Marketing: What’s your Covid-19 story? May 5, 2020 COVID-19 is having a profound impact on all aspects of the UK economy. It is also changing the rules of corporate communications. The focus for most listed companies right now is getting their house in order with equity raises, dividend suspensions and executive pay cuts. However, attention will quickly turn to adjusting to the new [...]
Work will change, but the office is here to stay May 5, 2020 As the coronavirus crisis continues to unfold and much of the population adjusts to remote working, many are heralding the end of the office as we know it and trumpeting working from home as the ‘new normal’. But just how viable is the prospect of an office-free future? History tells us that any vision of [...]
TfL needs a bailout, but nobody should give the Mayor a blank cheque May 5, 2020 As Londoners start to look forward to the end of the lockdown, TfL is in need of a bailout. Otherwise, according to Sadiq Khan, it will run out of cash. On the face of it, there’s nothing remarkable about TfL needing a bailout. Tube ridership is down 94%, buses down 85%. Even if passenger numbers [...]
Coronavirus: The hospitality sector needs more support May 5, 2020 The UK hospitality sector contributes £130bn to GDP per annum and is the third largest employer with 3.2 million workers. Although it is one of the UK’s sectors most brutally impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic, the level of support it has received so far from government is unfortunately not in line with its vital contribution [...]
Office Politics: Six ways the world of work will change May 4, 2020 It has been months now since knowledge-workers worldwide began working from home in response to the Covid-19 outbreak. At first, businesses were understandably focused on the short and medium-term fallout. Now that we can begin, cautiously, to anticipate a post-pandemic world, it’s time to look at the situation we’ve found ourselves in, the adjustments we’ve [...]
Back to work: The office will change forever May 4, 2020 After over a month of lockdown and with the Prime Minister announcing we are “passed the peak” of the virus, the UK is starting to consider what comes next. Understandably in such a complex situation, concrete details of phase two remain sparse. However, for many ministers, members of parliament, businesses and the public, the burning [...]
It will be trade that powers Britain’s resurgence after Covid-19 May 4, 2020 Britain is at its best when we act together. History has shown us to be the most successful of unions. Yet we now face an enemy that knows no national boundaries. Once defeated, as it will be, the successful rebooting of the global economy will require us to work as one. I am proud that [...]
Taiwan deserves a seat at the WHO table May 4, 2020 As the UK battles the Covid-19, there are lessons that can be drawn from the experience and success that Taiwan has had in containing the pandemic. At first glance, Taiwan would appear to be a potential hotspot. Approximately 850,000 Taiwanese currently work and live in China, with Taiwan experiencing its first Covid-19 case as early [...]
Coronavirus: There are opportunities for wily – and brave – investors May 4, 2020 Britain’s investors could be forgiven for feeling desperate in the current crisis. They have faced a triple whammy from world markets, governments and companies. Not only have they seen the value of their portfolios fall by up to 20%, but with company after company cancelling dividends, their income has fallen by half. Heavyweights such as [...]
The oil war risks becoming a three-way suicide pact May 4, 2020 I have long been a devotee of the films of the great Sergio Leone, especially his Spaghetti Westerns. On a laughably threadbare budget, the great director made a virtue of his technical limitations, creating nothing less than a whole new look and feel in filmmaking. The climaxes of Leone films are always a treat, perhaps [...]