Explainer-in-brief: A long journey of pain for pubs July 19, 2022 It’s a tricky time for pubs – again. Amidst rising energy costs and staff shortages, pubs are struggling to keep their doors open. Fifteen per cent of independent pubs surveyed by the British Institute of Innkeeping said their business is no longer viable. Just days ago the giant JD Wetherspoon warned that higher labour costs [...]
Rishi Sunak says tax cuts are a fairy tale, but he is chasing a Sleeping Beauty fantasy July 19, 2022 TIMES are tough. We need a bold plan to tackle the cost of living and get growth going. I have heard my friend Rishi Sunak argue that this is not the time to cut taxes, despite people facing the heaviest burden since the 1940s. With all due respect to the former chancellor, he is acting [...]
A new Tory leader needs to grapple with the disparate politics of housing July 19, 2022 The candidates to be Britain’s next Conservative leader spent the weekend in a series of spats over economic plans for the future of the UK. You would assume other important topics, such as the pressing housing crisis, would also be front and centre. At the time of writing, Tom Tugendhat was the only one to [...]
If the FCA is given a mandate for competitiveness, it could set us up for a 2008 re-run July 19, 2022 The Financial Services and Markets Bill is set to be published this week, to reshape our future outside of the European Union. But even with newfound freedom, we must not forget the lessons of the financial crisis. The UK has a chance to rethink the rules that shape our critical finance sector. In the face [...]
Letters: Throwing money at the problem July 19, 2022 [Re:War for talent swells new starter City pay packets, yesterday] Competition for talent is at fever pitch, and strong competition among City law firms has led to pay packages for the newest lawyers reaching dizzying heights at some of the US giants. However, with an economic slowdown potentially on the cards and existing employees disgruntled [...]
The dizzying tax promises of the Tory campaigns aren’t enough for the City July 18, 2022 IT WAS more than four years ago now since the outgoing prime minister, Boris Johnson, remarked to the Belgian ambassador to the EU that his approach to the private sector was “f*** business”. For a leading Conservative politician with ambitions towards Downing Street, it was an extraordinary thing to say. Yet it was clearly an [...]
Public money, tied to political decisions won’t save us from the climate challenge July 18, 2022 We are now just over 100 days from Cop27 in Sharm el-Sheikh. It only feels like yesterday that many of us in the Square Mile made the journey to Glasgow for Cop26, working hard to ensure that financial and professional services played its part in helping keep climate change goals within reach. Yet with just [...]
Letters: Going down with the ship July 18, 2022 [Re: Another one gone in Tory PM contest, July 15] It seems to me that choosing the next Tory leader could hardly be simpler. Johnson’s demise came about because he lied, lied and lied again. If you want honesty and reliability it’s logical to dismiss as unsuitable for leadership those who, pretty much daily, toured [...]
Explainer-in-brief: Summer of Discontent, continued July 16, 2022 Brace for more industrial action. The RMT, led by media sensation Mick Lynch, will be striking again on the July 27, right before the Commonwealth Games open in Birmingham. On top of that, the union has announced two additional strike days on August 18 and 20, in the middle of the holiday season. Meanwhile, the [...]
Explainer-in-brief: The tumultuous history of the online safety bill July 15, 2022 The Online Safety Bill – drafted with the aim of making “Big Tech” accountable for the content published on their platforms – has been delayed in Parliament. It will be inherited by a new prime minister and culture secretary in the autumn. The bill’s history traces back to David Cameron’s premiership, when the idea of [...]