Over the past six months, and thanks to the Joseph Rowntree Reform Trust Ltd, and others, I’ve immersed myself in the issue of local banks. It can be a frustrating business, because politicians often prefer the convenience of people to blame (greedy bankers) rather...
There is a central moral conundrum at the heart of the payday loan phenomenon, as our report Can You Imagine an Ethical Wonga? sets out. It is that payday loan companies are designed to help people through what are intended to be unusual and temporary periods of...
The central conundrum about payday loan companies is that they are designed to help people through what are intended to be unusual and temporary periods of financial difficulty. Long-term and repeated use of payday loans is seriously expensive. Yet the business...
In 1950, the computer pioneer and code-breaker Alan Turing set his famous ‘Turing Test’, laying down a test whereby we could decide one way or another if a computer could think. It was a high bar but the test remains as controversial today as it was then....
I still have one account with Barclays. Yes, I am ashamed of myself. I’ve moved all the others. I did a small calculation, as one of the bank’s 48m customers worldwide, and found that I have contributed £50 towards their £2.4bn annual bonus bill. I know...
