Paper tiger Mike Ashley needs to explain or face being torn apart by MPs

Sports Direct founder cannot risk carrying on with the bluster when he gives evidence on working conditions for warehouse staff

Mike Ashley is a paper tiger. Having said he would not show up to give evidence to the House of Commons business committee, the Sports Direct boss has changed his mind and now says he will grace MPs with his presence.

In truth, there was never the remotest possibility that Ashley would defy the will of parliament. Rupert Murdoch eventually deigned to make an appearance before a select committee, and to adapt Lloyd Bentsen’s putdown of Dan Quayle, Ashley is no Rupert Murdoch.

Related: Questions Mike Ashley should answer on Sports Direct work conditions

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from Business blog | The Guardian https://www.theguardian.com/business/blog/2016/jun/06/mike-ashley-face-mps-sports-direct-treatment-of-warehouse-staff

Why the global economy may need to get worse before it gets better

Until governments act collectively to bolster growth, lasting recovery from the 2008-09 recession will remain elusive

A wind of change is howling through the world’s economic institutions. Last week it was the International Monetary Fund saying that austerity could do more harm than good and that neoliberalism was not all it was cracked up to be. This week it is the turn of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development to challenge the orthodoxy.

The OECD says governments around the world should consider banding together to spend more on public works, something it deems necessary because lasting recovery from the deep recession of 2008-09 remains elusive.

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from Business blog | The Guardian https://www.theguardian.com/business/economics-blog/2016/jun/01/global-economy-recovery-growth-governments-keynes