Labour refuses to learn the lessons of defeat January 8, 2020 Having overseen Labour’s worst defeat since the 1930s Jeremy Corbyn called for “a period of reflection”. Unfortunately, this overlaps with the campaign to replace him, so instead of ruminating on the reasons for their electoral humiliation Labour MPs are busy pandering to a party membership that still thinks Corbyn was right and the voters were [...]
Retail landscape will continue to evolve January 7, 2020 At first glance, the £50m deal to convert a north London retail park into a warehouse and logistics hub is a perfect representation of the forces upending an embattled sector. The relentless rise of online shopping and home delivery means plots like the Ravenside site in Edmonton, snapped up by warehousing giant Prologis, is worth [...]
A no-deal EU exit is still an unlikely outcome December 17, 2019 Well, that didn’t take long. Just a few days after Boris Johnson’s thumping majority sent sterling up to pre-referendum highs, his flirtation with a no-deal exit brought it back down to earth yesterday. Read more: CBI welcomes Prime Minister’s Brexit trade deal deadline But are the markets (heaven forbid) missing something? The government is embarking [...]
What will Johnsonism look like in practice? December 16, 2019 The ramifications of last week’s General Election will be felt far and wide. Politically, the size and nature of the new Tory majority poses questions for all parties. Labour is in its worst position for more than 80 years, and the shock of its defeat appears to have affected the party’s ability to confront reality. [...]
A dramatic result that changes everything December 13, 2019 The battle for Brexit is over. If Boris Johnson returns to Westminster with anything close to the majority predicted by the sensational exit poll, he will deliver his “oven ready” Brexit deal faster than a Deliveroo drone. We will leave the EU by the end of January and enter the transition phase. After that, Johnson [...]
This Labour party does not deserve your support, however tactical or temporary you consider it to be December 12, 2019 Today you’ll have the opportunity to vote in the most consequential election for 40 years. You’ll have your own motivations and concerns, your own views on what constitutes a good result. Maybe one party’s victory is something you hope for, maybe it’s something you dread. For a lot of readers, the outcome may not be [...]
An advert for what can go wrong in ad-land December 11, 2019 One of the grandest advertising agencies has lost some of its grandest names. Co-founder (and until last night, executive director) Maurice Saatchi joins Lord Michael Dobbs, Sir Michael Peat and Lorna Tilbian in a boardroom exodus. M&C Saatchi chairman Jeremy Sinclair said “we have accepted the decision of these directors to resign.” No thanks for the [...]
The Lib Dems deserve a bad night at the polls December 9, 2019 Conducting a post-mortem on an election campaign before the results come in is risky business. But if the polls have got it all wrong (again) and if Jeremy Corbyn concocts a way into Downing Street over the coming weekend, then analysing the state of the Liberal Democrats will be the last thing on anyone’s mind. [...]
Corbyn can’t fix your miserable commute December 3, 2019 Jeremy Corbyn is well and truly getting into the Christmas spirit — he’s making a list, checking it twice, gonna find out who’s naughty or nice, Jeremy is coming to town. Momentum activists could turn that into a Christmas number one. But who’s on the Labour leader’s list? Well, he’s pretty clear about who’s been [...]
Hong Kong protesters should be welcomed December 2, 2019 What connects China’s systematic abuse of human rights with the Tory party’s commitment to a “global Britain” post-Brexit? The answer is Hong Kong. Even before the protests of recent months captured the world’s attention, China’s erosion of civil liberties in Hong Kong and its sprawling security presence meant that the rights and freedoms which the [...]
