Co-operative News
Co-ops for everyone?: Co-operative News
A recent policy statement from the Conservative Party on ‘Broken Britain’ grabbed the headlines. In some of the country’s most deprived areas, half of all teenage girls were pregnant or already mothers.
It was a shocking symbol of a serious problem. Except only in one sense. A Tory researcher had got the decimal point in the [...]
Financial mutuals face troubled times: Co-operative News
Skipton Building Society’s decision to increase its mortgage lending rate is a sign of how badly hit some financial mutuals are in the current, continuing, crisis. Skipton has just increases its Standard Variable Rate from 3.5% to 4.95%.
This is a substantial increase, particularly in a period when the Bank of England base rate is a [...]
PMS - Ministerial blame game: Co-operative News
Readers from outside Northern Ireland will probably find it impossible to understand just how significant the collapse of the Presbyterian Mutual Society is. But, and I hope you will accept my word on this, it is.
Part of the explanation is that religion and politics are pretty well indivisible in Northern Ireland. And, according to churchgoers, [...]
David Taylor MP: An appreciation: Co-operative News
David Taylor MP, who died on Boxing Day aged 63, was – above all – a good and decent man. He was also an excellent and hard working MP.
Throughout his 12 year period as a Labour MP, David remained true to his principles as a back-bencher who was willing to rebel and speak out against [...]
Legislation to reform mutuals held back: Co-operative News
Last summer’s ‘Reforming financial markets’ white paper had a lot say about mutuals, with a complete section relating to them, including proposals for ‘a modern legislative and regulatory framework’ for credit unions, industrial and provident societies and friendly societies.
The gyst of the paper’s focus on mutuals was that while there was strong support for them [...]
Co-op takes a lead - others must follow: Co-operative News
It is easy to forget that along with all its other activities, the Co-operative Group is also a powerful shareholder in many of the UK’s leading companies. A new report from Co-operative Asset Management not only reminds us of this, but also makes clearer how it exercises its vote at companies’ general meetings.
With the controversy [...]
Review of the year: Co-operative News
Review of the year
What a year it has been. We knew it would be tough, but it was worse than that. The recession has been the most severe since the Great Depression. Inevitably, many mutuals went down with the wider economy.
The mutual sector most badly hit has been the building societies. The reasons for the [...]
Can CDFIs take-off in UK?: Co-operative News
The financial services sector as a whole has failed the UK, its economy, its taxpayers and, in particular, those worst-off in society. The bill for rescuing the big banks is likely to fall disproportionately on the poorest.
Even if taxes rise for the highest paid, it is a fair guess that the burden will be even [...]
Mutual competition by the parties: Co-operative News
Crisis creates opportunities. But whether those opportunities are used for good or bad ends depends on who holds the power – and also on the perspective of what actually is ‘good’ or ‘bad’.
It is, alas, self-evident that things cannot go on as they are in terms of public sector spending. The scale of the banking [...]
Building a collective shelter for building societies: Co-operative News
I wonder how many subscribers to Co-operative News are also readers of the Financial Times. Not enough is my guess.
It is not, though, my purpose here to increase the circulation of the FT – which, in any case, is doing pretty well without my assistance. Rather it is to spread knowledge of a recent idea [...]
