Emmanuel Macron has cast himself as France’s defender against extremism April 26, 2022 You can tell a lot about a person by what they place in their study, their “room of one’s own”, as novelist Virginia Woolf put it. The clues of who a person is – and what they value – are often in plain sight. Newly re-elected French President Emmanuel Macron is no exception to this [...]
Letters: Time to go back to school April 26, 2022 [Re: Most women don’t ‘feel financially independent’ as cost of living crisis bite, yesterday] The results from the Fidelity International survey show that less than half (45 per cent) of women feel financially independent. During a time where people are likely to be facing rising costs, it seems challenging to control and improve finances, and [...]
Explainer-in-brief: Whitehall’s 19th century work-from-office edict April 26, 2022 Jacob Rees-Mogg, one of the last bastions of a bygone era in Parliament, has demanded civil servants return to their desks with a reminder of everything they’ve been missing – passive aggressive notes from colleagues. The minister for – and read this slowly – government efficiency left notes for civil servants not at their desks [...]
A diverse market of payment providers is healthy competition but it comes at a cost April 26, 2022 Today, companies whose raison d’etre is far from fintech find themselves needing to process payments transactions in very large quantities. Yet the historical payments infrastructure, which only supported financial institutions with payments, is increasingly unfit for purpose. What’s happening is that consumer businesses are being forced to become fintechs. This evolution is causing the entire [...]
As house prices hit another all-time high, we need to cut bureaucracy burdening sales April 26, 2022 Yesterday, average house prices in England hit a record high for the third consecutive month, according to RightMove. They reached an average of £360,100. High buyer demand and a limited number of homes available are likely to send prices even higher. Against this backdrop, it’s about time we reconsider the way we buy and sell [...]
Letters: Chatbots to the rescue? April 25, 2022 [Re: Chatbot matrixes are an outdated betrayal of our tech capabilities, April 22] Russ Shaw is right to point out that chatbots, once held up as the next big thing for communication, must be under-pinned by excellent technology and good quality data. Only a well-engineered chatbot will provide a delightful customer experience, but when it [...]
Priti Patel’s single minded focus on the Channel has let talent leave our shores April 25, 2022 Immigration is an issue which cuts through. We have seen this with the firestorm following the announcement about how future migrants crossing the Channel will be diverted to Rwanda. The Home Office has pursued it with distinctive single-mindedness, precisely because of its political pull. One of the most powerful slogans of the Brexit referendum campaign [...]
The Square Mile’s efforts on sustainability must be grounded in real action – not claims April 25, 2022 Earlier this month, the City saw the familiar banners and heard the recognisable chanting of Extinction Rebellion, who made their way across the Square Mile. Protests like theirs have become commonplace globally. Whether you agree with their tactics or not, it is impossible to deny that their actions reflect a shift in the public mood. [...]
Red Wall Conservative voters will abandon Johnson if he backs down on net zero April 25, 2022 Barely two years have passed since Parliament unanimously introduced the world’s first legal commitment to deliver net zero carbon emissions by 2050. But with energy prices rising and cost of living pressures tightening, some on the right wing of politics – from Nigel Farage to Steve Baker – are leading a rearguard action to overturn [...]
Explainer-in-brief: fintechs face-off with the watchdog for legitimacy April 23, 2022 New challenges have arisen for the fintech world, as the Financial Conduct Authority warned of the inadequacy of some of the online banks’ securities against financial crimes. The financial watchdog stressed the importance of striking the right balance between providing effortless and speedy banking services with strong guarantees against fraud. The FCA is worried that [...]