Business Diary: May 1

MORE quantitative easing is needed, according to some commentators.

But if leading economist Roger Bootle is to be believed, whether the UK goes down the QE route again is neither here nor there.

In an interview, Mr Bootle, chief executive of Capital Economics and a specialist adviser to the House of Commons Treasury Committee, told Diary that QE is “a pretty weak instrument”.

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He said: “The links with inflation are flexible and varied. There are certain people who see a direct connection between quantitative easing and inflation, they are mad. They don’t understand it.

“In essence, what quantitative easing is supposed to be doing is boosting the rate of growth of demand in the economy, and that’s why I’m quite sceptical as to whether it’s doing very much good at all, then there’s the issue about what that growth of demand does in relation to output versus prices.

“You could argue that in current conditions any increase in demand would just cause higher inflation, rather than any increase in output, I don’t think it would be a very persuasive argument because there are some pretty clear signs of underused capacity in the UK economy and of course, a lot of unemployed labour.”

He said that the Bank of England has the means to absorb the extra money, just as it put it in, and added: “I don’t find quantitative easing a significant worry.”

Called to account

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MEMBERS came face to face with the directors of Skipton Building Society at the mutual’s annual general meeting last week.

Diary was there to record the outcome. The board faced questions about meagre returns for savers, income equality among staff and the lack of diversity among the board of directors.

The biggest laugh came at the end of the evening when a member asked if a member of auditor KPMG was present. The beancounter in question stood up.

The member asked: “Is there any underlying bad news in the accounts?”

The accountant assured him there was not.

Diversity pledge

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SKIPTON Building Society’s new chairman Mike Ellis promised to address the issue of board diversity.

He told the AGM: “It has been observed that the board, with the notable exception of Sandy, is white, male and mostly of a certain age. In other words, the board lacks diversity.

“I would assure you that the board is not lacking diversity in terms of views and opinions expressed and that all directors are totally committed to doing their best for the society and its members.”

He said the group would try to address the imbalance in gender and ethnicity in the coming years.

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Mr Ellis, a former group finance director at Halifax Bank of Scotland, added: “Mutual building societies are a real alternative to banks and offer customers, most of whom are our members, good products and quality service.

“We aspire to be the most recommended mutual building society.”

A man of integrity

Over the years, the Yorkshire International Business Convention (YIBC) has attracted some of the most colourful and outspoken characters in recent world history.

There were plenty of fiery speeches from the platform.

But Diary always had a soft spot for the quietly spoken Dr Hans Blix, the UN weapons inspector, who used his speech at the 2004 YIBC to demolish, with ruthless elegance, the decision to attack Iraq on the basis of flawed intelligence.

His delivery was calm, precise and quite devastating.

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Last week we carried a comment piece which marked the end of the YIBC in Leeds, although the event will live on in East Yorkshire.

The article, which included an account of Dr Blix’s speech from eight years ago, brought back memories for Yorkshire Post reader Susan Galloway.

She wrote: “I had the great privilege of sharing a dinner table with Hans Blix at Harewood House following his attendance at the YIBC.

“He was a most charming and interesting person with great integrity and he made a great impression on me.”

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When Ms Galloway asked Dr Blix what he was most looking forward to, he said: “Picking wild mushrooms in the woods where I live and being anonymous once more.”

Ms Galloway added: “Your assessment of him rang true and had he been listened to the suffering we have seen since might just have been avoided.”

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