Rishi Sunak’s Kickstart scheme can help blunt the impending youth unemployment crisis September 18, 2020 This week’s unemployment figures from the Office for National Statistics paint a gloomy picture for Britain’s young people. In the UK those aged 16 to 24 have been hit hardest by job losses since the economy locked down. There were 156,000 fewer young people in employment in the three months to July when compared with [...]
Thomas Cook is back – but how long will the digital travel company last? September 18, 2020 Launching a new travel brand during a pandemic is brave. Launching a travel brand synonymous with failure is even braver. But backed by a new owner and a reinvented online-only model, Thomas Cook is back. The move to online-only makes sense. Its airline was conspicuously old-fashioned. And in a market today polarised between low-cost, low [...]
Quarantine quagmire – when will UK plc be open for business? September 18, 2020 If ever the term “too many cooks” needed a case study, then you’d need look no further than the government’s quarantine policy for those arriving in the UK. There are no fewer than four government departments which have a say in the policy – the Department for Transport, the Foreign Office, the Home Office and [...]
Debate: Should Sadiq Khan be allowed to freeze London rents for the next two years? September 17, 2020 Mayor of London Sadiq Khan yesterday said that rents should be frozen in London to prevent a predicted wave of evictions caused by Covid-19. He called for new powers to prevent any rent increases for two years in the capital, warning that half a million people could face eviction because of arrears built up during [...]
Open source should always have been the way for the Covid-19 contact tracing app September 17, 2020 The government should have gone with an open source contact tracing app from the beginning, argues Tom Bianchi. The long-awaited Covid-19 contact tracing app will launch in the UK next week, marking a “defining moment”, according to health secretary Matt Hancock, in our response to the virus. While this is encouraging, the app should have [...]
Covid-19 is not slowing climate change – businesses still have to do their bit September 17, 2020 Much has been made of the so-called global reset brought about by the pandemic, and many have subscribed to the Instagram-ready notion that the earth is healing due to lockdowns. This is despite the effect of Covid-19 on the environment being either negligible or harmful. For policy makers, the immediate and tangible threat to life [...]
This is the secret to creating a crisis-proof brand September 17, 2020 This year has been full of uncertainty for everyone – from individuals, to nations and to brands. This Covid-induced insecurity has fuelled fear and heightened the need for organisations to project confidence and surety. Making sense of this new environment and how to navigate our anxious world, is essential for brands and their leadership. How [...]
Corporate Social Responsibility is over – but that is no bad thing September 17, 2020 I believe that Corporate Social Responsibility is over. That is not to say that CSR programmes do not deliver tremendous impact, many do. It is just that the impact is invariably nuanced for stakeholders. With today’s ever-growing trend of individualism, such nuance is ineffective. Businesses are under great stakeholder pressure to be more purposeful, to [...]
Shakespeare: New fees and negative interest rates dent Starling’s public perception September 16, 2020 On 4 September, media reports revealed that Starling Bank would be introducing a “new charging structure” for certain services. Customers will now pay £5 for replacing lost cards, a £2 monthly fee for users who wish to open additional current accounts, and £20 for any payment made through the CHAPS payment system. It was also [...]
A New Look for high street retail? Here’s what matters in the Covid-19 world September 16, 2020 It has been what Sir Alex Ferguson used to call “squeaky bum time” for fashion retailer New Look these past few days. On Monday it was being reported that British Land and Landsec, two of the chain’s biggest landlords, were preparing to vote against the proposed company voluntary arrangement (CVA) which would have switched the [...]