The tide is finally turning on working from home – and so is the evidence August 1, 2023 It’s an open secret. We all work a little less hard when we work from home. Anecdotally, we’ve all heard someone quip, “it’s alright, I’m working from home tomorrow”, as they make a beeline for the bar to order the fourth round of drinks during a midweek evening pub session. But now there’s a new [...]
Natwest should have stuck to its guns and kept politics out of the City July 26, 2023 Even the most trigger-happy of football chairmen usually leave a few days or weeks in between expressing full confidence in a manager and giving them the heave. Natwest board supremo Lord Howard Davies gave Alison Rose a matter of hours. What happened between the announcement just before 6pm that the Natwest CEO would be staying, [...]
Farage’s row with Coutts matters more than you might think July 20, 2023 The ongoing row between Coutts and Nigel Farage has, predictably, turned into a he-said, they-said brouhaha that does nobody any favours. But that does not mean that it isn’t worth tuning into, for the right to a bank account – and a bank’s decision on whether to give you one – does, indeed, matter. As [...]
Ministers are obliged to find a fudge to end rail strike misery July 17, 2023 One of the skills of the modern politician is to be close to success and far from failure. For reasons best known to them, a host of greasy pole-climbers felt obliged to tweet out appropriately statesmanlike congratulations to Carlos Alvarez yesterday after his victory at Wimbledon, basking in some kind of reflected glory. Yet many [...]
Hong Kong a reminder that firms must match words with actions July 12, 2023 Last week in this space we suggested that Hong Kong’s decision to place a bounty on the head of eight effectively-exiled pro-democracy protestors, including the young campaigner Nathan Law, showed the true autocratic colours of the territory’s government and its Beijing masters. That Hong Kong police yesterday raided the home of Law’s family, and questioned [...]
The real winners of marketplace battles are the consumers July 6, 2023 A Finnish mobile phone maker, an American social media network and a Japanese camera company walk into a bar, and the barman says: “oh, my dad told me about you.” Not necessarily the most promising comedy material but as a jumping off point for a discussion of the value of competition, the fates of once-seemingly-impregnable [...]
Thames Water’s woes don’t show the folly of privatisation, but a lack of competition June 29, 2023 Thames Water has got itself into this position not because it's in private hands, but because it isn't subject to the improving forces of the market
Don’t write off the Wharf: Docklands district is evolving, fast June 27, 2023 Canary Wharf is changing, even if perceptions are not. HSBC leaving tells us more about the bank than the Docklands.
The Bank of England has mismanaged this inflation cycle from the get-go June 14, 2023 The Bank of England and Andrew Bailey have botched their messaging, their forecasts and their decisions - and we are paying the price
London thrives when it’s dealing with risk – just ask the insurers June 13, 2023 The City is at its best when it's dealing with risk - and regulators and policymakers need to catch up with the idea
