On this day: “God’s Banker” found dead, suicide or murder? June 18, 2026 On 18th June 1982, Roberto Calvi, a banker with close ties to both the Vatican and the Mafia was found hanged under Blackfriars Bridge. Eliot Wilson asks what happened The temperature was climbing by 7.30am on Friday 18 June 1982 and had reached 14°C, but London remained cloudy and wet. A postal clerk was walking [...]
Cruxy founder: The worst advice I’ve ever had? Stay in your lane June 18, 2026 Each week, we dig into the memory bank of the City’s great and good. Today, Carrie Osman tells us about going from mucking out stables to building a tech start-up in Square Mile and Me CV What was your first job? Helping out around stables from when I was about three! Horses teach accountability faster than [...]
John Healey’s principles will cost UK defence companies June 17, 2026 Defence secretary John Healey supposedly quit for British industry, but he has inadvertently handed the main win to its competitors.
Small businesses can help solve defence procurement June 17, 2026 A neutral vendor model for defence procurement will solve issues of scale, reduce bureaucracy and reduce the risks of engagement for all sides, says Rob Levene John Healey and Al Carns may have quit, but the final answer to the question that triggered their exits as defence secretary and armed forces minister has been left [...]
It’s time to scrap the Equality Act June 17, 2026 Pernicious New Labour legislation is distorting the jobs market and costing business, says Joe Dinnage It’s a golden rule of good writing to invoke George Orwell as little as possible. Chronically overused, the term ‘Orwellian’ is to newspaper columnists what ‘obviously’ is to football pundits. Occasionally, however, rules must be broken. We at the Prosperity [...]
Burnham’s focused on spending but at least Streeting’s thinking about growth June 17, 2026 So, what’s it going to be? An end to 40 years of neoliberalism or a future shaped by progressive capitalism? That, at least, is the choice represented by Andy Burnham and Wes Streeting. The former health secretary delivered an impressive speech yesterday, offering an alternative economic vision to the more left-leaning instincts of Labour’s candidate [...]
Catalytic capital is the next phase in philanthropy June 17, 2026 Increasingly, philanthropists and the businesses and investors who think like them are asking how we move beyond responding to crises and start addressing their causes? says Jane Thompson As the UK enters one of the largest intergenerational wealth transfers in its history, a new generation of business leaders, investors and entrepreneurs has an opportunity to [...]
Belu Water CEO: What does business as a force for good actually look like? June 17, 2026 Social enterprises prove that a morally good economy is also a prosperous one, says Charlotte Harrington What does “business as a force for good actually look like? The phrase is thrown around all the time. Is it about growing the economy? Helping vulnerable communities? Making sustainable choices in the middle of an environmental crisis? I’ve [...]
Inaction on abusive legal actions is a SLAPP in the face June 16, 2026 Everybody should have the protection they need to speak to truth to power. That’s why we must reform Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation, abusive legal actions used by powerful or wealthy individuals or organisations to stifle critical speech, say Baroness Stowell and John Whittingdale Like many others, we watched the King’s Speech last month with [...]
Two-tier taxes are not the way to get Britain back to work June 16, 2026 Reform’s plan to cut employer National Insurance for Brits but not immigrants is not the way to fix unemployment. Lower jobs taxes for everyone would be better, says Joanna Marchong Reform’s pitch has been consistent from the start. Brits first. Patriotism is a universal solvent for problems that are, on inspection, structural rather than national. [...]