Real Business

What's going on in Europe and what should businesspeople be doing about it? The City Grump takes a piercing look at a political charade.

With apologies to Lewis Carroll, an adaptation of his classic tale featuring an all-star cast including David Cameron and Angela Merkel.

Topics: Finance

A: They both have similar levels of staff turnover. No wonder we can't get any sense out of the Treasury when it comes to policies on SMEs, pasties or anything else.

Topics: Finance

Following on from the Telegraph's exposé about banks mis-selling to SMEs, the FSA has agreed to listen to business owners. Hurrah?

The most recent edition of the Sunday Telegraph looks to have unearthed a particularly nasty form of mis-selling to SMEs. Will the FSA act or will it reconfirm some commentators’ label as the "Fundamentally Supine Authority”?

Topics: Finance

“No FT, no comment” was the simple but effective slogan of our best known British financial journal a while back. Is this still the case?

Why the days of megabuck-payouts are drawing to a close.

Topics: Finance | Management & HR

The government has asked Legal & General CEO Tim Breedon to look into how non-bank sources of debt finance can be developed. You might as well ask: "Which type of poison would you like to kill you?"

Topics: Finance

Despite a doubling of its order book, Christmas and the New Year is not proving a happy time for British bus maker Optare as banks and the government turn their backs on it.

Topics: Finance

From quantitative easing and the FSA to News International and the Royal wedding, our City Grump columnist reviews the smoke and mirrors of 2011.

Topics: Finance

David Cameron needs to step away from the glossy magazine pages, go and see Margaret Thatcher, and take a leaf from the Iron Lady's book of leadership.

Topics: Finance

Josiah Wedgwood and Steve Jobs revolutionised their respective industries. Three centuries apart, here's what you can learn from them.

Topics: Sales & Marketing

When economic strategies look mad, they usually are.

George Osborne's proposals for a "credit easing" scheme for small businesses, announced at the Conservative Party conference, is a PR triumph – but not much else.

Topics: Finance

The war being waged by politicians and bankers to combat 40 years of profligate overspending by western governments and households is seeing us subjected to an endless procession of lies, disinformation and cover-ups.

Topics: Finance