Business columnists, business comment & analysis

Home Business Columnists

Business class is bad business

ONE of my favourite jokes asks how you make a small fortune from the airline business. Read

Research is best way to invest wisely

THERE is an age-old maxim in the world of financial investment that you should do your own research rather than listen to the opinion of others. Of course, it’s rarely adhered to. After all, when Warren Buffet makes a prediction, who isn’t going to listen to the views of the world’s richest man and most successful investor? Read

Success with Objective One needs to go with innovation

IN MY spare time during the past few months, I have been working with colleagues in Cardiff University to examine the development of innovation through the utilisation of European Structural Funding within the Objective One region West Wales and the Valleys. Read

Housing dilemma – can we learn from England?

THE Confederation of British Industry (CBI) hosted a “Question Time” event with the Chief Secretary to the Treasury, Yvette Cooper, in Bridgend last week. Read

Investors go in search of exotic markets

THE news that inflation has hit 3% led many economists and market watchers to claim that recession has moved out of the credit markets and has now seeped into the “real economy”. Read

Some things won't be caught in slowdown

YOU must know the chain of restaurants that claim, “in here, it’s always Friday”. Read

Gender gap needs new tactics

LAST week, we had a keynote meeting in Cardiff between leading academics and policymakers from across the UK. Read

Worries about care for elderly

A WORRIED client contacted me recently regarding his 87-year-old mother, who was seriously ill and in hospital. It was not expected that she would survive this current ordeal. Read

Imperial Tobacco can scent victory overseas

I CAN’T help but wonder what Winston Churchill would have made of the smoking ban in the UK. Read

Make prison work for the good of us all

THE CBI has published its first ever report this week on an issue which costs the UK £60bn a year. Read

Time to put our small businesses on level footing

DURING the past fortnight, we have seen, quite disappointingly, the failure of the Welsh Assembly Government to put any extra resources into supporting the small business sector in Wales. Read

Money remains touchy subject

WHO do you talk to about your finances? It seems that half of us refuse to take advice from a partner and that the over-50s talk money with adult children rather than bank managers. Read

Weathering the economic storm

THERE are signs that the worst of the credit crunch may have passed, with the gap between interbank lending rates and the base rate narrowing, but the effect of the financial crisis on the wider economy is still unclear. Read

Teaming up will help all

LAST Thursday, I was honoured to be able to attend the Cardiff University Innovation Network annual awards for innovation. Read

The optimistic money goes on Cardiff City

SOMETIMES when the glass is half empty you’ve just got to convince yourself it’s half full. Whilst plucky optimism is not a healthy trait in a trader it occasionally pays to look at things, well, with rose-tinted spectacles. And if there aren’t any of those around, just put on a pair of sunglasses. Read