A bust-up between British Airways and trades unionists is a top business story in the UK this morning. What makes the dispute cat nip for news journalists is its political dimension. The ruling Labour Party and the opposition Tories are neck-and-neck in the polls as they head towards an anticipated May 6 general election. Looming strikes - and ministers’ responses to them - are therefore seen as potentially swaying voters.

Continue reading "British Airways: Will the strike sway voters?"

An alliance of two losers?

That is too harsh a pronouncement on the news that Daimler and Renault are talking about a possible cross-shareholding. Nevertheless it does seem striking that the two European carmakers that probably performed worst in the recent crisis are talking about propping each other up. Continue reading "Daimler and Renault: Are they right for each other?"

Good, clear analysis from author Michael Lewis on last night on 60 Minutes on how Wall Street is currently coining it, taking advantage of the largesse of government support for markets.

This is hardly new for FT readers but as always, but the writer of Liar’s Poker was in typically trenchant form on the banks: Continue reading "How Wall Street is coining it: Michael Lewis’ take"

Quotas are always controversial.  So Deutsche Telekom’s announcement on Monday that it is introducing a target to have 30 per cent of its top and middle management drawn from women by 2015 is likely to provoke a big debate.

But, quota or not, the German telecom group’s move makes far more sense than competing quotas in countries such as Norway.

That is because it focuses on executives, not non-executives. To recap, Norway has led the way with imposing a 40 per cent quota of female non-executive directors on its biggest companies. Continue reading "Is Deutsche Telekom’s female quota a smart move?"