Queen’s Speech: Planning reforms are badly needed but must also deliver for London’s hopeful homeowners May 11, 2021 The Queen’s Speech will include the biggest overhaul of England’s planning system in seventy years. The country will be split into “growth” and “protection” zones – with a potential third “regeneration” designation. Growth areas will have limited restrictions on development while building in protection areas will be restricted. The zones are to be designated by [...]
We must open up venture capital investment to pension funds to deliver for British savers May 11, 2021 Darktrace’s IPO was a relief to investors and founders considering a float on the London market, doing much to take away the bitter aftertaste left by Deliveroo’s lacklustre debut at the start of April. Yet even this very British success story, founded by expert mathematicians in Cambridge and invested in by some of the UK’s [...]
Vaccine patents: When does free for all become a free-for-all? May 10, 2021 As the UK begins to see the light at the end of the Covid tunnel, at least in terms of mass vaccination and the lifting of most personal restrictions, the virus has hit the headlines anew elsewhere in the world. Its virulent spread in India has been the most eye-catching and heart-rending, with deaths topping [...]
Scotland election: Boris Johnson must face down the threat of independence with the spirit of Northern Conservatives May 10, 2021 Two things were confirmed by last week’s election result in Scotland: the country is split down the middle on the question of independence and Scots want to keep the prospect of a second independence referendum on the horizon, but no closer than that. More than two and half million voters took part in the election, [...]
Forget Cornwall, London should be the summer holiday destination of choice May 10, 2021 There’s nowhere in the world as vibrant as a central London street in the evening. People come from all over the world, to be with people from all over the world. A person born in Camden can sit outside a café next to someone who has just arrived from the airport to start a new [...]
The City skyline is changing and will earn its keep as a world-leader May 10, 2021 The Government will this week set out whether England can take the next step in its roadmap for easing lockdown restrictions as expected on 17 May. The data seems positive, so we hope to see more people returning to the Square Mile soon for work, hospitality, shopping and everything else on offer – other than, [...]
GDPR is three years old this month – has it really disrupted the business of data? May 9, 2021 We all remember it: the onslaught of emails from every newsletter we had ever signed up to asking us to confirm we were happy to stay in their database. The introduction of the General Data Protection Regulation three years ago threatened to cause ruptures in the way we dealt with our information. It can seem [...]
The turf wars for on-demand delivery won’t be won with a fast and dirty business model May 8, 2021 Getir, Dijia, Weezy, Zapp and Fancy. There is a handful of the new on-demand grocery delivery apps that have flooded London’s streets over the last few months. Behind each of them is a fierce turf war for customers, as they try and capitalise on the now ubiquitous presence of food delivery. The surge of grocery [...]
Labour’s credibility is hanging by a thread – the defeat in Hartlepool is just the beginning May 7, 2021 When Labour MP Mike Hill resigned his Hartlepool seat in March, many speculated that the by-election would pose a major challenge for Keir Starmer. Few would have believed the Conservatives would manage kind of landslide victory which was announced early on Friday morning. Just for a government to gain a seat in a by-election is [...]
Liberty Steel was a distraction. There is a race for clean steel and Britain is losing May 7, 2021 The threat to Sanjeev Gupta’s Liberty Steel empire brought back an ancient debate. There were the predictable calls for the government to intervene, bail them out, save jobs, while ministers continue to try and keep the plants running. It is a familiar cycle of struggle and rescue. But the steel industry has one foot stuck [...]