The extremist Green party is trying to overthrow capitalism May 22, 2019 The Green Party is doing well. It gained nearly 200 council seats in the recent local elections and is hoping for a strong showing in the European ones this week. Publicity over school children going “on strike” to protest about climate change has helped. With politicians competing to fawn over the truants, the Green Party [...]
It’s time to challenge Corbyn’s grotesque stereotype of business May 17, 2019 This week, business leader and rich list regular Julian Richer announced that he was handing over 60 per cent of shares in his company to the firm’s 522 employees. You’d be forgiven if you missed this news. Despite Richer Sounds’ 53 stores across the country and annual turnover of £157.5m, the founder is hardly a [...]
India’s Hinduja brothers top Rich List for third time as Jim Ratcliffe loses out May 12, 2019 Britain’s 1,000 richest people have again had their respective fortunes stacked against each other to determine the most wealthy person in the country, in the 2019 Sunday Times Rich List. This year it was bad news for Jim Ratcliffe, owner of chemicals giant Ineos, who dropped to third place after topping last year’s list, while [...]
Britain’s billionaires have become $18bn richer so far this year May 11, 2019 Britain’s billionaires have added another $28bn (£21.5bn) to their coffers since the UK voted the leave the European Union in 2016, new figures show. The 15 Brits listed on Bloomberg’s Billionaires Index have added most of the wealth this year, reaching a combined total of $109bn between them. Read more: These are the UK's top [...]
Uber’s float is a huge gamble on the future of transport May 10, 2019 Every time you jump into an Uber, your ride is essentially subsidised by venture capitalists who prop up the loss-making outfit in the hope of riches down the road. Later today in New York, many more hopefuls will get the chance to back the immensely-popular-yet-controversial tech firm when it finally comes to market. Similarly [...]
First details of Dyson’s electric car plans revealed May 9, 2019 The patents for Dyson’s first electric vehicle have been made public, providing the first glimpse of the car that the UK-based company hope will compete with the likes of Tesla. Read more: Rolls-Royce boss Warren East steps back from Dyson board Dyson filed the patents 18 months ago after launching the £2bn project in 2017, [...]
Has the government’s £1bn artificial intelligence sector deal made any difference? April 26, 2019 One year on, has the government’s £1bn artificial intelligence (AI) sector deal made any difference? Dr Jeremy Silver, chief executive of Digital Catapult, says YES. A year after the announcement of the government’s sector deal, investment is at an all-time high. AI startups in the UK raised nearly £1.3bn in 2018, very nearly eclipsing the [...]
Rolls-Royce boss Warren East to leave Dyson board as vacuum maker moves into electric car market March 21, 2019 Rolls-Royce chief executive Warren East is to step down from the board of Dyson, where he has served as a non-executive director for six years. Dyson this morning confirmed East would leave the board, meaning the vacuum cleaner manufacturer will be without one of the world’s foremost engineering business experts as it tries to move [...]
Still feeling entitled? Britain is facing a crisis of intergenerational inequality February 15, 2019 This week, I was audacious enough to suggest that free TV licences for pensioners should not be a public spending priority. The backlash was fierce. “I have paid taxes all my life,” came the outraged cries on social media. This is mostly true, as long as you take “all my life” to mean “until I [...]
Dyson’s move is not hypocrisy – it’s shrewd January 28, 2019 Among some of the more committed anti-Brexit activists it has become fashionable to levy the charge of hypocrisy against pro-Leave business figures whose commercial activity appears insufficiently patriotic. For those Remainers for whom Brexit is synonymous with an inward-looking philosophy and a narrowing of the UK’s horizons, it is incompatible for someone to support Brexit [...]