinion from our Stable of Star Turns
Stephen Hill
Stephen Hill is a businessman who has been published on classical economics and on European philology and philosophy.
Britain Wins Gold... In The Double-Dip
Britain is winning the race into the double-dip as our exports fall and production and GDP falter for the second quarter running, and the trend is downwards
Mario Draghi's Bazooka Was a Misfire
The problem for Draghi is that the Germans have all the money in Europe and so call all the shots, and they are not keen to pay for Nick the Greek and his ilk to lie on their lilos on the beach all day
How to Really Save the Euro?
The ECB tries to pretend it is saving the euro by buying more PIGS bonds of questionable value and recoverability
Stop blaming financial crises on the City of London!
What drove the Americans was the opportunity to build bulge-bracket banks in London beyond the control of the US’s 1933 Glass-Steagall Act that forbade such groupings
Break Up Bust Banks
The obvious solution is for the markets to step in and put Barclays out of its self-inflicted misery, before the politicians make their next false move
Barclays' Board Bazooka'd
When King bazooka’d the Barclays boardroom, however, he also knocked out the government’s Vickers tank parked on his regulatory lawn
Bonkers, Bunkers and Bankers
Today, the presidency of the dysfunctional EU has passed to Cyprus. Who? What? You’re kidding? No, you’re bonkers!
Only a Fool Would Try to Save the Euro
Have you noticed how anyone who supports the euro or thinks it’s the answer to anything inevitably ends up to be seen as an errant fool?
Never Mind the Elections, Greece Is Bust
The Greek elections are almost irrelevant as soon as they are over: Greece is bust, whether it is inside or outside the eurozone
Spanish Bailout Risks Fanning the Flames
It is impossible to imagine a bigger balls-up than the Spanish banking fiasco and the EU’s attempts to sort it out
Unbillable Hours
Our specialists solve your HNW problems (gratis!)
Q
In this new anti-tax-avoidance era, when so many tax reliefs have been withdrawn, I've heard that investing in a Business Property Renovation Allowance scheme is one of the few remaining good opportunities for maxing your tax position. Is it true that you can get up to 100 per cent tax relief on the amount invested? And what exactly are these schemes? How do they work? What are the upsides? Downsides?
A
In this climate, it is a relief to see one potentially attractive tax allowance come through unscathed from recent criticism
Spear's Wire
- STEP: Switzerland introducing law to confiscate dictators' funds
- NYT: JP Morgan fined £3m for wealth management failings
- The Woolwich Attack Must Not be Used as an Excuse to Restrict Civil Liberties
- Breaking: Withers, Speechly Bircham abandon merger
- Harry Potter raises £150,000 in auction of first editions annotated by authors
Links to blogs we like
Dealbreaker
Guardian Datablog
Madame Arcati
Long or Short Capital
Econbrowser
The Wealth Report
Real Time Economics
Intelligence Squared
Iain Dale's Diary
Guido Fawkes
Huffington Post
ITA Wealth Management
The Lesperance Letter

