Britain's business in the spotlight - for the wrong reasons

Jun 17, 2016, 01:45 PM

Around the same time that once-loved High Street retailer BHS was tumbling into administration, the journalist Roberto Saviano, who spent more 10 years exposing the criminal workings of the Mafia, announced to the Hay Literary Festival that Britain was the most corrupt country on the planet.

Our financial affairs, it seems are being eyed with interest and suspicion around the world.

What better way to celebrate then, than to have another high-profile inquiry into the shenanigans behind the BHS collapse in front of Parliament and the world media?

Last week we heard of death threats in the boardroom. This week was the turn of BHS’s previous owner Sir Philip Green to face the panel of MPs, who asked some pointed questions about the company’s demise.

Why had he sold it for a quid?

Had he taken millions of pounds out of the company knowing that the British Government would be liable for its multi-million pound pensions hole?

Or did he really believe the company would be better off in the hands of a new, twice-bankrupt owner?

Green wasn’t happy. He’s made some promises but they lacked detail and conviction. The saga is far from over. His wife, the beneficiary of much of the tax-free BHS millions, is likely to be next in the ‘dock’.

Also this week, we have another look at the childlike lies peddled by EU referendum campaigners.

It’s an important debate, this EU thing. Britain might be about to commit economic suicide but the campaigns have been, frankly, pathetic.

Meanwhile…

Inflation is flat lining – are we about to face a cut in interest rates?

Investors are pulling money out of UK – but where are they finding opportunities?

And finally…

Nine years on from the financial crisis, around 100,000 people who bought off-plan properties that never got built in Spain have a chance of getting their money back.