A group of Britain’s top bosses condemned the government’s economic policies yesterday, saying they were “failing” to meet the “huge economic challenge” and calling for a “new direction.”
The letter signed by 11 company chiefs adds to the pressure on British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, who is bidding to unify his ruling Labour Party and fight back from dismal opinion polls amid challenges to his leadership.
“While we welcome the chancellor’s belated recognition that the UK faces a huge economic challenge, we are concerned that the government’s economic policy is failing to meet this challenge,” the letter to the Financial Times said.
“The lesson of recent years is clear. Economies must carefully manage public spending and reduce unnecessary budget deficits,” it said.
“They should have simple taxes and competitive tax rates and reduce the burden of regulation. Finally they must improve educational performance,” it said.
“Only then will they be well placed to weather economic difficulties and lay the foundations for long term growth,” the paper said.
The letter, signed by business figures including JCB chairman Anthony Bamford, Next chief executive Simon Wolfson and Carpetright chairman Lord Harris, came amid concerns about Britain’s levels of national debt.
“It is time for a new direction which ensures that in future Britain is better prepared for economic downturns and better placed to compete in a global economy,” the letter said.
The other signatories were: Severn Trent chairman John Egan; Whitbread chairman Anthony Habgood; John Craven, chairman of mining firm Lonmin; Louise Patten, chairman of commercial property company Brixton; George Robinson, founder of City firm Sloane Robinson; Anthony Fuller, president of brewer Fuller, Smith and Turner; Lord Leach, director of conglomerate Matheson & Co; and Mike Clare, president of bed retailer Dreams.
Nvidia Corp yesterday unveiled its new high-speed interconnect technology, NVLink Fusion, with Taiwanese application-specific IC (ASIC) designers Alchip Technologies Ltd (世芯) and MediaTek Inc (聯發科) among the first to adopt the technology to help build semi-custom artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure for hyperscalers. Nvidia has opened its technology to outside users, as hyperscalers and cloud service providers are building their own cost-effective AI chips, or accelerators, used in AI servers by leveraging ASIC firms’ designing capabilities to reduce their dependence on Nvidia. Previously, NVLink technology was only available for Nvidia’s own AI platform. “NVLink Fusion opens Nvidia’s AI platform and rich ecosystem for
‘WORLD’S LOSS’: Taiwan’s exclusion robs the world of the benefits it could get from one of the foremost practitioners of disease prevention and public health, Minister Chiu said Taiwan should be allowed to join the World Health Assembly (WHA) as an irreplaceable contributor to global health and disease prevention efforts, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. He made the comment at a news conference in Taipei, hours before a Taiwanese delegation was to depart for Geneva, Switzerland, seeking to meet with foreign representatives for a bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the WHA, the WHO’s annual decisionmaking meeting, which would be held from Monday next week to May 27. As of yesterday, Taiwan had yet to receive an invitation. Taiwan has much to offer to the international community’s
ALL TOGETHER: Only by including Taiwan can the WHA fully exemplify its commitment to ‘One World for Health,’ the representative offices of eight nations in Taiwan said The representative offices in Taiwan of eight nations yesterday issued a joint statement reiterating their support for Taiwan’s meaningful engagement with the WHO and for Taipei’s participation as an observer at the World Health Assembly (WHA). The joint statement came as Taiwan has not received an invitation to this year’s WHA, which started yesterday and runs until Tuesday next week. This year’s meeting of the decisionmaking body of the WHO in Geneva, Switzerland, would be the ninth consecutive year Taiwan has been excluded. The eight offices, which reaffirmed their support for Taiwan, are the British Office Taipei, the Australian Office Taipei, the
CAUSE AND EFFECT: China’s policies prompted the US to increase its presence in the Indo-Pacific, and Beijing should consider if this outcome is in its best interests, Lai said China has been escalating its military and political pressure on Taiwan for many years, but should reflect on this strategy and think about what is really in its best interest, President William Lai (賴清德) said. Lai made the remark in a YouTube interview with Mindi World News that was broadcast on Saturday, ahead of the first anniversary of his presidential inauguration tomorrow. The US has clearly stated that China is its biggest challenge and threat, with US President Donald Trump and US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth repeatedly saying that the US should increase its forces in the Indo-Pacific region
RSS