Students shouldn’t have to knock on doors to get the help they need November 21, 2018 | City Talk When I was approached to be the chair of the ACCA Emerging Talent Advisory group it was an opportunity I grabbed instantly. Championing social mobility is something that is very close to my heart, having grown up on a rough council estate in East London, I know exactly what it is like when you want [...]
The government is finally turning its attention to the housing crisis, but what’s missing? November 8, 2018 There's no question that the housing market is in need of drastic reform. So it was welcome news last week when the chancellor announced that the government was turning its attention to reforming the supply side of the market through a £500m Housing Infrastructure Fund and British Business Bank guarantees for SME house builders. In broader terms, there seems to [...]
Today’s Budget is a chance to reinvigorate domestic policy October 29, 2018 It has been a year of momentous change for department titles. The Department for Health has added Social Care to its name, while the Department for Communities and Local Government has recently become a Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government. So far, those changes have not been accompanied by a new and much-needed domestic [...]
Responsible business isn’t a fad – it’s at the heart of how the City operates October 1, 2018 Being a responsible firm is now an essential part of everyday business for many companies, with this ethos engrained in the culture, purpose, and day-to-day activity, rather than as a separate initiative. This is a great step forward from the picture 10 years ago – and progress is continuing. Last week was a big week [...]
Unleash the entrepreneurs to tackle London’s school shortage September 6, 2015 London’s booming population is creating a massive demand for new schools. The capital requires 113,000 new school places over the next five years alone – equal to 10 per cent of existing school places. Part of this demand can be met by expanding existing schools. But hundreds of brand new schools will also be [...]
The UK’s skills shortage is getting worse: It’s time for a shake up in the classroom and the boardroom September 3, 2015 There’s an elephant in the boardroom. According to a survey of the finance directors of many of the UK’s largest companies, it casts a greater shadow than China or Brexit or the hacking horrors of cyber attacks. It’s the new number one at the top of Britain's risk registers – the difficulty of recruiting [...]
Government’s starter homes programme won’t help London’s first-time buyers August 27, 2015 Londoners hoping to buy their first home will not get much help from the government, according to a new report out today. In the report, Shelter, the housing and homelessness charity, takes issue with the government’s affordable house building policies, saying its flagship “starter homes” programme will fail to help most first-time buyers. Prime Minister [...]
This is how much more people earn if they’ve been to private school August 6, 2015 If a privately educated person and a state educated person enter the same profession at the same time, with the same academic achievements to show on their CVs, the privately educated person will end up earning more, according to new research by the Sutton Trust and UpReach. By studying initial graduate salaries in the [...]
Child poverty is thankfully not rising – but the archaic definition needs to go June 30, 2015 David Cameron is feeling the heat. This is not just a consequence of the sudden dramatic rise in London temperatures. The need to extract something meaningful from our EU partners and the increased threat of terrorist attacks are sleep-depriving problems. But the Prime Minister did have one good result during the past week. Despite widespread [...]
No Waitrose, no cry: Why the music you listen to defines your social class – and Bob Marley fans are decidedly middle class June 4, 2015 The music you most enjoy listening to is a strong indicator of your social class, according to new research from the University of British Columbia – and it turns out those who like reggae are surprisingly middle class. By asking 1,600 adults from varying backgrounds about their feelings towards 21 different genres of music, [...]