Forget sanctions: Putin has already traumatised fragile Russia March 10, 2014 AT FIRST sight, Vladimir Putin’s assertion of Russia’s power and influence in Crimea has been a neat operation with low costs. Moscow’s aggression can even look like a nice little earner. While the EU, US and IMF offer aid to Ukraine, Russia gets to keep the undisbursed $12bn (£7.2bn) of its $15bn soft loan to [...]
Four reasons Osborne should abolish the Budget March 10, 2014 IN EIGHT days, George Osborne will deliver the penultimate Budget of this Parliament. Despite little indication of what it will contain, newspapers are already rife with speculation, organisations are pushing their favourite policy hobby-horses, broadcasters are booking Budget Day interviewees, and commentators are salivating about what a minor tax cut here, or spending pledge there, [...]
Schools aren’t using new freedoms – but Labour criticism is still wrong March 10, 2014 AT THE heart of the coalition’s education reforms is a move towards greater school autonomy to allow more innovation and, ultimately, better results. The idea has its critics. They contend that school autonomy will diminish the quality of education. The shadow education secretary Tristram Hunt has expressed concern that it will lead to “a competitive, [...]
Why robots are finally breaking into business – but sadly not our kitchens March 10, 2014 ROBOTICS is now the fastest growing industry in the world, according to a recent report from Littler Mendelson, and could well become one of the largest within a matter of decades. Yet for all the hype, and fears of autonomous machines replacing human jobs, this is a comparatively recent development. The fields of robotics and [...]
City Matters: Delivering true meritocracy is not just a moral imperative – it boosts growth March 10, 2014 AS ONLY the second female lord mayor in 800 years, International Women’s Day on Saturday provided an important opportunity to reflect on how attitudes towards gender and diversity have changed over the 106 years since it was first held. We have come a long way in that period, but there is still a long way [...]
Sorry greenbelt: London has a housing crisis and needs to build out and up March 10, 2014 IF YOU think London’s housing crisis is bad, house prices are too high, or rents are extortionate, you ain’t seen nothing yet. The capital’s population is forecast to increase by a further 1m by 2021, yet only 18,380 new homes were built in 2012-13. This is not just a social problem, with increasing numbers struggling [...]
Letters to the Editor – 10/03 – Political failures, Best of Twitter March 10, 2014 Political failures [Re: Cameron is alienating his core voters without attracting new ones, Friday] The day David Cameron ceases to be leader of the Conservatives, many lifelong Tories and ex-Tories will cheer. That day cannot come soon enough. At least all the other parties get to have a leader who actually believes in their own [...]
The limits of celebrity power and the rise of selfie-nomics in one tweet March 7, 2014 IT WAS the tweet heard round the web. The selfie Ellen DeGeneres took during the Oscars became an internet sensation. First, it garnered the most retweets ever: as I write, Twitter reports 3.3m users have recommended it in this way. The previous record holder, President Barack Obama, had managed only 780,000 retweets, for a photograph [...]
City & Gild: How Russia presented my consultancy with a brand dilemma March 7, 2014 Talk about timing: a couple of months ago our brand consultancy was approached to work with Moscow on rebranding Russia to make it more attractive to business. It’s been done before. In the late 1980s, Mikhail Gorbachev dramatically rebranded the Soviet Union, and Russia as its core member, from closed to open, building a nation [...]
Letters to the Editor – 07/03 – Punishing savers, Fractional reserves, Best of Twitter March 6, 2014 Punishing savers [Re: People too scared to save because they don’t trust politicians, yesterday] The older generation, who scrimped and saved in order to buy their homes, have now been punished by having to sell them to pay for their old age care, wiping out any useful inheritance that may have helped their children to [...]