Avoiding political clashes at work March 16, 2015 Consider an office policy, and don’t assume others’ points of view in the run-up to the election. It's often said that you should never discuss religion or politics in public, but this may well prove hard over the coming months. As the General Election campaign builds momentum, high profile individuals (and there are many [...]
The echo-gnomics of Terry Pratchett – Editor’s Letter March 12, 2015 A flat earth. Beneath: a turtle ten thousand miles long. Above, wandering the surface of this world and mirror of worlds: zombie lawyers; a sinister clown running a bank where the chairman is a small dog; a tourist openly carrying a bag of gold, blissfully unaware of the prevailing exchange rate. The loss of Sir [...]
Budget 2030: What will chancellors of the future have to grapple with? March 3, 2015 Red box at the ready: it’s two weeks until George Osborne delivers his final Budget of this Parliament. As it is happening only days after Nesta’s future-gazing London festival FutureFest (taking place on 14 and 15 March), we’ve been speculating as to what the Budget in 2030 might look like. Let’s take a look into [...]
City Moves for 19 February 2015 | Who’s switching jobs February 18, 2015 JLL The real estate services firm has announced two appointments. Richard Servidei joins the alternatives team from Colliers International, where he was a director for out of town retail investment. Oliver Jordan (right) has joined the retail investment team from BCL, where he was a partner. Seddons The law firm has appointed Mark Lewis as [...]
Why the soft skills generation is an asset – ACCA Comment February 18, 2015 It’s easy to criticise the young for their lack of business savvy but we may be missing a trick. Our young people aren’t up to the job. They just don’t have what it takes.” It’s a familiar refrain, isn’t it? Hardly a day goes by without a high-profile business leader expressing grave concern that the [...]
Lord Stanley Fink: The Godfather of the hedge fund industry February 12, 2015 Despite being labelled a tax avoider by Ed Miliband, there’s more to Lord Fink than meets the eye. Lord (Stanley) Fink came under fire from Ed Miliband in Parliament this week, who accused the Tory donor and former party treasurer of tax avoidance. But as the spat continued through yesterday, a number of high-profile tweeters [...]
General Election 2015: The key battlegrounds – CNBC Comment February 9, 2015 The state of the UK economy compared to how it was five years ago, and when compared to the EU at the moment, is impressive. Fragile, but impressive nonetheless. And the Coalition should be commended for that. But let’s make one thing clear: one of the main reasons this has been achieved is that the [...]
“Magic Circle” firm looks north as London rents soar February 9, 2015 We all know that London rents can be eye-wateringly expensive. Just last week we revealed that rents in the capital have risen six times faster than other parts of the UK and of course we all remember the MP Mark Simmonds who had to quit because his six-figure package wasn't enough to keep up with [...]
Cameron isn’t trying to ban Snapchat, WhatsApp, iMessage and encrypted messaging January 14, 2015 If the reports were right, David Cameron this week was trying to succeed where Kim Kardashian failed: to break the internet. The reaction against his comments implying the government might ban encryption was loud, angry and fast. This is entirely understandable – even setting aside the civil liberties arguments, any attempt to ban encryption would probably [...]
New job? What to look out for when signing a contract January 4, 2015 Have you been offered a new job? It’s worth negotiating the key terms. Do you have the back to work blues? For many, the Christmas and New Year break is an opportunity to reassess your position. It may be that you feel you are being undervalued and aren’t getting a fair deal at work. [...]