Playing nice with trade unions won’t fix public services September 5, 2024 With trade unions promising further strike action despite generous pay settlements, Labour have found themselves in a bind of their own making, say Matthew Lesh Throughout the election campaign, Keir Starmer repeatedly pledged to end strikes by engaging in constructive dialogue with the unions. This always sounded like a pretty hollow promise. How could simply talking to [...]
Worst Corporate Jargon of the Week Awards: Scrum September 5, 2024 A scrum is not a casual Slack video call or an innocent gathering of penguins. No, a scrum is something more akin to a belief system.
Incompetence that led to Grenfell shames us all September 4, 2024 Justice necessarily involves the apportion of blame, but in the case of the Grenfell tower catastrophe, there is so much liability to go around it seems impossible that the bereaved will ever feel they have had full redress. The inquiry’s final report, published yesterday, is an astonishing catalogue of error at every level. Governments stretching [...]
Labour can’t resist flirting with economic populism September 4, 2024 Keir Starmer’s closest advisors spent last week briefing journalists that this government would be straight with people, and that it would reject the “fake populism” of the Tories which, they claim, raised people’s hopes before disappointing them. Labour figures said that the Prime Minister’s doom-laden introduction to the country was more responsible than attempting to [...]
Should Larry the cat be worried by Starmer’s new kitten? September 4, 2024 Keir Starmer may not have won over business yet, but he’s at least managed a compromise within his own household, with the Prime Minister announcing the addition of a new kitten to 10 Downing Street following a summer of negotiations with his children (a German Shepherd had initially been demanded). The Siberian kitten – who [...]
Spending without productivity improvements won’t lead to better public services September 4, 2024 Restoring the differentials in public and private sector pay to those which prevailed in 2010 without quid pro quo increases in productivity is simply stirring up trouble for the future, says Paul Ormerod The decision by the government to stuff money into the bank accounts of the train drivers and junior doctors has been widely [...]
Oasis ticket prices are none of the government’s business September 4, 2024 Labour’s plans to intervene in the market for Oasis tickets betray a basic ignorance of the principles of supply and demand, says James Price So, Sally can wait – and wait and wait online for Oasis tickets. Or Taylor Swift, or whatever a Charli XCX is. That’s what happens when there is lots of demand [...]
Pavel Durov’s arrest sets a dangerous precedent September 3, 2024 The idea of holding tech CEOs like Telegram’s Pavel Durov criminally liable for content on their sites should worry anyone who cares about free speech, says Matthew Feeney Late last month, French authorities arrested the CEO of the messaging service Telegram, Pavel Durov, after his plane touched down in Paris-Le Bourget Airport. He faces multiple [...]
The government needs a flight plan September 3, 2024 Airport capacity is a vital national infrastructure issue critical to growth, but we have no idea where the government stands, says Eliot Wilson Michael O’Leary, the veteran CEO of Ryanair, is a reliable source of copy. Last week this paper reported his view that the next runway to be built to serve London would not [...]
Letter: As a freeman of the City, I would welcome Taylor Swift! September 3, 2024 I've been reading City A.M. for 15 years or so now & really enjoy it. I've just read Anna's article on Hampstead Heath (& the previous one on Taylor Swift).