Simon Carne – Business Consultant

Much has been written about the harrowing cross-examination of Milly Dowler’s family during the trial of Levi Bellfield. One of the strangest remarks was written by Peter Lodder QC, Chairman of the Bar, in his desire to defend the colleague who had conducted the cross-examination. Read more »

The separation of retail and investment banks is back in the news following the Chancellor’s recent Mansion House speech. Ever since the Government bail-out of Royal Bank of Scotland and Lloyds in 2008, there has been a pressing desire to ensure that tax-payers are never again called upon to rescue the financial system. The Independent Commission on Banking, chaired by Sir John Vickers, is looking at alternatives. The Chancellor has endorsed their interim report and awaits the final report in September.

Compulsory separation of business entities is not new. It has been used as a solution to behavioural business problems in many contexts, usually after a period of fierce debate during which the business(es) argue that separation is unnecessary and unworkable, or a combination of both. Read more »

When Queen’s Park Rangers appointed Neil Warnock as manager, a little over a year ago, I was aghast: “Fourteen years since QPR last played in the Premier League, but if the chairman thinks Warnock is the answer, he must be asking the wrong question.” How wrong was I? Read more »

I think the three words at the end of the following sentence must be the most chilling – and the most heart-warming – I have ever read from an accounting standard-setter: Read more »

On Wednesday, the Lord Chief Justice (the appropriately named, Lord Judge) bemoaned the continuing move towards overly prescriptive legislation, saying:

“There is a guideline for judges passing sentence on those rather odd people who have sexual intercourse with a corpse. There’s a different possible approach depending on whether it’s with the same corpse or a different corpse. It’s all to do with the idea that you can legislate for just about every possibility.”

Read more »

… to be giving a presentation whilst the audience is tweeting their comments onto a screen behind your head. Read more »

I had always thought that employee contributions into a pension scheme were a mistaken idea. Should I be re-thinking that in the light of Hutton’s report out today? Or should Lord Hutton? Read more »

“You were the future once …”

When David Cameron famously made that remark on his first encounter with Tony Blair across the despatch box, he employed a very effective communication device. This week, Ed Miliband tried the same trick (“Mr Cameron, you were an optimist once”). It was clearly intended to have the same effect – if not a bigger one. The words “hoist” and “Cameron’s petard” must have been bandied excitedly around the new leader’s drafting table when some bright spark came up with the idea.

But it hardly registered at all. Why not? Lots of reasons, actually … Read more »

I see the Treasury has been consulting on its new approach to financial regulation. Some of the main ideas – reforming the tri-partite model – have been discussed at length elsewhere. What caught my eye were the issues which address our new government’s approach to regulatory culture. Read more »

I have written before about Coase’s Theorem – whenever the law creates or imposes an inefficient rule, people will bargain or contract around it – named after Nobel laureate, Ronald Coase. It seems that Coase’s theorem works just as well for our constitution.

For weeks, if not months, we have been told that, if the General Election resulted in a hung parliament, the incumbent Prime Minister had first go at forming a government. Well, it took just one sentence from Nick Clegg at 10.30 am on the morning after the night before (“I’m talking to Dave”) and Gordon Brown was left high and dry for Read more »