DEBATE: Are great startups always about having a great idea? October 14, 2019 Are great startups always about having a great idea? Lily Covington, senior strategist at commercial strategy firm Cruxy & Co., says YES. Marketing guru and Silicon Valley mastermind Guy Kawasaki famously said “ideas are easy, implementation is hard”. But while ideas may be easy, truly great ideas are anything but. In the fast-paced and saturated [...]
It’s up to businesses to make sure no one gets left behind in the digital revolution October 14, 2019 The digitisation of the global economy is transforming the way we communicate, work and live. Today, you can transfer money to the other side of the world in the blink of an eye, pay for a coffee by tapping your phone, and open a bank account in minutes. The startling growth of the UK’s innovative [...]
Employers, it’s time to add some freelancers to your armoury October 12, 2019 Talk to graduates, new mothers, or young creatives about work today, and the one word you’re likely to hear more than any other is freelance. The term itself certainly isn’t new. In Walter Scott’s 1819 novel Ivanhoe, paid mercenaries described as “free lances” are offered from one feudal lord to another. Fast-forward 200 years, and [...]
Four tactics buyers must use to beat sellers in London’s housing market October 11, 2019 If you’re looking to buy residential property in London right now, buckle your seatbelt: despite recent doom and gloom headlines, Central London remains a seller’s market. It is true prices have come off about 20 per cent since the 2014 high. It’s also true that the average time a London home spends on the market [...]
Taking a stand is easy when it doesn’t cost you anything October 11, 2019 DOWNING Street is busy trying to get FTSE chiefs to sign a letter in support of the government’s Brexit position, whatever it may be. Enthusiasm is apparently in short supply, and who can blame business leaders for steering clear of this polarising topic? In this day and age, publicly backing Boris Johnson will trigger a [...]
Boris rekindles hope of Brexit breakthrough October 11, 2019 This is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning. Then again, it might not be. In the days before Boris Johnson and Leo Varadkar’s meeting yesterday at a Liverpool wedding venue, talk on both sides of the Channel was of the [...]
Rory walks on with a campaign to spice up the race for London mayor October 11, 2019 Watch out London, your favourite selfie-taking, tie-rejecting, accidental-opium-smoking, politician/rambler is coming to a Tube station near you. Yes, it’s Rory Stewart time once again. For those of us who were mesmerised by the former international development secretary’s short-lived sensation of a campaign to be Tory leader, now we get to enjoy the sequel, after Rory [...]
DEBATE: Can technology actually be good for our mental health? October 11, 2019 Can technology actually be good for our mental health? Dr Nick Taylor, clinical phycologist and co-founder of Unmind, says YES. Mental ill-health costs the UK economy between £74bn and £99bn each year. Currently, there is insufficient care and resources readily available to people when they need it most. Technology provides an accessible, scalable means for [...]
The draconian nanny state has no right to stop you eating a sandwich on a bus October 11, 2019 It’s not a crime to eat a sandwich on a bus. It should not be a crime to eat a sandwich on a bus. To propose that sandwich-eating on a bus is an issue to be tackled, a problem to be solved, a danger to the children, is somewhere on the spectrum between hysterical and [...]
Worried about the skills shortage in London? Look to devolution October 11, 2019 Apprenticeships are powerful examples of how boroughs and businesses can work together to create meaningful work and training opportunities for Londoners. Yet, the research that we at London Councils and London Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) are launching today shows that the system is failing London and needs reform. Since 2017, the apprenticeship levy [...]