London should be the engine that saves us from decline November 3, 2025 We should be proud of our great city, but also clear-eyed about its failings on housing, crime and the cost of living, says Lawrence Newport London is like nowhere else on earth. As Matt Clifford said last week at Looking For Growth’s event Make or Break, London is the city that birthed the electrical age, [...]
Cutting affordable housing quotas is a slap in the face for Labour voters October 20, 2025 If Labour is no longer in favour of building affordable housing, what exactly is the party for, asks James Ford.
Sadiq Khan to blame for slump in London housing starts, think tank says October 17, 2025 Sadiq Khan is to blame for a dearth in housebuilding in London, a leading think tank has warned, as new construction projects slumped to their lowest level seen in years. A perfect storm of challenging macroeconomic conditions, needlessly stringent regulation and a sluggish planning process has helped push construction rates down to just 4,170 housing [...]
Is Sadiq trying to gaslight Londoners about crime? October 16, 2025 The Mayor is desperate to convince Londoners that crime is falling, despite all the evidence to the contrary, writes James Ford London does not have a crime problem; it has a misinformation problem. That is the assertion of the capital’s Mayor, Sadiq Khan. Clearly wounded by President Trump’s recent claim that “crime in London is [...]
Oxford Street pedestrianisation boosts sales, survey finds October 6, 2025 The pedestrianisation of Oxford Street led to higher sales at the majority of stores on the busy high street, a new survey has found, with business chiefs praising efforts to make traffic-free days more frequent. Oxford Street was closed to traffic for eight hours on Sunday 21st September in a pilot test for further plans [...]
Mayor of London to move ahead with plans to pedestrianise Oxford Street October 6, 2025 The mayor of London has confirmed he is ploughing ahead with “bold proposals” to pedestrianise Oxford Street after claiming a one-day traffic ban significantly boosted the local economy. Footfall in the West End area was 45 per cent higher on the day when traffic was prohibited from accessing a half-mile stretch of road from Orchard [...]
Why isn’t London building? September 30, 2025 Affordable housing targets and well-meaning safety regulation has led developers to conclude that building in London is not worth the hassle, says Sam Griffiths You’re probably bored of reading bad news about housing in London – but figures released by the Home Builders Federation (HBF) should make us all sit up and take notice. Only [...]
Even in Lib Dem Bournemouth, Farage makes the weather September 24, 2025 Two important speeches took place yesterday, attracting, I suspect, very different sized audiences. At the United Nations in New York, US President Donald Trump disregarded the 15 minute slot he’d been allocated to embark on a rambling, contentious, provocative and interesting speech to the assembled nations. Meanwhile, in Bournemouth, the leader of the Liberal Democrats, [...]
Is late-night dining dead in London? September 23, 2025 With more and more London restaurants banking on earlier reservations, Carys Sharkey asks whether after hours dining is a relic of London’s past Is late-night dining in London dying at the hands of tee-totalling park runners, or is it having a resurgence driven by their collective hospitality nemesis? The diagnosis is polarised and necessarily hesitant. [...]
Oxford Street one-day traffic ban is start of ‘fight to rescue street’, mayor says September 21, 2025 The mayor of London has said a one-day trial banning traffic from part of Oxford Street marks “the day the fight back began to rescue this street”. Sir Sadiq Khan visited the street, where vehicles were prohibited from accessing a half-mile stretch of the road from Oxford Circus to Orchard Street between noon and 8pm [...]