Pragmatist

Sixteen years on from my own initial posts on the subject of a personal assistant that can privately find and buy stuff for you on the web, ...

Britain has a services-based economy: 80% of our output and employment is in services . Professional services, finance, travel, telecoms/com...

When high street goods retailers call for increased taxes on e-commerce to subsidise their local business rates , you know their business...

Some sobering figures from the European Commission for single market fantasists enthusiasts (as if Greece wasn't sobering enough)....

Funny to see a story from John Gapper in the FT this morning, saying technology will hurt retail banks but not kill them , only a few pag...

And that's not all... The term "e-wallet" or "digital wallet" has always caused a physical reaction. But what s...

The distinction between 'facilitators' and 'institutions' is a theme that has emerged quite strongly in this blog and is ...

The Treasury reports that it received no support for its proposal for voluntary consumer protection codes for ‘closed loop’ or limited netw...

The UK Treasury is calling for self-regulation to ring-fence funds relating to stored value in “limited network” programmes, citing examples...

Has a week gone already?! The distinct lack of posts has been due to my being buried by business-as-usual, plus: Consultations on the implem...

Not content with the dog's breakfast of European consumer and retail finance directives , the European Commission now wants to harmonise...

Recent problems in the Eurozone , coupled with the shock announcement of the UK's worsening trade deficit have heightened the need to ...

Recent discussions about whether new entrants are pushing banks to the back office of the consumer finance space have prompted me to update...

The Guardian reports on the latest response to the Australian government's efforts to control the internet .

I enjoyed Professor Michael Froomkin's recent "Golden Eggs" lecture on internet regulation . He foresees the future regulation...

Interesting tips from a book Why She Buys , by Bridget Brennan, posted on the Amazon Payments blog : don't hide your customer service nu...

A hat tip to Mark Nepstad for pointing out Chris Perry's article on the challenge for any established business trying to leverage the s...

There are great efforts to encourage open government using the latest technology - particularly in the US and the UK, judging by this Googl...