Don’t let London become a Donut: Crowded on the outside, empty in the middle October 2, 2020 As a Londoner born and bred, I am acutely sensitive to the ebb and flow of people travelling in and out of London on a daily basis — the human tide of our capital. Despite various pleas and edicts, right now the centre of London is pretty much empty. The tide went out abruptly at [...]
Andrew Neil’s GB News will test whether there is appetite for a Fox News-style news channel in the UK October 2, 2020 The announcement this week that Andrew Neil, the doyen of political broadcasters since David Dimbleby quit the stage, was to be chairman of GB News and anchor its flagship evening show four times a week breathed new life into a story that had become a little stale. It was momentous for a number of reasons: [...]
Why Klarna — not Revolut or Monzo — represents the winning fintech strategy in a pandemic October 2, 2020 Last month, a new funding round gave buy-now-pay-later (BNPL) fintech Klarna a headline valuation of $10.65bn. At a stroke, Klarna became the most valuable fintech in Europe – more than double the value of Revolut and almost 10 times more than Monzo. Why, in the middle of a pandemic, has Klarna inspired such investor confidence? [...]
The hotel industry needs to reinvent itself – and fast October 2, 2020 In the 1800s, several new hotels emerged that reimagined the standards for luxury accommodation. Over the course of the next two centuries, grand hotels withstood the Great Depression, two world wars, and countless market disruptors — always finding a way to reset their role in society. The global hotel industry has been through hard times [...]
Bailey: Khan is failing to get London moving again October 1, 2020 Over the last few months, coronavirus has forced our elected representatives to make some tough choices. And the overwhelming majority of Londoners have supported them. We stopped going into offices. We stopped making unnecessary trips to the shops. We shut down pubs, restaurants and hospitality businesses for months on end. We followed the rules, played [...]
The UK can’t afford to delay a vital 5G rollout October 1, 2020 Making Britain more competitive requires investment in digital infrastructure – especially 5G The Government set itself a mighty task in announcing its determination to ‘level up’ the British economy last year. But that challenge has become all the harder in recent months. Growth in economically disadvantaged areas was already keenly sought but the impact of [...]
Zombification is spreading through companies in the euro zone October 1, 2020 On 24 September 2020, euro area banks raised an additional €175bn in the fifth round of the so-called Targeted Longer-Term Refinancing Operations (TLTROs). The stock of outstanding loans, most of which now have a maturity of three years, has jumped by €1,130bn since January to €1,700bn. The ceiling is currently set by the ECB at [...]
Why the government must give more support to London’s hospitality sector October 1, 2020 Hospitality and tourism have felt the force of Covid-19 like no other sector. Green shoots started to emerge during the summer months, as Eat Out to Help Out, a staycation boom and the warm weather put much-needed cash in the registers of hotels and restaurants across the UK. While London remained quiet, there was some [...]
Covid-19 has exposed the faults within the broken NHS system October 1, 2020 The NHS Confederation this week raised concerns about the health service’s ability to cope with a second wave and a vast backlog of treatments over the course of the winter, strengthening an already-watertight case for system-level reform of the UK’s healthcare system. Over the course of this crisis, the NHS’s status has reached a new [...]
Not all sellers are equal — why cladding changes are urgently needed to free up the UK property market October 1, 2020 According to Rightmove, people searching for a home in a village jumped by 126 per cent in June and July compared with the same period last year. That figure should not be surprising, given that if you’ve been cooped up in a smaller flat, with less living space because you thought most of your time [...]