Latest articles by Simon Nixon
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Economic Jurassic Park: four dinosaurs that could well come back to life
Features Ideas thought to have been consigned to history are now being presented by politicians as the answer to the world's problems. Here, Simon Nixon picks four concepts whose revival may seem far-fetched, but can no longer be ruled out.
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Brown is right to want to stop repossessions - but what can he do?
Features Simon Nixon has sympathy with Gordon Brown's attempts to stop newly-nationalised banks from repossessing people's homes. But the sooner house prices find a level where buyers and lenders are willing to enter, the sooner this crisis will pass.
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The bail-out will have an adverse effect on banks' liberty
Features It's hard to quibble with the UK's bank bail-out, says Simon Nixon. The plan is pretty smart. But we must take with a pinch of salt Alistair Darling's assurances that the government will let these banks operate at arm's length.
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It's hard to sympathise with City job losses, but they are bad news for us all
Features Simon Nixon says we should have more compassion for soon-to-be-bankrupt City bankers who've lost their bonuses and risk having to flog off their yachts and ski chalets.
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Things are bright in asset management, despite darkening times for investors
Features Now is the time of year when investors consider changes to their portfolios. This year, that task is more difficult than ever. The credit crunch did not magically end over the summer. If anything, the situation is worse, says Simon Nixon.
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Banks and government will search in vain to cure the City's ills
Features The government is desperately hunting for the magic bullet to end the credit crisis, says Simon Nixon, Meanwhile, major job cuts are inevitable in the banking industry.
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Four lessons from Russia – and what the West must do to hobble the bear
Features Despite many people giving Russia the benefit of the doubt when deciding where to put their money, Simon Nixon remains cautious about investing in Russia. Here, he explains why.
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The credit crunch is far from over. Here are the five reasons why
Features Simon Nixon doesn’t believe that the credit crunch is anywhere near over after mid-July's stock market rally. Here, he explains why.
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Why the real scandal over our public finances is hidden under the carpet
Features The outrageous thing about the UK's public finances, says Simon Nixon, is how it has kept some enormous liabilities out of the official figures: PFI, Northern Rock and Network Rail, to name but three.
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We need a strong opposition. What we’ve got is half-baked and socialistic
Features As governments bail-out failed banks, the financial world has realised that politics is not irrelevant. So their economic plans are now coming under close scrutiny - and Cameron's lack coherence.
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From good to bad to worse: three ways the credit crunch could end
Features Trying to call the outcome of the credit crunch is a fool's errand, says Simon Nixon. We all hope for a shallow downturn; the truth is it could end in doomsday, but we may have to settle for a deep recession.
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Zimbabwe may be a basket case, but other sub-Saharan countries are faring better
Features Zimbabwe may have been brought to ruin under Mugabe, but many other countries in the region have achieved a remarkable transformation over the past decade.
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FSA’s new rules are short of the mark – and will do more harm than good
Features The FSA's new regulations on short-selling mean disclosure rules are far more onerous for shorts than longs. And that amounts to manipulation of the market, argues Simon Nixon.
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Thought the worst was over for the credit crunch? Think again…
Features The aftershocks of Bradford and Bingley's botched rights issue will shake the rest of the UK banking sector, the economy and the City's reputation, says Simon Nixon.
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The real threat to the UK comes not from the credit crunch, but Russia
Features Dirty Russian money threatens to undermine London's reputation, built on respect for the law and mutual trust. And Russia's dominance of the energy market could have dire consequences for the UK.
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Too many immigrants? Rubbish, soon we'll be begging them to come
Features With an ageing population, millions of Britons unwilling to work and thousands more emigrating every year, the last thing this country needs is fewer immgrants, says Simon Nixon.
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The bare-faced cheek of begging bankers at Gordon Brown’s breakfast
Features Gordon Brown’s recent breakfast with Britain’s top bankers to discuss the mortgage crisis was, by all accounts, a dispiriting affair, writes Simon Nixon.
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Mega-banks should face up to the painful truth that small is beautiful
Features The names that used to dominate the square mile have rolled up in successive waves of bank mergers into one of the giant bulge-bracket banks that dominate global finance, writes Simon Nixon.
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Bank stocks rally and the worst may be over – but don’t pop the champagne just yet
Features The euphoria that greeted the latest rally in bank stocks has led many in the City to start talking excitedly about whether the worst of the credit crunch is now behind us. But is this true?
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Bankers have regulators over a barrel – but reform is in their own self-interest
Features The financial services industry has never had a reputation for saintliness. But its recent behaviour suggests that it is taking arrogance, cynicism and breathtaking selfishness to new levels.
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Choose your hedge funds with care
Features Some have gone quietly whilst others have blown up in spectular style. And there are plenty of good reasons why more hedge funds are destined to go the way of the Dodo and the dotcoms.
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Whatever the Fed does, this crisis has a long way to run
Features Should the Fed intervene or allow a crash? Simon Nixon unravels the City's goings-on and wonders where it will all end.
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Private equity is putting on a brave face, but its players are feeling the pain
Features Hanging out with the private-equity crowd at the SuperReturns conference is a surreal experience: everyone accepts that this year will be a stinker, but no-one can quite believe that the good times are over.
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Why the EU is weak – and condemned to long-term decline
Features In the short term, the EU may be able to avoid the worst of the US-led credit crunch and economic downturn, says Simon Nixon. But bureaucracy and security issues are weakening the Union.
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