Letters: Cheap food costs us all May 3, 2022 [Re: Small businesses suffer unprecedented cost assault in sign of more economic woes, Monday 25] Amidst reports of swelling costs eating away at small businesses’ margins, agriculture has been particularly hard hit. Cheap food comes at a high price to the farming industry and now more than ever, farmers require the right kind of support [...]
Explainer-in-brief: Inside the debate over retail investors May 3, 2022 Retail investors have historically been excluded from accessing IPOs and investing in public floats. Critics of retail investors say they lack the knowledge, security and funds of institutional investors pose a threat to the stability of financial markets. There are fears inexperienced individual investors might start panic selling at the slightest hint of a dip, [...]
Westminster has much to learn from the resilience of post-pandemic London May 3, 2022 Last week the City AM Awards 2022 were held in the Guildhall, the ancient seat of government for the City of London. There was an air of celebration, and many dinner jackets and evening gowns were being worn for the first time in months, if not years. There was unanimity on the message which everyone [...]
A withering trade relationship with Latin America should be restored for the planet May 3, 2022 Diplomats from across the world gathered at the Mansion House last week for the Easter Banquet – the first to be held since the pandemic – amid the escalating crisis in Ukraine. The occasion underlined how much the City of London is part of the UK’s diplomacy, its international influence and its soft power. It [...]
Bringing retail investors into the fold creates equality of opportunity from our wealth May 3, 2022 In the 1980s, one of the UK’s most high-profile flotations was the privatisation of the state-owned British Gas. The government’s “Tell Sid” 1986 advertising campaign attracted many of its 500,000-strong army of private investors. During the countdown to the British Gas shares sale, the government courted subscriptions from retail investors in every way imaginable – [...]
China’s reckless pursuit of zero-Covid must finally teach us resilience in supply chains April 30, 2022 China's pursuit of zero-Covid has caused pandemic-era supply chains to continue to cause repercussions across the world.
Letters: Trusting me, trusting VC April 29, 2022 [Re: UK venture capital surges ahead of Europe as investors shake off market jitters, April 22] Pitchbook’s analysis reveals one thing very clearly: VCs in the UK are full steam ahead in 2022. VCs in Britain and Ireland have committed nearly £7bn in the last few months, nearly a third of total European investment. The [...]
Explainer-in-brief: Voters, get your id at the ready April 29, 2022 The government will have the final say on the controversial topic of voter ID after the elections bill was passed. It will make the local elections the last time voters can cast a ballot without photo ID. The list of documents accepted includes passports, driving licences, and travel passes for older people such as the [...]
Our tech industry is being undermined by a psyche allergic to global growth April 29, 2022 The tech sector in the UK is in high-growth mode. In 2021, there was a record-breaking $35.1bn investment into tech, almost 120 tech unicorns and nearly 40 tech IPOs. The record level of venture capital investment in the UK has increased the valuations of both public and private tech companies, putting Britain third in the [...]
Hiring ex-prisoners will make our streets safer and shave billions off the taxpayers’ bill April 29, 2022 People who choose to break the law should rightly be punished by being locked away in prison. But when it is time for them to be released back into society, the majority will find themselves not locked in but locked out – from getting jobs. This matters because research shows that offenders who have jobs [...]