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Nevill Boyd Maunsell

Retail sales on the rise, according to statistics

Retail sales have not, after all, been crushed by inflation and the credit crunch. Read

Manufacturers at lowest ebb since dot.com crash

You have to go back nearly seven years, to the aftermath of the dot.com crash, to find British industrialists so glum about their prospects for output. Read

Castings boss laments 'crazy' cost increases

Brian Cooke, chairman of Castings, has repeated an earlier warning that unprecedented cost increases have created a “crazy” situation. Read

Scramble to unwind the bets which left economy on the edge

There will be no nonsensical Christmas shopping rush to New York this year. The dollar’s great revival has made glossy shopping better value back home. Read

Gilts missing out as inflation marches on

In a commonsense world there is a mathematical link between interest rates and inflation. Read

Bank of England braces UK for five per cent inflation

Inflation is heading for a peak at around five per cent – or possibly more – in the coming months as the latest round of gas and electricity prices feeds through into utility bills, while the economy grinds to a near standstill this winter. Read

Bank fears wage rises could destabilise inflation battle

“Wages don’t cause inflation,” cried the trade union conferences in the 1970s and ‘80s - now those very words are coming from Mervyn King. Read

Inflation hits 4.4 per cent as food prices soar

Surging food prices have driven inflation to 4.4 per cent, a level not seen since the recession year of 1991. Read

Statistics don't give the true reality of inflation

After the cyclist's economy, now it is also good to be a vegetarian – and not the half-hearted sort of veggie, who says chicken doesn’t count. Read

Barclays’ new shares proving good value

The conventional reason why most bank shares are cheap is that nobody quite believes that they have come clean about all the dud assets lurking in their balance sheets. Read

Bank tight-lipped over decision to hold interest rates

The Bank of England gave no explanation when it held its official interest rate at five per cent for a fifth month, after its interest-setting monetary policy committee split three ways in its vote in July. Read

The Bank may have got it right over inflation

Things could be worse. They have been worse. But that doesn’t mean that everything is suddenly all right with the world. Read

Don't expect much for £3bn investment in Northern Rock

The Royal Bank of Scotland raised £12 billion, Barclays £4.5 billion, HBOS £4 billion, even poor tattered Bradford & Bingley scraped home with its fund-raising in the end. Read

Manufacturing goes into reverse

A sharp dip in output of electrical and optical equipment – a segment which includes computers and electronic components – drove the total for manufacturing as a whole into reverse for a second month running in June. Read

Service economy slowdown has steadied

The slowdown in activity across Britain’s service economy steadied last month, although the rate at which service employers are cutting jobs speeded up. Read

Inflationary wage rises still waiting to happen

This week it is the turn of the Passport Office to face the public sector unions’ campaign to test the Government’s determination to stick by pay deals that no longer match inflation. Read

Manufacturing in ‘technical recession’ now

Gloom has descended on the boardrooms of British industry over the past three months and the CBI fears that manufacturing may be in a “technical recession”, with output shrinking in both the second and third quarters of this year. Read

Pouring cooking oil on troubled waters not always such a slick idea

What is the difference between cooking oil and petrol? Read

No other choice the Bank could make on interest rates

What would have happened if the Bank of England had upped interest rates, as plenty of sensible people thought it would just ten days ago Read

West Midlands welcomes rates decision

Few cries of pain in the West Midlands greeted the Bank of England’s decision to leave its official interest rate at 5.0 per cent for a fourth month. Read

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Nevill is The Birmingham Post's economics editor and based in the newspaper's London office.

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