DEBATE: Should we be worried about the privacy issues around the contact tracing app? June 8, 2020 Should we be worried about the security and privacy issues around the government’s contact tracing app? Silkie Carlo, director of Big Brother Watch, says YES. The government’s contact tracing strategy raises many questions and offers few answers. Why does the UK government, unlike other democracies, want a state-controlled contact tracing app? Why do they want [...]
Can the Boris government really avoid Austerity the sequel? June 8, 2020 There is still a widespread view that austerity at the start of the last decade was somehow a political choice — that David Cameron and George Osborne (remember them) thrust the term into the political discourse simply as an ideological excuse to shrink the size of the state. But far from being a political smokescreen, [...]
IP lock-out: Is Britain handing the EU the keys to a billion-pound industry? June 8, 2020 We are getting close to crunch point in the Brexit negotiations. Last week saw the culmination of the final round of talks between the EU and the UK ahead of the 30 June deadline to agree an extension to the transition period. Given the glacial progress so far, a sudden breakthrough appears highly unlikely, with [...]
Putting out the fire in America June 6, 2020 Following almost two weeks of nationwide riots in the US in response to the sickening murder of George Floyd by a brutal Minneapolis police officer, this week I could in good conscience write of nothing else. Now is the time for the bravery to alienate both “sides”. Now is the time for truth-telling if the [...]
Letter: Should the transition period be extended? June 6, 2020 Re: Given the lack of progress during the Covid-19 crisis, should the transition period be extended? The answer to this question depends on how one weighs the trade-off between politics and economics. Even a Brexit with a deal will impose a further hit on the UK economy. The idea we should have regulatory autonomy to [...]
Build it better: A game-changing new approach to construction procurement June 5, 2020 For many years — decades, in fact — reviews of the construction sector have cried out for reform. Architects, engineers, clients and contractors have been tied into procurement models that are too adversarial and do not always have the best interest of the project at heart. Some reforms did happen — but none so significant [...]
A Machiavellian mastermind or a naïve kid? The story of the Flash Crash Trader June 5, 2020 On a cold morning in April 2015, half a dozen FBI agents and police officers pulled up outside a modest semi-detached house in Hounslow to arrest a man they considered to be among the most prolific and dangerous market manipulators in the world. Their target, Navinder Singh Sarao, had accumulated $70m buying and selling futures [...]
Survive and thrive: Spencer Matthews’ low-alcohol brand is Clean-ing up June 5, 2020 London’s businesses have been forced to weather a storm they never saw coming, but many have pivoted to new ways of doing business. Today, City A.M. talks to the reality TV star-turned-entrepreneur Spencer Matthews about his Clean Liquor Company, selling low-alcohol spirits on Instagram and global ambitions For any business, at any time, consistently increasing [...]
Quite the tonic: Bombay Sapphire goes green June 5, 2020 On World Environment Day, City A.M. speaks to an iconic British brand that’s put going green at the heart of its business “Other than keeping people safe, the most important part of my role is nosing and tasting the gin.” So says Dr. Anne Brock, with the airy nonchalance of somebody who doesn’t quite understand [...]
Put sharing at the heart of the post-Covid economy June 5, 2020 As we begin to emerge from lockdown, it’s not hard to see the damage that Covid-19 has done to small businesses on the high-street. What’s perhaps less obvious is the impact it has had on digital SMEs, particularly those that make up Britain’s vibrant sharing economy. At the beginning of 2020, an Ipsos Mori poll [...]