Londoners want the police to treat crime as if it’s actually illegal February 17, 2026 Having denied that London is experiencing a crime wave for years, Sadiq Khan’s announcement of crackdown on phone theft is an admission that the capital is less safe than it should be, says Lawrence Newport For years, Sadiq Khan has told Londoners not to believe their own eyes. Londoners have borne witness to the worst [...]
Labour’s employment legislation and national insurance blamed for rising joblessness February 17, 2026 National insurance hikes and the employment rights act mean businesses are being forced to cut back on hiring, business leaders and analysts have said. The labour market continued to loosen at the end of last year, according to new Office for National Statistics (ONS) data, with unemployment climbing to 5.2 per cent between October and [...]
Reform UK’s rise: Will City law firms shift their support? February 12, 2026 Businesses, including law firms, snuggled up to Labour in 2024 but with Reform UK on the agenda, will firms shift their focus before the next election? Unlike in the US, business lobbying of British political parties and the UK government is kept somewhat behind closed doors, but it remains a powerful tool. For professional services, [...]
Arcadia at the Old Vic is a brilliant farewell to Tom Stoppard February 5, 2026 Arcadia | Old Vic | ★★★★☆ Arcadia is a dizzying piece of work, as broad as the universe and as self-contained as a jigsaw puzzle. Through it Tom Stoppard addresses some of humanity’s great questions: do we have free will? Is poetry more important than science? Is there anyone Lord Byron didn’t shag? It opens [...]
Anthropic’s new tool raises bar for legal AI startups February 5, 2026 A dramatic shift is underway in the legal tech landscape as AI advancements disrupt traditional industry leaders. This comes as the traditional research and analytics software businesses saw billions wiped out from their market share this week after Anthropic announced its new AI. San Francisco-based AI giant Anthropic, the firm behind chatbot Claude, revealed on [...]
Starmer’s Chinese takeaway leaves a nasty taste February 2, 2026 The Prime Minister returns from China a rather diminished figure. His vaunted commitment to human rights and international law rings very false when he kowtows to the regime in Beijing, and even the likely modest economic impact of his visit cannot offset that, says Eliot Wilson We need to talk about Sir Keir Starmer. The [...]
Law firms, legal tech, and the branding battle royale January 29, 2026 It seems like every week brings a new AI player on the scene, but now there’s a trend of legal spats over what exactly to call them. AI-focused businesses have been popping up everywhere as demand for the tech surges. According to LawtechUK’s data, the number of UK-founded lawtech companies on its tracker climbed from [...]
Legal accounts controversy: Who should fund the broken justice system? January 22, 2026 First, the government tried to go after the LLPs, but that failed. Now its eyes are on law firms’ client accounts under the narrative that it will be used to help the crumbling justice system, but lawyers are seeing it as just another tax raid. Law firms earn substantial income from interest on client accounts, [...]
Ryanair boss could land near-£2bn payout after Elon Musk feud January 21, 2026 The boss of Ryanair could land a cash payout of as much as £1.7bn if the world’s richest man, Elon Musk, acts on his threats to buy the airline. Michael O’Leary, who has been chief executive of the County Dublin-based business for more than 30 years, has accumulated the sixth-largest stake in the company, with [...]
Non-doms are descending on Milan – and getting a divorce January 21, 2026 Thanks to its generous flat-tax regime, Milan has become a popular bolthole for former UK-based non-doms. But, asks Ali Lyon, does the opening of a new divorce law firm in Italy’s financial capital suggest some of its new residents are regretting their decision? The United Kingdom’s decision to abolish the non-dom regime last year has [...]