The office is a particularly important place for startups September 11, 2020 Remote working is liberating us from the shackles of outdated, 20th Century habits, goes the prevailing narrative. We are freed from the purgatory of the daily commute and are spared office gossip, time-wasting meetings or pointless rituals. Major corporations seem to have embraced this ethos too. Google has said that most employees can be home-based [...]
The UK needs a science-led cannabis industry to help people get prescriptions September 10, 2020 Cannabis has been legal medically since November 2018, but it is still not easy to get a prescription. It is sadly the reality in the UK that the vast majority of cannabis is still supplied by the black market, and not by doctors. When you consider that some estimates suggest that about 1.3m people in [...]
London Tech Week: Let’s call time on the capital’s tech ‘not spots’ September 10, 2020 Walking through east London this summer, the beating heart of the UK’s tech ecosystem had become a ghost city, with empty streets, co-working spaces and cafes. Like most industries, the Covid-19 pandemic has driven the sector behind closed doors. Yet, bubbling below the surface is a defiant community of tech entrepreneurs that will prove absolutely [...]
Spare a thought for line managers in the world of hybrid working conditions September 10, 2020 As I left my bustling neighbourhood in West London recently, to commute to my office in the empty streets of central London, it became clear that a widespread return to office-based work in the UK is tentative to say the least. Britain’s employees are returning to their workplaces at a snail’s pace (just 34 per [...]
London’s startup scene is under threat – here’s how we can safeguard our entrepreneurs September 10, 2020 Following one of the biggest economic upheavals in living memory, London is now resetting itself. But our capital’s startups have taken a bruising in the last few months and their recovery requires urgent action. The impact has not been uniform, as some investment is still flowing. But investors have been backing portfolio companies, or in [...]
Emotional intelligence can be just as important as intellect in the workplace September 9, 2020 Sometimes it is hard to step back and see yourself as others see you. Yet when you do, it can be a game changer. For me, that moment came during an internal review with a colleague. My perception of myself as a boss who is empathetic to the people around me was upturned with one [...]
The mutant algorithm: what actually went wrong with this year’s school exams September 9, 2020 The Prime Minister described it as a “mutant algorithm”. Social commentators were naturally outraged as it disproportionately upgraded the results of children from private schools, while downgrading those from state schools, especially in the poorest areas. Few people actually understood how it worked, as the technical report from the UK Office for Qualifications (Ofqual) purporting [...]
DEBATE: Has enforced working from home during the coronavirus pandemic benefited women in the workplace? September 9, 2020 For the City A.M. debate, Sheree Atcheson and Angelica Reyes Froment consider how work from home rules have impacted women. Sheree Atcheson, director of diversity, equity and inclusion at Peakon, says NO The notion that the coronavirus pandemic has given women the flexibility they yearn for is completely false. Thanks to entrenched gender norms, women [...]
On coronavirus, governments have been the most irrational of us all September 9, 2020 Decisions, whether by individuals, companies or governments, are often made with imperfect and incomplete information. This is so obvious as to hardly seem worth stating. But for well over a century economic theory assumed that decisions were made with complete information. Economists knew full well that this was not always the case. The problem was [...]
The creative sector is vital to London – we must save it before it is too late September 8, 2020 Save our arts. That is the rallying call. It is a worthy one. The UK’s creative sector is a dynamic part of the economy, but it has been among the areas hit hardest by the coronavirus crisis and looks likely to recover last. While areas like retail and housing are rebounding solidly, the arts are prevented [...]