Shunting civil servants around the UK will never deliver what enterprise can February 8, 2022 You campaign in poetry. You govern in prose. Advice from the past that seems pertinent to a government committing levelling up into law. What was a slogan is now “12 national missions” published in a white paper last week, to provide a central mission for government to deliver economic parity to all regions of the [...]
Explainer-in brief: A Winter games of politics and controversy February 7, 2022 Last Friday, the Beijing Winter Olympics kicked off with a whirl of lights and colour. But it was also surrounded by a storm of controversy which threatens to overshadow the games. A handful of nations, including the US and the UK, have staged a diplomatic boycott of the event (meaning athletes, but no officials will [...]
The City thrives on predictability as well as agility and we must protect this post-Brexit February 7, 2022 This week marks a pivotal moment for financial services in post-Brexit Britain. More than two years since the UK formally left the EU, the completion of the Future Regulatory Framework Review consultation on Wednesday will herald long expected changes to the financial service sector framework. The UK’s regulatory regime is widely regarded as one of the [...]
Rishi Sunak’s cost-of-living hand out is a classic example of short-term, overburdened Treasury brain February 7, 2022 Last week, as the cake crumbs were cleared away and the fizz went out of the champagne, there was a serious announcement from the chancellor, Rishi Sunak. There had been an energy crisis looming, prices set to soar, and the government knew that this would feed into a damaging narrative that the cost of living [...]
Our regulators can protect high standards and deliver strong competition in the UK February 7, 2022 The UK’s banking and finance markets are fiercely competitive, with firms fighting for business and customers every single day. At the same time, the UK competes with financial centres around the world to secure business and attract new investment and talent. Late last year, the Treasury set out a range of proposals to help ensure [...]
Rowing a very long way: meet the two entrepreneurs who crossed the Atlantic for charity February 5, 2022 Among all the noble ways to raise money for a charitable cause, Guy Rigby and David Murray chose an unconventional one – to say the least. The two businessmen rowed across the Atlantic for seven weeks, breaking the world record as the oldest couple to ever row across any ocean. Indeed Guy is 68 and [...]
New Zealand’s exit from isolation is only the first test February 4, 2022 After two years of harsh and emotionally devastating border controls, New Zealand’s Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has announced the country will finally relax expensive hotel quarantine requirements for returning Kiwis. It will happen in stages, starting with New Zealand citizens coming from Australia; international students will be barred until April. But the test won’t be [...]
New York Times’ pursuit of subscribers over profit buys into a Big Tech delusion February 4, 2022 Those five, elusive letters. Only when I have found them can my day begin. Alas, they may soon become more elusive still. This week, the New York Times bought Wordle for an undisclosed, seven-figure fee. Ominously, the “Gray Lady” has promised only that Wordle will “initially remain free”. The New York Times has been unusually [...]
Council tax will cushion the cost of living crisis, but it accepts an outdated policy February 4, 2022 With inflation soaring, people are becoming increasingly desperate. Inflation is at record levels, sitting at 4.8 per cent in December and expected to soar as high as 7 per cent by April. The repercussions of this will be particularly strenuous on the most vulnerable. Indeed, the price of essential items that make up a larger [...]
London’s status as a safe haven for dirty foreign money relies on our own complicity February 4, 2022 For a decade, Zamira Hajiyeva, the wife of a jailed Azerbaijani banker, spent an average of £4,000 a day in Harrods. It was only in 2019 that the law finally caught up with her £16m Harrods bill. Her unexplained wealth – including a £12m Knightsbridge house – are set to be seized. Hajiyeva is a [...]