By: Alys Denby

Alys Denby is opinion and features editor of City AM. She writes the weekly Free Thinking newsletter and presents the video series of the same name. She regularly appears in broadcast media including BBC, Channel 5 Sky News, Times Radio, LBC and GB News. She has previously worked for a think tank and as a parliamentary researcher

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This International Women’s Day, spare a thought for men

March 7, 2025

International Women’s Day is a great opportunity to celebrate the success of elite women, but a proper discussion of gender inequality should also take account of where real disadvantage lies: with young men, says Alys Denby This Saturday is International Women’s Day and every comms professional in London has duly pitched these pages inspirational examples [...]
It’s not just Waspi women, the government has taken everyone for fools

December 18, 2024

You don’t have to agree with the principle of the Waspi women’s campaign to sympathise with their feelings of betrayal. Cynicism is one thing in politics, but saying absolutely anything to get in power will ultimately harm democracy, says Alys Denby Waspi stands for: Women Against State Pension Inequality. It’s a confusing name, because the [...]
The best books of 2024: From Sally Rooney to Boris Johnson

December 12, 2024

Okay, that headline is ever-so-slightly misleading – while many of the entries on this list are indeed among the best books of 2024, others earn their place by virtue of being emblematic of their time (Boris Unleashed), zeitgeist-capturing (Bad Girls of Ancient Greece) or simply so utterly bonkers we felt they earned a spot (The [...]
Square Mile and me: Octopus Money CEO Ruth Handcock

December 12, 2024

Octopus Money CEO Ruth Handock tells us about cocktails, 10-hour job interviews and why we need more women in the City What was your first job? Washing neighbours cars inside and out for a pound at the age of 12. Followed by two years at Sainsbury’s on the checkout during sixth form. But both have [...]
Regulators are paying lip service to growth

December 12, 2024

“This is not a return to pre-crisis light touch… because frankly that ended in tears.” That was the response of the heads of the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) when questioned by MPs about their new growth remit. No one can deny that the 2008 financial crash devastated lives. But the consequences of the low growth [...]
Could Elon Musk and Nigel Farage upend British politics?

December 5, 2024

Labour’s majority is enormous, but it only gives us the appearance of stability. All the evidence suggests their support is broad but shallow and their victory was as much a question of good luck and good timing as it was a literal vote of support for Labour’s policies. The Tory party is basically neck and [...]
Consumers will pay for Starmer’s green targets

November 14, 2024

It’s easy to be cynical about a climate conference that sees plutocrats flying their private jets to a petrostate claiming they’re going to save the world. That’s certainly the position of Greta Thunberg, who has dismissed COP29 as an exercise in greenwashing Azerbaijan’s human rights violations, a view shared – in City AM recently – [...]
Working mothers will pay for Labour’s tax rises

November 13, 2024

Employers’ national insurance hikes will increase the cost of childcare and put nurseries out of business, making life for working mothers even harder than it already is, says Alys Denby Governments are notoriously bad at picking winners, but Britain is about to find out what happens when leaders are more interested in picking losers. From [...]
These two mistakes are making today’s Budget harder than it needs to be

October 30, 2024

The problem with Rachel Reeves promising both ‘stability’ and ‘growth’ is that the two can be mutually exclusive. Governments do not create growth; businesses do and they rely on innovation and risk taking, says Alys Denby Not since George Osborne’s ‘caesar’ cut has a Chancellor’s hair-do caused such a sensation. Did Rachel Reeves’ newly auburn [...]
Make the Tories Conservative again?

October 23, 2024

A particularly laughable defence of socialism is that it’s never really been tried. It’s tempting to dismiss the central analysis of both candidates for the Tory leadership – that their Party lost the general election because they were not conservative enough in government – on similar grounds. But it would be a mistake to imagine [...]

Treasury ignored DCMS gambling tax hike concerns before Budget raid

Italy Six Nations revival a lesson for Wales as England challenge awaits

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By: Alys Denby

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