Raise a glass to the City’s rich history of pubs, taverns and inns September 12, 2024 Samuel Johnson, the great 18th century writer, poet, and lexicographer, spent much of his life on Fleet Street, in the City of London. Dr Johnson’s house in Gough Square still stands a mere drunken stumble from pubs that the great man would have frequented, such as Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese. In Johnson’s London, Fleet Street [...]
The Debate: Wetherspoons – is it magical or miserable? September 12, 2024 Wetherspoons, JD Wetherspoon, or Spoons as most of us call it. Should we be proud or ashamed?
The real star of The Grand Tour is friendship September 12, 2024 It’s not the individual talents of Jeremy Clarkson, James May and Richard Hammond that have made Top Gear and the Grand Tour such great shows – it’s the connection between them, says Will Cooling This Friday will truly mark an end of an era, with the former stars of Top Gear completing their last televised [...]
The real fiscal ‘black hole’ is government debt September 11, 2024 When one of the most senior figures in investment banking was asked at a private event last week what keeps him awake at night, he replied “government debt”. A recent House of Lords report will not help him sleep any easier. The Economics Affairs Committee has warned of the “grim reality” that at £2.74 trillion [...]
Why is the Bar Standards Board politicising our profession? September 11, 2024 The Bar Standards Board’s plans to introduce a professional duty to advance DEI will turn chambers meetings into maoist struggle sessions, says Andrew Lomas The Bar Standards Board (BSB) – the body that regulates barristers in England and Wales – has recently proposed to replace a barrister’s core duty to not unlawfully discriminate with a [...]
Is there such a thing as a ‘fair’ price? Definitely, maybe… September 11, 2024 Oasis tickets have stirred controversy, but the question of how prices are set in a market goes all the way back to Alfred Marshall and Francis Edgeworth, says Paul Ormerod The pricing of tickets for the forthcoming Oasis tour has stirred up a major controversy. This is not just on social media. Lisa Nandy, the [...]
The Notebook: Is Wapping the best place in London? September 11, 2024 With its cobbled streets, unspoiled apartment blocks and tall warehouse conversions with painted shutters, Wapping is a vision of a Victorian past.
The winter fuel cut is Starmer’s first peek into the Too Difficult Box. Now give him courage! September 11, 2024 Means-testing winter fuel payments show Starmer is willing to peek into the Too Difficult Box, but he must resist to urge to slam it shut again, writes James Price
Labour’s employment rights package is playing with fire September 10, 2024 In the years following the financial crisis, the UK faced an unemployment challenge. As the great recession bit, the unemployment rate started to rise – peaking at over 8 per cent in 2012, around about the time former chancellor George Osborne was being booed at the Olympics. However, by the end of that year the [...]
The Notebook: Labour is charting a dangerous course on free speech September 10, 2024 Labour's proposed expansion of the Online Safety Act is a troubling step for free speech, writes Big Brother Watch director Silkie Carlo.