The virtual metaverse requires very real-world regulation November 10, 2021 Regulators tend only to emerge in the spotlight of public scrutiny when something goes wrong. FCA bosses have spent the last couple of years being wheeled in front of Select Committees to explain the colossal cock-ups that led to the London Capital & Finance minibond scandal – including its former boss Andrew Bailey, who despite [...]
London’s recovery can’t be jeopardised by a lack of funding for TfL November 9, 2021 Amid the many heartening sights of London’s post-Covid-19 recovery, it’s ironic that one of the most warming was the sight of 600 lucky souls leaving the capital yesterday morning. Two flights, BA-001 and VS3, took off from Heathrow to JFK at 8:51am, on the day the US reopened its borders. As the airlines put it, [...]
Editorial: Time to up MPs’ pay to attract the best and the brightest (yes, really) November 8, 2021 The argument to increase MPs’ pay is perhaps not best made in the immediate maelstrom of a good-old-fashioned Tory sleaze scandal. But the Owen Paterson affair – in which the MP resigned after a most extraordinarily chaotic 24 hours last week – does point, perhaps, to something more substantive. Put simply, becoming an MP is [...]
Editorial: Bank marched markets up the hill – it can’t be angry they were disappointed they were told to go back November 4, 2021 Bank of England governors have a recent history of not always delivering it comes to guidance. Famously, former Bank chief Mark Carney was labelled an “unreliable boyfriend” for routinely failing to deliver on his words. Current boss Andrew Bailey seems to be eyeing up Carney’s crown after the Bank yesterday decided to hold rates at [...]
Editorial: Owen Paterson debacle paints Conservatives in a very bad light November 3, 2021 Good on Yorkshire Tea. Not, admittedly, how most of City A.M.’s editorial columns start, but yesterday the God’s own tea maker cancelled its sponsorship of Yorkshire Country Cricket Club after the authorities there swept a report on racism within the club’s dressing rooms under the carpet. It was a shocking failure of governance, and commercial [...]
Editorial: Sports fiascos remind City of importance of governance November 2, 2021 The world of sport has always been something of a wild west when it comes to corporate governance. The propensity to hire ex-players to sit on governing committees doesn’t help, as if the ability to play with head over elbow when batting out the day or pick-and-go from the back of the scrum will somehow [...]
Editorial: Turning discrimination into diversity isn’t just social justice October 29, 2021 Yesterday, we published the (long overdue) news that the Waterloo and City line is set to return to a full weekday service by the end of next month. It’s not before time, and it’s a wonderful marker of the Square Mile’s nascent recovery from the pandemic. All around the capital are signs of life returning [...]
Editorial: Risky Rishi’s budget may not taste so sweet if events turn sour October 27, 2021 The poor Labour party. If the job of opposition is to oppose, how to oppose Rishi Sunak’s budget?The truth is that had Sunak’s speech been drafted for Gordon Brown, not many would have batted an eyelid. Spending was replaced with investment; tax cuts a promise, not a reality. There was much to like from a [...]
Editorial: Facebook needs to change to win friends back October 26, 2021 Move fast and break things was once the defining force behind Facebook’s success, but perhaps Mark Zuckerberg may reflect that the mantra was supposed to be about technological innovation – not the social fabric that holds us together. Let’s be clear: Facebook is in a lot of trouble. Regulators are gearing up for a fight, [...]
Editorial: Beware our drift into a high-tax economy October 22, 2021 Over the past few years, Emmanuel Macron and other French leaders have gone to great lengths to tempt international businesses across the channel onto French soil. This has verged from the sublime (investment dinners at Versailles) to the ridiculous (adverts from ‘The Normandy Times’ in British papers looking for ‘hot entrepreneurs… allergic to post-Brexit tariffs). [...]
