Night Tube finally arrives today: Here’s everything we know August 19, 2016 After months of umming and ahh-ing, London’s long-awaited Night Tube launches today (hurrah). Transport for London (TfL) first unveiled plans for a 24-hour Tube service in September 2014 – the bright idea of then-Mayor of London Boris Johnson. But the service has been delayed by a year, due to conflicts over pay and conditions with the RMT Union. TFL [...]
Rich Europeans exit prime central London homes August 19, 2016 International tenants are falling out of love with prime central London homes. According to data from Hamptons International, the number of tenants in the centre of London has been falling steadily since May 2013, dropping by eight per cent between then and May this year. Fionnuala Earley, research director at Hamptons International, said the rental [...]
One of the most ethical bankers of all time turns down multi-million reward August 19, 2016 A whistleblower whose information helped reveal false accounting at Deutsche Bank has turned down a huge financial reward from the Securities and Exchange Commission in protest of failure to punish wrong-doing executives at the bank. Eric Ben-Artzi, a former Deutsche risk officer, told the SEC that he does not want to take his share of a $16.5m [...]
Hipster beards are here to stay: Independent grooming salons triumph on high street August 19, 2016 If you're already sick of the hipster beard trend, we have bad news for you. Increased attention to beards and eyebrows is here to stay, as 11 independent personal grooming salons opened each week over the last year. There was a net increase of 626 barbers and beauty salons last year, up 10.36 per cent from 2014, according [...]
Shoreditch hipsters fail to drag financial services from the City August 19, 2016 Financial services firms are still flocking to the City despite the attractions of hipster hubs such as Shoreditch and Old Street. Data from estate agent Stirling Ackroyd showed that between the the second quarter of 2015 and the first quarter of 2016 the number of financial businesses in City postcodes increased by 8.6 per cent. In [...]
Pity the City’s introverts now the Night Tube is here, how will they get out of dreaded work drinks now? August 19, 2016 Hurrah for the almost mythical Night Tube. We’ve known of its existence for nigh on two years, had to wait a year for delays and now, as you’ll already be aware, it will finally come into action tonight. The City is likely to be awash with its usual revellers and more asides, bolstered by the knowledge [...]
By boycotting G4S and putting its party conference in jeopardy, Labour has cut off its nose to spite its face August 19, 2016 Amid the mud-slinging which has made up the Labour Party’s leadership contest, you might have missed this nugget: Labour’s annual conference is on the brink of being cancelled because it finds itself without a security detail. In doing so, it is potentially alienating thousands of voters – and not just because they won’t be able to [...]
BCC says pre-Brexit trade surge has stalled August 19, 2016 Trade surged on the run-up to the Brexit vote only to stall in the last two months the British Chamber of Commerce (BCC) said. The amount of trade – as measured by the levels of documentation with individual chambers – rose 9.4 per cent in the second quarter compared to the first three months of [...]
Successive governments have failed on energy policy, IoD survey says August 19, 2016 The last three governments have continuously failed to deliver an adequate energy policy, according to a damning survey of business leaders released today. A poll of nearly 1,000 bosses by the Institute of Directors (IoD) found that seven in ten thought the Labour, Coalition and Conservative governments hadn't provided reasonably priced energy. Two-thirds also complained [...]
From the gender pay gap to the minimum wage, the politicisation of pay threatens the UK’s business-friendly reputation August 19, 2016 Economic logic suggests that free determination of employment contracts, like free trade, normally benefits both parties and leads to high levels of employment and economic growth. But this view has never been popular. Fifty years ago, it was the accepted belief that governments should determine pay increases, leading to the dead end of incomes policies [...]