The vibrancy of our lives, careers and our city depends on a return working together March 14, 2022 Spring is in the air and the sound of footfall is increasingly common across the City of London. Lunchtime queues at popular Square Mile’s cafes, restaurants and shops are spilling out across our streets and this renewed buzz – particularly midweek – is bringing back the creative energy that is the lifeblood of the City. [...]
Letters: A much-needed shakeup for education March 14, 2022 [Re: Covid fuels deepening education inequalities in UK, March 11] The Education Select Committee’s findings that the pandemic has fuelled education equalities in England brings to light the serious impact of learning loss for young people. Findings also show that Yorkshire and the Humber and the North-East are the worst affected areas with the average [...]
Saturday Sitdown: In five years remote working will ‘just be work’, says digitally-native brands guru March 12, 2022 As the city begins to ramp up again and offices swing open their doors the debate rolls on – how many days should people return to the office? Should this be mandatory or flexible? Will the days be set or of a person’s choosing? Employers and employees find themselves at loggerheads when it comes to [...]
Can the world’s first climate change escape room really help us change the ways we act? March 11, 2022 I’m standing in what used to be a Paul Smith store in Covent Garden, but instead of browsing for snazzy striped shirts I’m on my hands and knees, poking my head through a hole in a table and blowing air at a model wind turbine. Can I simulate the process of making green energy all [...]
Letters: Making the most out of crypto March 11, 2022 [Re: Biden signs executive order on crypto amid surging US adoption, March 9] Is Biden beckoning the beginning of the end for “wild west” crypto markets? The executive order hints at more regulation of digital assets, which has implications for how institutions engage with the burgeoning asset class. For example, quant driven hedge funds running [...]
Explainer-in-brief: OPEC+ isn’t coming to the rescue March 11, 2022 As the US and the UK took the dramatic step of turning away from Russian oil, the Biden administration has been putting significant pressure on the group of Gulf oil suppliers to ramp up production. The OPEC+ group, which includes Russia, resisted the calls to pump more crude to help bring down oil prices, which [...]
We need to hold our nerve on green levies as the energy crisis starts to bite March 11, 2022 Disruption in the energy markets is set to drive up bills for every family and business in Britain. With gas prices in the UK recently reaching an all-time high, the consumer impact will be profound. Millions of households are expected to see annual energy bills of £3,000, and many face fuel poverty in an escalating [...]
Supermarkets made hay from restrictions, now they need to consolidate to keep going March 11, 2022 THE rapid grocery delivery sector has grown at a staggering pace across Europe and the US. Two years on from when we first saw Getir, Weezy, Zapp and Gorillas advertised on buses and hoardings across London, data from the ONS revealed the average weekly sales of online groceries in December 2021 were £372m – more [...]
Brexit has dented Britain’s exports when we should be relaunching our global brand March 11, 2022 It is fair to say that this government is facing a myriad of challenges. Having pushed Brexit through and just about overcome the pandemic, the government is now facing war in Ukraine and a cost-of-living crisis at home. On top of this, the structural challenges of “levelling up”, boosting growth, and making a success of [...]
Public willingness must match private money to break the housing deadlock March 10, 2022 ANY Londoner is painfully familiar with the number of rough sleepers. Some spots are focal points for make-shift “camps” of people; for example outside Warren Street station, there are often at least 25 homeless people. During the first year of the pandemic alone, 130,000 households were made homeless. With a cost of living crisis already [...]