By: Christian May

Editor-in-Chief Christian May is the Editor-in-Chief of City AM. He served in the role from 2015 to 2020 and returned in 2024. He writes the daily Editor's Letter for print and online and releases The Week in Business roundup video each Thursday. He is particularly interested in the health of London's capital markets, economic policy, politics, regulation and business activity in the City of London. He regularly appears in the broadcast media and presents a daily Business News slot on LBC at 0730, Monday to Friday. Find Christian on X and LinkedIn.

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When it comes to national insurance, the government is pulling a fast one

October 16, 2024

One of the many problems the government has got itself into over tax rises that may or may not appear in the upcoming Budget is an oversimplification of where the cost of a certain tax falls. Ministers and their supporters talk about Capital Gains Tax as if it only lands on rich people selling off [...]
Starmer did well with the CEOs, but he can’t ignore the start-up founders

October 15, 2024

It rained pretty much all day in the City of London yesterday, but this didn’t stop Keir Starmer basking in the warm glow of success. Despite complaints about a chaotic organising process in recent weeks, and a bit of real-time grumbling on the day itself, the Prime Minister’s investment summit was a triumph. A tightly [...]
Starmer’s big day in the City

October 14, 2024

The Guildhall, in the heart of the City of London, has been a vital commercial centre for hundreds of years. The main building, in which the Prime Minister will this morning address an impressive gathering of CEOs and investors, dates from the 15th century and a time when powerful merchants exercised huge influence over the [...]
Labour’s arrogance is disrespectful to business

October 10, 2024

When it emerged that Boris Johnson reportedly muttered “f**K business” during a meeting as Prime Minister, he was rightly castigated. For many people it marked an emphatic break in the relationship between government and the private sector. We might not be able to point to any similarly totemic moment in Keir Starmer’s first three months [...]
Chancellor’s tightrope walk will leave us holding our breath

October 8, 2024

By tradition, Chancellors are allowed a stiff drink at the despatch box as they deliver their Budget. Parliamentary records tell us that Gladstone enjoyed sherry and beaten egg while the most recent Chancellor to indulge in this ancient right, Ken Clarke, opted for a straight whiskey. Since then, there’s been nothing but water in the [...]
It wasn’t supposed to be this way, was it?

October 7, 2024

Kremlinology is an old Cold War concept referring to the study of key individuals high up in the Soviet government. Who was in favour, who hadn’t been seen in a while, who was winning power struggles and who had been shot; Western analysts devoured such intelligence in an effort to understand who was actually in [...]
Demise of coal power is end of an era, but not an end in itself

October 1, 2024

A quiet revolution occurred in the very earliest moments of this morning, probably while you were asleep. You went to bed in one sort of country, and woke up in another sort entirely. The difference is largely invisible but undeniably huge: yesterday, the UK’s last coal power station was still operational and by this morning [...]
How will Labour fill the non-dom shaped hole in their tax plans? Brace yourself.

September 30, 2024

Cast your mind back to the Spring and early Summer of this year when the election campaign was underway. It seemed the Tories were announcing a new policy every day, from the return of National Service to inventive new ways of protecting pensioners’ incomes, Conservatives filled the airwaves with ideas, policies and announcements. In the [...]
Nobody turns up to a Starmer speech expecting to have their ribs tickled

September 24, 2024

Was Keir Starmer once beaten up by an actor? Was he bullied by a clown? Something must have happened in his past to explain his visceral aversion to performers and showmen. He rarely makes a speech these days without attacking those who take to a stage with a spring in their step and a quip [...]
Wealth creators are right to be nervous

September 24, 2024

The Chancellor insisted yesterday that the proceeds of economic growth must be “felt by the many,” in a line that echoed the commitment made by David Cameron 15 years ago to “share the proceeds of growth.” Rachel Reeves would not be comfortable with such a comparison, and as if to make that very point she [...]

Tesco fuel sales boom after Iran war inflates petrol prices

An England World Cup isn’t just football – it is money, politics and a nation’s bad habits

Bowls Club is the City’s most eccentric (and brilliant) pop-up

By: Christian May

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