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All articles
In this section you will find all of the Retail Economist articles currently live on the website. This section is regularly updated so make sure you keep checking back.
Gloom but not doom
Can you remember the last time there was a good news story? Social, political and economic turmoil across the globe has cast such a huge shadow over the lives of so many that you'd think we were heading for the End of Days. It's tough out there, agrees, Peter Burgess, but far from hopeless.
09 September 2011Osborne's Vampire VAT?
Is the much-discussed increase in VAT really going to damage the economy and the retail industry in particular? Peter Burgess provides his two penneth.
15 January 2011A hard act to follow - the equality Act
To many the new Equality Act brought into law this month might seem little more than a lot of fuss about not a great deal, changing very little and arguably not going far enough on some issues. However as Peter Burgess, MD of Retail Human Resources, discusses, there are some interesting and important issues arising from amidst the rhetoric.
18 October 2010Bad news budget?
The coalition government's first budget was never likely to be a bundle of laughs, but just how bad will its austerity measures be for the retail and hospitality industries? Peter Burgess takes a look at the likely fallout.
17 July 2010Just a bunch of greedy bankers?
With the UK hobbling unconvincingly out of recession, can huge bonuses for bankers possibly be justified? Peter Burgess examines an incendiary economic debate.
01 March 2010VAT's another fine mess you got us into
As the UK creeps slowly out of recession, Peter Burgess takes a closer look at what impact the reduction in Value Added Tax actually had in stimulating the economy. Late last month, it was officially announced that the UK is finally out of recession. Albeit only just. There will doubtless be lots of back slapping and congratulations going on in Downing Street and Whitehall, but it has to be remembered that the UK was the last of the G20 to pull out of what has been the worst economic crisis since the '30s.
01 February 2010Time for a rethink on taxation?
As the British Retail Consortium pleads with the Government not to raise the minimum wage, retail recruiter Peter Burgess argues for a shift in taxation policy to aid the 'forgotten poor'.
17 October 2009The end is nigh! Or is it?
There's a good chance that next month the UK economy could be declared out of the recession, to the collective relief of all in UK plc. Even so, with a debt mountain growing daily, there may be further painful days ahead. Green shoots may not mean we are out of the woods just yet.
12 September 2009'09 the year of upheaval
The latest White Paper from the KPMG/Synovate Retail Think Tank provides some interesting soundbites that set out the good, the bad and the ugly aspects of the retail economy and its prospects for 2009. Marlon Stern reports.
01 March 2009A look back at the future
Now that all the dissections of the last year's economy are over it is perhaps a good time to speculate on what we might be writing at the end of 2009. We are in dangerous times, no question, although my own view on the prospects for this are probably at the upper end of general expectations. And of course, things could go wrong though, horribly wrong. So, taking a deep breath, let us start with a pessimistic projection the worst case scenario review of 2009 might look like:
17 January 2009
