Beyond the Westminster bubble, there’s more to politics than Brexit infighting January 16, 2019 “Chaotic useless bickering rudderless floundering humiliated Tories slump to six-point lead over Labour”, tweeted one of the parliamentary lobby’s wittiest members, Matt Chorley, in response to the latest YouGov poll on Monday. Theresa May’s consistent lead over Jeremy Corbyn is one of her key sources of strength as she goes through this turbulent time. Not only [...]
A Brexit negotiated by Trump would have been a wild ride January 8, 2019 How would Donald Trump have approached negotiating Brexit? A few months ago, several commentators mused over this exact question. The current game of chicken between the President and Democrats in Congress, resulting in a partial US government shutdown, is perhaps the best insight we’ll get. And it shows the wild ride that a Prime Minister [...]
Debate: Do we need more regulation to tackle late payments to SMEs? December 7, 2018 Do we need more regulation to tackle late payments to SMEs? Yes – Jordan Marshall is policy development manager at IPSE. SMEs represent 99.9 per cent of all private sector businesses. Included in this figure are 4.8m self-employed people – the UK’s smallest enterprises. A report from MPs this week exposed the shoddy practices of [...]
Support your local small business all year, otherwise it might not stick around December 3, 2018 American Express’s Small Business Saturday last weekend saw a call to arms to encourage us to shop locally and support small businesses. Since its launch in 2010, this annual event now reaches millions of people across the US, UK and Australia, helping independent retailers get their share of the Christmas spending frenzy. Small Business Saturday [...]
Heed Hammond’s warning: We must not be prisoners of change December 3, 2018 Britain has become a single issue nation. So all-consuming have the ins and outs of Brexit become that the national debate seems incapable of concentrating on anything else. Which was why it was so surprising when Philip Hammond spoke to a small business audience last week and didn’t drop the B-word once. In so doing, [...]
A new hope: Backing firms of the future November 30, 2018 If you missed the big news of the last couple of weeks, you must have been hiding under a rock. And no, I’m not talking about the Prime Minister’s Brexit deal – but rather Small Business Saturday, which is returning for a sixth year on 1 December. This is the most important day in the calendar [...]
Whitehall tells late payment outsourcers to ‘clean up their act’ or face not winning public contracts November 29, 2018 Government contractors who do not pay suppliers on time could be prevented from winning public contracts altogether, Whitehall has said. Cabinet Office (CO) minister Oliver Dowden announced the crackdown this morning, which will see serial slackers on supplier payments forced to “clean up their act” or face being prevented from winning new contracts from Autumn 2019. [...]
DEBATE: As discounts get out-of-control, is there a case for retailers to ignore Black Friday altogether? November 21, 2018 As discounts get out-of-control, is there a case for retailers to ignore Black Friday altogether? Michelle Ovens, director of Small Business Saturday, says YES. Black Friday started off as a day when consumers could enjoy making great purchases, but now it has just become a day for deep discounting – and that is incredibly damaging to small [...]
Profit or purpose? Business must find a better balance November 15, 2018 Last week, I attended a meeting of entrepreneurs backing Small Business Saturday (coming up on 1 December) to look at a survey of what motivates these firms. I expected a tirade against red tape and tax. What we got was the news that, of over 1,000 SMEs polled, only 60 per cent were primarily driven [...]
Why edgy art, craft gin and spa treatments are all part of the modern hairdressing experience November 14, 2018 The digital age has come for many traditional industries over the past few years, from taxi driving to hotels. But one trade that won’t be disappearing with the tap of an app is hairdressing. Anyone who has seen that video of the Boston Dynamics robot falling over while stacking boxes will know that androids aren’t [...]