Sunak gives with one hand and takes with another to paint a positive veneer March 28, 2022 LAST week’s spring statement—the chancellor’s mini-budget, and a significant opportunity to lay out priorities and plans—was a big event for Rishi Sunak. While Covid cases persist and people are still dying, there is a broader feeling that the pandemic is now under control, and that the country can now think about moving into a post-virus [...]
Opinion-in-brief: A divided cabinet shows there is no quick energy fix March 28, 2022 Boris Johnson’s calls to ramp up wind and nuclear power reflect his desperation to shore up the security of the country’s energy supplies and his enthusiasm for the net zero agenda, but they also defy the deepening splits within his own cabinet. Downing Street and the Treasury are at loggerheads over the Prime Minister’s push [...]
The big bucks world for esports March 28, 2022 Leah Montebello on one London site’s bid for a part of the lucrative global esports pie...
To make the City rich in socio-economic diversity, we need a measure of it first March 28, 2022 THE City of London today is a far more diverse place than when I started out my career as a lawyer. The workers spilling out of the tube stations, flitting between offices, grabbing coffees and enjoying the Square Mile’s vibrant hospitality venues are now a rich cosmopolitan blend, representing every corner of the globe. Strikingly [...]
Opinion-in-brief: Instagram and TikTok outlawed on the roads – finally March 25, 2022 From today, people driving and using their phones for any activity will be breaking the law. Reckless drivers could face a fine of up to £1,000, 6 points on their licence or a full ban. “I will do everything in my power to keep road-users safe”, Transport Secretary Grant Shapps proudly announced. The new measures, [...]
Letters: A return to the City streets March 25, 2022 [Re: £5bn investment turnover for central London office market since start of 2022] Post-Omicron optimism has helped refuel confidence in London’s office market to the tune of £5bn since the turn of the year – and rightly so. Investors have correctly identified the underlying fundamentals of the City. The offices that will continue to attract [...]
Sunak wants to be a low-tax Tory but instead he’s following the US and picking winners March 25, 2022 When Frank Sinatra first uttered the words “the best is yet to come”, the UK’s fiscal strategy probably couldn’t have been further from his mind. But the words ring true after a spring statement that did little to make life any easier for those of us who make a living trying to read the Chancellor’s [...]
An Evergreen gift: supply chain plans need to move from the Dark Ages onto our screen March 25, 2022 In March last year, the plight of a ship, stuck in the Suez canal became a fixation for people across the world. The Ever Given became grounded and caused reverberations to global supply chains for weeks. The latest misadventure is that of the ironically named Ever Forward, which grounded in Chesapeake Bay near Baltimore, Maryland. [...]
The public shaming of P&O won’t help us give up the habit of exploitation for good March 25, 2022 We all know the playbook by now. Big corporation does something immoral or illegal, often both. Cue public outcry and calls for “something to be done”. The chief exec is hauled before a parliamentary committee to account for himself (it’s usually a man) and then, well … that’s often where things end. But this time, [...]
Editorial: P&O boss’s performance is a slow motion ferry crash into reputational damage March 25, 2022 If one of London’s esteemed public relations agencies was involved in the briefing of P&O boss Peter Hebblethwaite before his appearance in front of a parliamentary committee yesterday, it would perhaps be wise for said firm not to put it in their next pitch document. In the annals of disastrous select committee hearings, this was [...]