DEBATE: Is there any point to the annual WEF summit in Davos? January 22, 2019 Is there any point to the annual WEF summit in Davos? Bill Michael, chairman and senior partner of KPMG in the UK, says YES. Elements of the World Economic Forum (WEF) do raise an eyebrow. From the setting in the Swiss Alps to the A-listers in attendance, it can seem like the last bastion of global [...]
Davos is a chance for the UK to step-up and collaborate in the digital revolution January 21, 2019 After the drama of last week in Westminster, it’s the 49th annual meeting of the World Economic Forum that will take centre stage over the next few days. I will join more than 100 heads of government, as well the globe’s leading companies, international organisations, and NGOs in making the annual visit to Davos. Brexit [...]
Blackrock investigates hoax letter to chief executives over climate change January 16, 2019 Blackrock is investigating a hoax letter published this morning, claiming to be from chief executive Larry Fink, that warned companies that the world’s largest investment firm would divest unless they took action against climate change. The letter, which was posted on a spoof Blackrock website as the company reported its financial results, said the investor [...]
Flood, fire, even an earthquake: businesses must protect themselves against the event of a natural disaster January 16, 2019 Technical issues were enough to hit TSB with a brutal three-week outage in April last year. The damage from that event is well documented – an eightfold increase in customers choosing to bank elsewhere, a bill for compensation and repairs costing roughly £176m, and a chief executive who decided to walk. The events suffered by [...]
As competition heats up, meet the energy company taking on the Big Six by cutting consumption January 14, 2019 You know the drill: energy companies lure you in with a cheap introductory rate, and once it expires, you’ve either got to repeat the hassle of shopping around for a new deal, or you’re automatically moved onto the provider’s expensive default tariff – otherwise known as the standard variable rate (SVR). This isn’t a glitch [...]
Editor’s Notes: Brexit: An Uncivil War was a five-star blockbuster for Channel 4 January 11, 2019 Brexit drama may be playing out all around us but it had its own silver screen moment earlier this week when Channel 4 aired its much-hyped drama, Brexit – The Uncivil War, by acclaimed writer James Graham. The drama drew heavily on the masterful account of the referendum campaign, All Out War, by Tim Shipman. [...]
DEBATE: As the year draws to a close, do we still have reasons to be cheerful? December 21, 2018 As the year draws to a close, do we still have reasons to be cheerful? Viscount Ridley, author of The Rational Optimist, says YES. Yes, we do. A lot went wrong in 2018 for a lot of people; but a lot more went right. Levels of absolute poverty, rates of infant mortality, age-adjusted death rates [...]
What might happen in 2019? A second referendum, an economic recession, and the political parties will fall apart December 18, 2018 Anyone posing as Mystic Meg in the current environment of political turmoil would either be very brave or a charlatan. In four months’ time, the UK could still be a member of the EU, or will leave in either a chaotic or an orderly manner; with a radically different or the same government; or still [...]
UK banks could be tested for climate change resilience from next year, according to Bank of England governor Mark Carney December 17, 2018 UK bank stress tests could include resilience to the impact of climate change from next year, Bank of England governor Mark Carney said. Carney said he was weighing up whether the risks and opportunities of climate change should included in the test, which is known as the exploratory scenario, the Financial Times reported. Banking stress [...]
European development bank pulls plug on funding for coal mines December 12, 2018 The European bank which funds international development around the world will stop paying for coal projects in a bid to cut carbon emissions. The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development also announced it would stop funding oil exploration projects. It will only pay for oil development in exceptional circumstances where the investment would help reduce [...]