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Talking Shop: Entrepreneur Kennelly an example to us all

Mon, 01 Dec 2008 14:27:16 GMT

Recession or no recession, budding entrepreneurs are still coming up with weird and wonderful ideas and turning them into viable business projects.

The Big Interview: Stephen Moore, Director of Creative Services, AV Browne

Mon, 01 Dec 2008 14:23:20 GMT

How’s business? Great. In the last year we’ve re-structured and re-energised the company. We are a multi-disciplinary creative company and have managed to truly integrate our services.

Separate visions: reform the civil service and slice budget

Mon, 01 Dec 2008 14:08:21 GMT

Irish Finance Minister Brian Lenihan hit two very large nails on the head when he launched the latest initiative to make the public service more efficient and cost-effective.

Get going now ... there’s a major crisis to tackle

Mon, 01 Dec 2008 14:04:54 GMT

The Northern Ireland Executive is preparing its strategy to tackle the on-coming economic crisis.

Border traders are thrown VAT lifeline

Mon, 01 Dec 2008 14:02:22 GMT

Last week’s decision by the Chancellor Alistair Darling to slash VAT by 2.5% to 15% has been widely welcomed by consumers and businesses alike across Northern Ireland.

Avoid the spam spiders to save company costs

Mon, 01 Dec 2008 14:01:10 GMT

You may have noticed a reduction in the number of junk emails in your inbox recently.

Simon Carr: If confidence is half the battle, we'll need another army

Tue, 25 Nov 2008 00:31:30 GMT

It must have been deliberate. A masterpiece is never accidental. Above and beyond all imitation, it was in a class of its own. To adapt the words of the advertisement, that wasn't just boring, that was Alistair Darling boring.

Susie Rushton: My look but don't buy habit will be a tough one to crack ...

Tue, 25 Nov 2008 00:29:29 GMT

It's not that I don't want to buy stuff. I do. This weekend I spent five hours almost shopping. In the Apple shop I looked at headphones; I prodded buttons on the new Sony Reader electronic book in the Sony flagship store; I groped cashmere sweaters in Uniqlo.

John Rentoul: Blair's Middle England solutions offer no way out this time

Tue, 25 Nov 2008 00:28:27 GMT

It's what politicians don't say that tells you most about them. George Osborne gave a loud – I wouldn't say confident – response to the mini-Budget, a response that roused Tory MPs, who sensed a government in trouble, even if they suspected during the quiet bits that a Conservative government in the same place would have done exactly what Alistair Darling had just announced.

David Prosser: A great day to be a pensioner...but the rest should read the small print

Tue, 25 Nov 2008 00:27:26 GMT

We are all winners from this pre-Budget report but most of us will soon be losers too. That is the dilemma with which the grateful citizens of the UK must wrestle as they wonder whether to do the Chancellor's bidding and spend the £20bn of tax cuts thrown their way in a collective effort to get us out of recession hell.

Sean O'Grady: No matter what Darling does, this is not going to be a short, sharp shock

Tue, 25 Nov 2008 00:26:14 GMT

Alistair Darling yesterday became the first Chancellor in a decade-and-a-half to present the House of Commons with a negative forecast for growth.

Jeremy Warner: This is more politics than economics – but there is a sting in the tail

Tue, 25 Nov 2008 00:25:11 GMT

Now let's see if I've got this right – the Government proposes to address a recession whose origins lie in a credit-fuelled spending binge that left Britons on average more indebted than any other country in the world by encouraging consumers to spend even more and then financing it by borrowing so much that it doubles the national debt.

Hamish McRae: A monumental debt that takes us back to the 70s

Tue, 25 Nov 2008 00:20:13 GMT

This is not going to work, is it? Having got us into a jam by borrowing too much, the way out is to borrow yet more. This is a gamble of monumental scale, a bet on the world economy growing again by the second half of next year.

Another currency crisis... it’s enough to make you nostalgic

Mon, 24 Nov 2008 11:42:38 GMT

Stick your head out of the window, inhale deeply, and enjoy the sweet, yet sickly, scent of nostalgia. It's everywhere.

Is banking becoming a social thing?

Mon, 24 Nov 2008 11:06:15 GMT

We have seen how the internet has changed a whole range of business sectors — travel, property and media to name just a few.

Letterkenny needs a little bit of help

Mon, 24 Nov 2008 10:54:46 GMT

Over the last 10 years Letterkenny has changed beyond recognition and the town is now regarded as the commercial centre of Donegal and the North West.

Development strategy has to be right this time

Mon, 24 Nov 2008 10:49:37 GMT

Minister must start reconciling economic, social and environmental themes

Billions in losses may have to be written off in one fell swoop

Mon, 24 Nov 2008 10:44:39 GMT

A comment from a senior stockbroker the other day may have summed up the banking problem. “While banks say publicly that they don't need fresh funds, most are privately resigned to the fact that it's inevitable,” he said.

‘Innovation vital for success’ - Michael Reid, Chief Executive Office, Ulster Rugby

Mon, 24 Nov 2008 10:40:18 GMT

If you enjoy hard work and put the effort in, you will get the rewards

Awards should not forget their station

Mon, 24 Nov 2008 10:23:19 GMT

Anyone looking for a sure fire way to avoid the worst effects of the recession could do worse than take up a new career as a sideboard maker.

No end in sight for the great retail recession

Fri, 21 Nov 2008 14:39:55 GMT

Panic over then. Retail sales fell by only 0.1% in October, according to the Office for National Statistics, far less than economists and the retail trade itself had been predicting. What on earth has the High Street been moaning about these past few weeks?

E-tailers fight for bite of £13.1bn ‘online spend’ pud

Mon, 17 Nov 2008 15:03:35 GMT

With less than six weeks to go until Christmas, e-marketing companies are battling for column inches with their online Christmas spending predictions.

It’s a small world and help is at hand

Mon, 17 Nov 2008 14:57:16 GMT

It really is a small world. Just how small was brought home to me last month on an Invest Northern Ireland mission to Saudi Arabia.

Tax cuts vital to stabilise economy

Mon, 17 Nov 2008 14:56:20 GMT

With just one week to go, all eyes are on the government’s Pre-Budget Report (PBR). Next Monday, Alistair Darling is expected to slash his growth forecasts and already there has been been speculation that the package will include some tax cuts.

Momentum mustn’t end at development reviews

Mon, 17 Nov 2008 14:51:30 GMT

Has Varney been forgotten? Sir David Varney, appointed by the Chancellor of the Exchequer, is best remembered because his report in 2007 said ‘no’ to a reduced rate of corporation tax for Northern Ireland.