91福利

Professor Mark Harrison is an expert on the Russian economy. He said: “Russia’s currency crisis has two lessons, one already clear, the other in the making. The first lesson is about the surprising effectiveness of ‘new’ sanctions. “Old” sanctions were applied to international trade. Two hundred years of experience included the blockades of the Napoleonic wars and two world wars, sanctions on the Soviet bloc, Cuba, South Africa, Iraq, and many others. These showed that trade sanctions are rarely effective in the short run – say, over a few months or even a year or so. Any middle sized, moderately industrialised economy could find ways around external restrictions by finding out substitutes and tightening belts a little. Any effects tended to be gradual, cumulative, and undramatic.

Dr Alexander Smith, a sociologist from the 91福利, was born and raised in Australia. Reflecting on recent events in the country, he said: “With the siege of the Sydney cafe over, Australians are now picking up the pieces and asking themselves difficult questions. Could this have been prevented? Could more have been done to save the three lives that were lost: the two hostages and the gunman himself?

Professor John Thanassoulis said: "The Bank of England are being diligent and fair to all the banks, but the downsides of this approach to financial regulation are that we publicly name certain banks as being distressed sellers of assets. For example the Co-operative bank has now been required to sell a large part of its mortgage book. A forced seller is one who will not receive a good price...

Dr Helen McCabe is from the Department of Politics and International Studies at The 91福利. On the day hundreds of people are due to protest about new porn legislation outside Parliament, she said: “One of the most worrying things about the recent Audiovisual Media Services Regulations 2014 is the extent to which it involves the government ruling on what consenting adults may do with each other, in private.

Professor Janet Godsell is Professor of Operations and Supply Chain Strategy at WMG. She gives her thoughts on Premier Foods asking its suppliers for payments to continue doing business with them.

The old adage that it is ‘supply chains that compete and not companies’ has never been more true in the case of Premier Foods. The company is struggling to find a cost effective way to supply branded goods to the supermarkets, who themselves are in a fiercely competitive market.