Editorial: P&O boss’s performance is a slow motion ferry crash into reputational damage March 25, 2022 If one of London’s esteemed public relations agencies was involved in the briefing of P&O boss Peter Hebblethwaite before his appearance in front of a parliamentary committee yesterday, it would perhaps be wise for said firm not to put it in their next pitch document. In the annals of disastrous select committee hearings, this was [...]
Growth forecasts and a lack of ambition portend a grim economic future March 24, 2022 For all the pageantry of yesterday’s spring statement, the truth is that just one thing really matters: the drastic, deeply concerning downgrade in the UK’s growth forecasts. There are only so many political sleight of hands that any Chancellor can do to hide the fact that unless the UK finds the secret sauce of sustained [...]
Editorial: The West wants a united front against Putin, but Germany and France have their limits March 23, 2022 It has become a truism to say that Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine has seen the west unite in ways that were unheard of even a few years ago. So the argument goes, countries across Europe and north America have rallied fast to the cause of freedom, no matter the consequences – spiking energy bills, [...]
Putin’s plane heist signals dark days ahead for Russia’s people March 15, 2022 Amongst the humanitarian carnage unleashed on Ukraine by Kremlin tyrant Vladimir Putin, what interest should there be in a bunch of expropriated planes? That more than five hundred airlines, owned by leasing companies predominantly based in Ireland, could soon become the (stolen) property of the Russian state is hardly the most pressing issue. But what [...]
Editorial: No sympathy for the sanctioned, but seizures are dangerous path to tread March 14, 2022 It is not easy to feel much sympathy for Oleg Deripaska, whose mansion on Belgrave Square was squatted by a group of protestors yesterday, ostensibly to reclaim it as a home for Ukrainian refugees. It is notably more than the Government itself has managed so far with regards to working out where and how the [...]
Fit and proper? Time for a regulator to fix football’s broken market March 10, 2022 The word unprecedented is thrown around a lot, and often, it’s overdone. But it has to be said that a major Premier League club being pseudo-nationalised due to its Russian owner’s links with a warmongering dictator in eastern Europe is not something we remember happening all that often. In the immediate term, it is not [...]
Editorial: Shocks happen – and our institutions weren’t ready for this one March 10, 2022 And Rishi Sunak thought the hard bit was over. Wearing the scars of a two-year fight against a global pandemic, he may have thought he’d have some respite to get the public finances in order in time for some pre-election giveaways. That increasingly looks a long prospect. It may feel glib to discuss such matters [...]
Editorial: An ‘off-ramp’ for Putin? West can only offer him a u-turn March 8, 2022 As Russia’s invasion of Ukraine goes ever more bloody and ever more of a military disaster for the Kremlin, it has become trendy to talk of giving Putin an “off ramp” that allows him to save face, whilst also bringing to an end the senseless murder being unleashed on Ukraine. Putin’s people themselves offered one [...]
Editorial: Oil ban dilemma points to sad truth that there are no good choices left March 7, 2022 If, as the US Secretary of State Antony Blinken hinted at yesterday, the European continent is set for a Russian-oil-free future, the implications will be enormous. Energy prices, already high, will spike further. Vast swathes of the continent – and the UK’s – manufacturing sectors will be forced to hike prices too, creating the sort [...]
Editorial: This Tube strike is self-defeating in the extreme March 3, 2022 When Ukrainian citizens are sheltering in underground stations, it can at best seem glib, or heartless, to complain about our own trivial woes. A tube strike is a trivial woe; some will work from home when the RMT go on strike today, some will walk a little further than usual, some may even try getting [...]
