As Pinterest announces a new video advert format, its success in mobile will hinge on bringing its communities together August 19, 2016 Pinterest announced the launch of a new promoted video format last week which is click-to-play and mobile only. It operates differently to the auto-play formats popularised by the likes of Facebook and Twitter, instead offering a glimpse of the video content and encouraging users to click to see the full content. Pinterest’s in-house creative team, The [...]
Don’t fire your coach too fast: What Olympians can teach business owners August 19, 2016 As an athlete turned business owner, I’ve twice experienced the thrilling, yet gruelling, journey of building something from the ground up. The challenge of achieving an Olympic gold medal win and starting a business aren’t dissimilar. Many of the lessons I learned through my years as an athlete have been invaluable to my entrepreneurial venture in [...]
From the gender pay gap to the minimum wage, the politicisation of pay threatens the UK’s business-friendly reputation August 19, 2016 Economic logic suggests that free determination of employment contracts, like free trade, normally benefits both parties and leads to high levels of employment and economic growth. But this view has never been popular. Fifty years ago, it was the accepted belief that governments should determine pay increases, leading to the dead end of incomes policies [...]
We’ve failed generations of young people by sidelining technical education August 18, 2016 "I hope that technical education will be given in the future a far higher status in educational circles than it has had in the past,” commented an MP during a debate on an education bill. That statement could have come any time in the past century. In fact, it was made by Edward Cobb MP [...]
Sharing economy firms must mobilise the public to fight regulation-hungry politicians August 18, 2016 An increasing number of politicians and commentators are starting to look at the sharing economy as an exploitative one. Once apparently loved by all, it is being portrayed as unregulated and unfair – undermining hard-working people, reducing crucial tax revenue and ignoring the concerns of ordinary people whenever it is necessary. The latest furore in the [...]
After retail sales rose strongly in July, did the Bank of England jump the gun by cutting interest rates? August 18, 2016 Tim Price, manager of the VT Price Value Portfolio, says Yes. Brexit hasn’t even happened yet, but Bank of England governor Mark Carney went out on such a limb on behalf of Project Fear that he had no alternative but to cut interest rates, irrespective of our economic condition and the already sharp decline in sterling. [...]
The time has come for the Olympic Games to be held in the same venue every four years August 18, 2016 Team GB are having quite a party in Rio, grabbing medals left, right and centre. After last night’s events, our men and women sat near the top of the overall medal table, second only to the USA. Unfortunately the Olympics hasn’t been such a success for the host city. Rio is a wondrous location in [...]
Why Brexit won’t take away London’s fintech crown August 17, 2016 The vote for Brexit may not have led to the economic meltdown we were told to fear, but it certainly gave rise to a feeling of disbelief, as the political models and expert commentators many had put their faith in were proven to be way off the mark. Bankers and fintech entrepreneurs alike looked on with [...]
“Brexit means Brexit” means something very different to what people think August 17, 2016 What does “Brexit means Brexit” mean? When Theresa May uttered these words, she almost certainly didn’t know what they will actually mean in practice, and she probably still doesn’t. The conventional wisdom says there are four potential ways forward for the UK. First, stay in the Single Market by remaining in the European Economic Area [...]
Banning diesel cars is essential to tackling London’s pollution crisis August 17, 2016 Writing in City A.M. on Friday last week, Trevor Raymond from the World Platinum Investment Council argued that the phasing out of diesel cars from London’s roads, as recommended in a recent report we published, was a “blunt policy response to a complex and evolving [air pollution] problem”. We totally agree. There is no single [...]