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Troubled waters – but a wave of success for others

"THERE'S always a problem with Matalan somewhere in the business and there's always an excuse." Read

Inflation's demise has been greatly exaggerated

COULD inflation be making a comeback? For 10 years now, economists everywhere have been celebrating the death of inflation. Read

New life to be breathed into tired brands

SAYERS the Bakers and Ethel Austin share something in common. Read

‘Super cabinet is nothing but a new talking shop’

THE proposal for a super cabinet populated by a group of local politicians amounts to the creation of yet another talking shop when what the region really needs is action. Read

By-election loss would mark new low for Labour

THE timing of the Crewe and Nantwich by-election tomorrow coincides with a new low in the Government’s popularity. Read

Diverse economy more resilient in tougher times

THE impression that the UK economy is teetering on the brink of recession gets stronger with every day that goes by. Read

No consolation for Liverpool’s council leader

THE outcome of last week’s local elections has sent a clear signal to national government that it is failing to impress voters. Read

For all their faults, Lib-Dems are best of a bad bunch

EMBATTLED Gordon Brown had to make a humiliating U- turn to avoid defeat in the House of Commons this week. Read

Let the markets rule during the credit crunch

THE Government has decided to intervene to alleviate the effects of the credit crunch by injecting £50bn into the global money markets. Read

Bargaining chip in a real-life game of Monopoly?

PEEL is threatening to switch its planned £5bn investment in its much-trumpeted Liverpool Waters skyscraper scheme to a similar development of tall buildings in Wirral. Read

Abolish the rump and would we notice?

MILLIONS of people employed in the public sector do a great job. Doctors, nurses, teachers, police officers and soldiers serve their country well, and are worth every penny of the money spent on them. Read

Strong leadership could turn Jaguar’s prospects around

HALEWOOD will today pass from Ford ownership to India’s Tata, with hardly a word of protest from the trade unions. Read

Darling’s drab Budget did little of anything
Mar 13 2008
WHAT a relief. Alistair Darling stayed in character and delivered the most uneventful Budget that I can recall. more

Bill Gleeson: Chancellor should keep it short and sweet

IT MUST be hard being Alistair Darling. He will have spent last night tossing and turning in his bed trying to becalm his basic instincts. Read

Bill Gleeson: I was wrong about Littlewoods

IT’S worse than I feared. In last week’s column, I tentatively suggested that the reason Littlewoods Shop Direct was being so coy about its latest trading results was that the figures were poor. Read

Can Littlewoods become a dotcom superstar?

AROUND 470,000 sq ft of office space was let in Liverpool’s central business district during 2007 – an increase of 17% on 2006 – according to a report out today. Read

Bill Gleeson: City centre shops in fear of Grosvenor

A GROWING number of Liverpool’s independent retailers fear that Grosvenor’s new £1bn shopping centre could pose a huge threat to their trade. Read

Bill Gleeson: Beware of the risk posed by rising inflation

THE coming days will see a growing clamour as the nation’s business lobbyists demand a cut in interest rates when the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee meets next week. Read

Bill Gleeson: Optimism not dented by the gloom around

IMAGINE the circumstances that would lead the Bank of England to cut interest rates by 0.75%. Last time it met, our MPC balked at the idea of a quarter-point drop. Read