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.

Connect on socials

All 544 Articles

Budget chaos isn’t a game, it’s caused real harm

November 20, 2025

It’s been the longest run-up to a Budget anyone can remember, it started just after the last Budget, so how much damage has this chaos caused? In her first speech as Chancellor in the first week of July last year, Rachel Reeves used the word stability 8 times. She pledged to “deliver economic stability” and [...]
Unpopular opinion: Banks are taxed enough already

November 20, 2025

Is Angela Rayner influencing the Budget from beyond the political grave? The former deputy PM and housing secretary was famously in favour of increasing the additional tax burden faced by banks. Ahead of this year’s Spring Statement, Rayner was riding high. With a confidence that turned out to be misplaced, she inserted herself into debates [...]
Markets will determine whether Reeves has any credibility left

November 19, 2025

It’s a regrettable reality that a politician – or an entire government – can limp on for months or even years after losing credibility in the eyes of voters. In contrast, when markets think the credibility is gone the consequences can be much more immediate. Just ask Liz Truss. One week from today, the Chancellor’s [...]
Prime Ministers deserve a nicer house and we deserve better government

November 18, 2025

The nerve centre of the British state, 10 Downing Street, is fantastically ill-suited to the needs of a modern Prime Minister and to the interests of the country. An excellent piece by Politico last week lifted the lid on what it’s actually like to work in this rather dilapidated Georgian townhouse, with one former No [...]
Will the Budget push the economy off the cliff?

November 13, 2025

Downing Street is in chaos and the economy has flatlined. Now, with just a couple of weeks to go until we find out what’s really in Rachel Reeves’ Budget, Britain’s bosses are getting restless. It used to be the case that Chancellor’s went quiet in the run-up to a Budget, keeping their powder dry and [...]
Starmer promised a calmer politics – how’s that working out?

November 13, 2025

They say that if you’re explaining, you’re losing. That quote, attributed to Ronald Reagan, came to mind yesterday as I watched Keir Starmer squirm his way through howls of laughter in the House of Commons as he insisted “we are a united team.” This was fish in a barrel stuff for Tory leader Kemi Badenoch, [...]
Brits don’t believe this is a country that rewards hard work

November 12, 2025

What conversations are you having at work, at home, in the pub? There’s plenty to talk about, from Traitors (BBC good?) to trust in public broadcasting (BBC bad?) to say nothing of football, Remembrance Day, the weather and Christmas. Looking beyond these topics, is it possible to discern the national mood? Do we feel that [...]
The BBC’s Praetorian Guard would preside over its death

November 10, 2025

The BBC has had to apologise to the President of the United States for manipulating footage to give audiences the impression he said something that he did not say. The gravity of this error was so enormous that it caused the resignation of the CEO of BBC News, Deborah Turness, and the Director General of [...]
Rachel Reeves must resign if she hikes income tax

November 6, 2025

Exactly a year ago today, which was exactly a week after Rachel Reeves’ first Budget – I wrote that the Chancellor’s policies would give Brits the hangover from hell. So, one year on, how are you feeling? My reference to a hangover was inspired by the government’s absurd post-Budget boast that they’d taken a penny [...]
Rachel Reeves blames everyone – apart from herself

November 5, 2025

The Chancellor’s speech yesterday was really very odd indeed. It benefited from all the gravitas of a Downing Street address to the nation, but was remarkably thin on substance. She created an atmosphere of high drama but left her audience with nothing but questions to which she was unable or unwilling to provide an answer. [...]

The Masters delivers food now, and it’s desire wrapped in identity

The Masters delivers food now, and it’s desire wrapped in identity

Barbican Centre: the brutalist landmark weaving art into everyday London life.

By: Christian May

All 544 Articles

Subscribe