Government intervention causes Britain’s energy sector to fail to deliver low costs and ensure supply, a report by the House of Lords argues February 24, 2017 The government has allowed the UK's energy market to become "opaque, complicated and uncompetitive", a report to be published today argues. Written by the House of Lords' committee on economic affairs, the report says Britain's energy market fails in two key areas: delivering low costs to customers and ensuring the country has sufficient supplies. The security of [...]
Safe as houses? London property price growth will grind to a halt this year February 24, 2017 House price growth in London slowed to just 6.4 per cent in January – the lowest level for four years – and experts have predicted growth will grind to a halt at some point this year. The last time growth was so sluggish in the capital was June 2013, according to Hometrack's data. Read more: This [...]
Be under no illusions: The National Living Wage will cost jobs February 24, 2017 Imagine that you didn’t know how cold weather and turning on the heat affected the temperature of a room. You’d watch the boiler burn more or less gas, and you’d watch the weather get colder and hotter, but if the thermostat and central heating were working properly there’d be no change in the temperature of [...]
London: Our city of eternal resilience is not endangered by Brexit February 24, 2017 We have been here before. Seismic political or economic events strike like a tsunami; panic breaks out that London’s position as a leading world city is endangered. It happened in the aftermath of 2008’s financial crisis and it’s happening as Brexit looms. In 2009 the Economist observed magisterially, “Before the credit crunch, talk that London [...]
The civil service is ripe for disruption – and Brexit could well be the catalyst February 24, 2017 We are approaching a serious crisis in the relationship between ministers, advisers and civil servants. While governments have often grumbled about the quality of the civil service, there are signs political discontent is growing. Why? The stakes are higher. The challenges posed by Brexit dwarf anything we have seen before. And so the relationship between [...]
Europe must reinvent itself or markets will tear it apart February 24, 2017 As I sit on an over-crowded train at rush hour for the fourth time this week after a 12 hour shift (I hope my American co-anchor who doesn’t believe in European holidays is reading this), I look around and wonder how many people in the carriage still believe in Europe. On 23 June 2016, 59.9 [...]
As official figures show a drop in net migration, should we fear a post-Brexit brain drain? February 24, 2017 Russ Shaw, founder of Tech London Advocates and Global Tech Advocates, says Yes. The latest figures from the Office for National Statistics show a drop in net migration of 49,000 in the 12 months to September 2016 – so including the three months immediately after the Brexit vote. It also highlighted a worrying trend for the British [...]
Editor’s Notes: Snapchat woos London investors, Venezuela’s vice president reaches a new low and Channel 4’s Jon Snow needs to get a grip February 24, 2017 Are you a Snapchatter? Do you even know what I’m talking about? Snapchat is a social media app that allows users to send images and videos to each other, often augmented by the addition of creative filters or effects. It’s also increasingly used as a platform for viewing and sharing news content. You may not [...]
Bonus pools across UK banks dry up, but Wall St lenders still shelling out for their junior staff February 24, 2017 City workers at US investment banks are enjoying rising bonuses despite a squeeze in payouts from UK and other European lenders. New figures reveal a widening transatlantic gap – bigger bonuses at US banks contrast with belt-tightening measures by their rivals headquartered on this side of the pond. Bonuses for relatively junior banking staff at the likes [...]
Forget the noise about ‘Leavers’ and ‘Remainiacs’: There are reasons for hope as EU negotiations draw near February 23, 2017 In just just a few days the UK will embark on one of the longest multilateral negotiations in its history as the Prime Minister invokes Article 50 and the process of withdrawal from the EU begins in earnest. To read the headlines or remain glued to Twitter (an increasingly bad idea for my blood pressure), [...]