Employee appreciation: Showing your office some love is not just for Valentine’s Day February 14, 2020 Love is in the air, everywhere you look around. From office DJs to doughnut days, workplaces today are increasingly turning to kooky perks to show employees love and appreciation. But like any good date, employee appreciation should be carefully thought out. It requires a proper strategy, and consistency. No one-off show of love will make [...]
Free ports can revitalise the UK’s forgotten coastal communities February 14, 2020 Britain has always been a maritime nation. But for decades, our coastal communities have been ignored. Now, in the wake of Brexit, it’s high time we invested in these areas — and the government’s announcement that it is beginning a consultation on 10 free ports is a major step towards realising the potential of these [...]
BP’s plan is far bigger than a PR move February 13, 2020 The closest thing to a boastful holiday snap on Bernard Looney’s new Instagram page is a rather dreary image of Bonn. BP’s new boss was in the German city last week, so the caption tells us, to meet the head of the UN’s Framework Convention on Climate Change. It should have come as no surprise [...]
Brexit: A drawbridge to equivalence February 13, 2020 Diehard Brexit followers will know we are making progress when politicians move from trading soundbites and references to ticking clocks to rejecting each other’s positions on future alignment and regulatory equivalence. This week’s spat — sparked by a sneaky photo revealing the UK wanted “permanent equivalence” and answered by Barnier advising that certain people in [...]
An inclusive market economy is well within reach post-Brexit February 13, 2020 In his Greenwich speech last week, the Prime Minister persuasively set out how the Brexit process must carry with it a Canada-style free trade agreement, resting on the “indispensable principle of comparative advantage.” For Boris Johnson, this means embracing free trade to raise living standards and lift people out of poverty, while casting aside the [...]
Want to encourage downsizing and free up the housing market? Reform stamp duty February 13, 2020 With the first post-Brexit Budget fast approaching, there are huge hopes, expectations, and indeed demands across industries and sectors — but perhaps few areas are more important than solving the housing crisis. As Boris Johnson’s team focuses on delivering their manifesto promises, including building 300,000 homes a year by the mid-2020s, it’s worth remembering that [...]
After New Hampshire, the search is on for someone – anyone – who can take on Trump for the Democrats February 13, 2020 It was Harold Wilson, the Labour Party’s mid-twentieth century great hope and conjurer of election victories, who first coined the phrase “a week is a long time in politics”. How America’s Democrats could use a politician of his skills and standing as they examine their last week. It wasn’t supposed to be like this. At [...]
DEBATE: Should the Treasury consider a ‘mansion tax’ to help fund spending commitments? February 13, 2020 Should the Treasury consider a ‘mansion tax’ to help fund spending commitments? Robert Palmer, director of Tax Justice UK, says YES Do you know who pays more in council tax: me in my two-bedroom flat in Kentish Town, or the owner of the £160m penthouse at the top of 1 Hyde Park? Astonishingly, the answer [...]
How should Waitrose move on as Ocado deal comes to an end? February 12, 2020 Supermarket chain Waitrose has announced an overhaul of its products and a new advertising campaign to retain customers this summer when its deal with delivery provider Ocado comes to an end. Ocado’s partnership with Waitrose comes to an end in August, and a new deal with Marks & Spencer will be delivered shortly after. As [...]
Coronavirus has exposed the flaws of our globalised system February 12, 2020 We cannot yet be sure how many lives have already been tragically lost to the coronavirus outbreak, nor how many are still to be lost until the epidemic is brought under control — if that proves even possible. At the time of writing, the estimated death toll is over 1,000. What we do know is [...]