The Notebook: Neil Bennett on the local elections, the BBC and a very modern strike May 3, 2023 The other day my bike appeared in The Sun. Like any proud owner, I have carefully kept the cutting. The reason for this was a colleague needed a prop for his anti-pothole campaign, catchily called “Pot Trumps”. Each day he features a large and terrifying pot hold on Instagram in a forlorn attempt to persuade [...]
Bennett on Business: The CBI must demonstrate value for money April 19, 2023 When it was founded in 1965, the Confederation of British Industry was intended to disrupt the cosy dialogue between the Wilson Government and the Trades Unions. Back then the Unions called the shots – they were invited into Number 10 to discuss industrial and economic policy, leaving assorted company leaders out in the cold. As [...]
The Notebook: Neil Bennett on corporate disasters, Paris on fire and signs of hope for Wandisco March 29, 2023 One of my favourite business quotes comes, inevitably, from Warren Buffett: “It is only when the tide goes out, that you discover who has been swimming naked.” In the past two weeks it has become clear that the recent rapid tightening of rates has created to a strong ebb tide, and that there is an [...]
The Notebook: Neil Bennett on how the Treasury made the BBC look very slow indeed March 15, 2023 Writing a column on the morning of Budget Day is always a thankless task. By the time you read this, most of you will know what is set to come out of that red box, while I can only speculate. That said, it’s nice to see that Jeremy Hunt is now following in his predecessors’ [...]
The Notebook: Neil Bennett on the Bank’s lost credibility, corporation tax, and Scotland the timid March 1, 2023 The Notebook is a place where interesting people note interesting things. Today it’s our fortnightly columnist Neil Bennett, the global co-CEO of communications and strategic advisory group H/Advisors, on the Bank of England’s forecasting record, corporation tax plans, and a new must-see play Cast your mind back to last November, when Huw Pill, Chief Economist [...]
Neil Bennett Notebook: A tale of two striking cities February 15, 2023 Neil Bennett’s notebook on two very different types of strike in London versus Paris
The Notebook: Neil Bennett on strikes, why public markets matter and the Lehman Trilogy February 1, 2023 When my old friend James Ashton (former City Editor of the – ahem – Evening Standard) told me a few weeks ago that he had become CEO of the Quoted Companies Alliance, I felt like sending him my St Jude pendant, for the patron saint of lost causes. For the quoted company sector has been [...]
The Notebook: Neil Bennett’s Davos dispatch January 17, 2023 The Notebook is a place for interesting people to say interesting things. Today it’s the turn of Neil Bennett, Global Co-CEO of communications advisory giant H/Advisers – writing on Ukraine in Davos, Manchester United’s bold marketing strategy and why the Swiss town remains the place to be I am in Davos this week to host [...]
In defence of Peppa Pig, an unlikely flagbearer of Britain’s financial finesse November 25, 2021 Whisper it softly, but hidden in Boris Johnson’s bungled speech to the CBI on Monday, was a half decent idea struggling to get out. Forget the repeated apologies, the shuffled papers or the bizarre anecdote about his weekend, the star of the show was Peppa Pig, that irritating cartoon creature that toddlers adore. As the [...]
London: Two millennia of pestilence and not out March 26, 2020 Anyone with a cursory knowledge of London’s history will not be surprised that our city is the epicentre of Britain’s coronavirus outbreak. Ever since its Roman foundation, London has been a microbial soup, a cauldron of pestilence. Time and again plagues have swept across the capital, threatening to wipe it out. On every occasion, times [...]
