Zero tolerance for Mr Sports Direct
DAVID Cameron did finally have the grace to admit to Jeremy Paxman he couldn’t live on a zero-hours contract, but nearly 15,000 staff at Mike Ashley’s Sports Direct have to.
MPs of all parties would very much like to speak to Mr Ashley and, as our story opposite shows, they think they’ll get him in the end. His attempt to avoid being called to account over what MPs call his ‘reprehensible’ business practices is perfectly understandable. But shining a light into the murkier corners of the market benefits all of us in the end.
Ashley has been good for investors – but much, much, better for himself. BT’s head honcho Gavin Patterson is really turning the screws on his old friend and rival Jeremy Darroch, boss of Sky. Patterson, who worked with Darroch at Dixons, has taken BT back into the mobile phone market sooner than expected and ahead of its planned merger with mobile giant EE. Patterson’s boldness, including buying live Premier League football rights, and paying £12.5billion for EE, must make Darroch grit his teeth.
Sky always scorned rivals who complained to regulators that it was too powerful. It built its business from scratch, risking billions buying sports rights and Hollywood blockbusters to transform our moribund broadcasting market.
Sky believed its rivals were big enough to do the same if only they had the guts.
Now it turns out that Patterson does have the guts; let’s hope Darroch takes some satisfaction from being right all along. THE Bank of England’s chief economist Andy Haldane believes the traditional link between rising employment and wage increases, which fuel inflation, is weakening. So he suggested that interest rates were now as likely to go down as up. Since they have been set in stone at 0.5 per cent for six years that is some suggestion.
Haldane fears deflation – falling prices making consumers reluctant to spend on big items.
It didn’t take the Bank’s governor Mark Carney long to slap down Haldane’s suggestion. He said on Friday the Bank believed the next move on rates would be up.
Carney has been a lucky governor so far, presiding over a burgeoning economy.
But what if he’s wrong this time, and Haldane’s right?
Carney’s record on predictions is not great. Remember his forward guidance policy linking interest rates to unemployment levels? That lasted six months until it was overtaken by events. Let’s hope his luck holds a little longer – for all our sakes.