There’s nothing worse than an “in yer face” approach to business offers and opportunities. Even in America, where a more bullish way of business has been prevalent since the early 20th century, a nuanced style is appreciated, especially if it’s intelligent and intelligible.

In a New York Times article headed, “I Have a Nightmare”, Nicholas D. Kristof lamented the “death of environmentalism” in America. It has passed on, he suggests, because it’s now “empty of nuance”.

Nuance? Do we need it? Hasn’t it all but disappeared from modern culture? Wouldn’t “red in tooth and claw” be a better way to get noticed? Isn’t nuance the last resort of the terminally confused?

On the contrary, I believe the nuance factor defines our writing and thinking much more than how we handle the big slab issues. In many ways it’s the essence of crafted writing, which, at its best, reflects a well-stocked mind and a subtle, receptive soul.

Nuance is the backbone of every powerful statement.The art of creative authorship lies in how we deal with nuances and how we make them interesting. Shades of meaning and complexity show that we can appreciate points of view other than our own.

The great writers manage to make complexity simple. They keep the thread moving on while allowing the loom of their creativity to weave a tapestry along its flanks. Nuance is often the missing link between the truth and political statements.

Nuance is more than ever needed in finance, business and indeed, all life.

There’s a lot of chatter about, not least in government circles, that banks are not lending to small and medium enterprises (SMEs) which are the main job creators in the British economy.

Banks are currently in an invidious position. They are being prodded to lend more, while simultaneously adding billions to their capital reserves. Non-expert ministers and MPs, such as Vince Cable, imagine that because a couple of banks received public money as a bailout, they are duty bound to risk yet more in a very uncertain marketplace.

What then are the facts for a bank like HSBC, one of the world’s largest:

So what are the facts? HSBC’s new small business lending was up 38 per cent in the first half; across all top banks and all small firms, the amount of new lending is down on 2009, at £520m per month, just enough to match repayments and defaults. Why? Demand for credit has dropped. Uncertainty means firms are trying to reduce their debt; small firms hold a record £56bn on deposit. HSBC’s corporate overdraft utilisation rate has fallen to 42 per cent, from 44 per cent: facilities are not being used. Rates are neither ultra-cheap nor extortionate: small corporate borrowers are not usually being priced out.

The supply of credit has also diminished. Banks have rightly become more realistic when assessing projects in a low-growth environment. Some lenders have quit the market. The remaining ones have been told to put more money aside (boosting capital), to shrink balance sheets, and to borrow less on the wholesale markets (a problem given that low saving rates have forced many banks to rely on money markets to fund new loans).

It’s not rocket science. Perhaps the Lib Dem contingent in the Coalition Government will have less to say on the matter in future.

Quote: City AM

There’s a lot of chatter about, not least in government circles, that banks are not lending to small and medium enterprises (SMEs) which are the main job creators in the British economy.

Banks are currently in an invidious position. They are being prodded to lend more, while simultaneously adding billions to their capital reserves. Non-expert ministers and MPs, such as Vince Cable, imagine that because a couple of banks received public money as a bailout, they are duty bound to risk yet more in a very uncertain marketplace.

What then are the facts for a bank like HSBC, one of the world’s largest:

So what are the facts? HSBC’s new small business lending was up 38 per cent in the first half; across all top banks and all small firms, the amount of new lending is down on 2009, at £520m per month, just enough to match repayments and defaults. Why? Demand for credit has dropped. Uncertainty means firms are trying to reduce their debt; small firms hold a record £56bn on deposit. HSBC’s corporate overdraft utilisation rate has fallen to 42 per cent, from 44 per cent: facilities are not being used. Rates are neither ultra-cheap nor extortionate: small corporate borrowers are not usually being priced out.

The supply of credit has also diminished. Banks have rightly become more realistic when assessing projects in a low-growth environment. Some lenders have quit the market. The remaining ones have been told to put more money aside (boosting capital), to shrink balance sheets, and to borrow less on the wholesale markets (a problem given that low saving rates have forced many banks to rely on money markets to fund new loans).

It’s not rocket science. Perhaps the Lib Dem contingent in the Coalition Government will have less to say on the matter in future.

Quote: Allister Heath, City AM

When the eurozone goes, it will go suddenly. One moment it will be there, and then it will have vanished into the historical annals of catastrophic human vanity projects that disappeared.

The worst case scenario is that a worldwide contagion begins on the European continent. August 1914 will have its 21st-century anniversary in four years. And the grandiose political vanity of Continental politicians will be again at the heart of it.

This sunny spring could represent a kind of Edwardian glow before the chancellory lights go out once more across Europe.

Read the rest of this piece on our sister site: Syntagma