Top Secret: Why Are Asking Prices So Critical, Particularly In The Market Today?

You would think that common sense would prevail, when sellers or landlords are pitching their asking price in a challenging market wouldn’t you? If only it did.

Vendors or landlords of residential property, aided and abetted by duplicitous agents, are always trying to ‘crank’ the asking price of their properties, regardless of the negative effect that this has on the marketability of the property itself. Continue reading

How can you effectively rein in Mr. Putin?

How can you effectively rein-in Mr. Putin? ‘Tweaking the tails’ of his Russian cronies will not do the trick, since there is only one way. Let me explain…

The Russian Trade Delegation Compound in Highgate West Hill, N6, is an unlikely ‘fountain head’ of espionage and intrigue, which belies it leafy, sleepy, suburban ambience. It was established in 1920 and over the years, has been a Mecca for Russians and various individuals from the Soviet Union since time immemorial, supposedly to encourage business in the UK. During the ‘shadowy’ days of the Cold War, goodness knows how many dubious characters would regularly file in and out of this place and you only have to look at the plethora of antennas on the roof, to work out what they really may have been doing there.
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Is Compliance Strangling Commerce? Haven’t We Had Enough Of Regulation, Reg!

Here we are, as a nation, trying our best to recover our economic growth, without having the benefit of the usual stimulants which helped us so profoundly after the ‘crash’ of 2008 i.e. Quantitative Easing, cheap money and a buoyant housing sector.

With the added uncertainty of Brexit, we are now introducing yet another form of regulation/compliance, the GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation). Continue reading