No, it’s not sci-fi. Robots really could help dig us out of our low productivity spiral October 25, 2022 Earlier this month, a robot named Ai-Da gave evidence to the House of Lords on the future of the creative industries. The members of the Lords Communications and Digital committee were fairly quite stumped. For all its weirdness, this episode proved a point: robots are among us. When thinking of robots, many of us imagine [...]
A Lord of the Rings pilgrimage to The Ribble Valley October 24, 2022 THE WEEKEND: I’m a lifelong fan of the great JRR Tolkien, and so to mark the release of the new Lord of the Rings: Rings of Power series dropping on Amazon, I’m visiting the village of Hurst in Lancashire’s rural Ribble Valley, which has a circular 9 km trail in honour of the Lord of [...]
Portland Oregon is the best of the West Coast – and a new direct flight makes visiting easy October 24, 2022 Portland Oregon is your new West Coast city visit, thanks to a new direct British Airways flight route
Exclusive: How London’s prime property financing space weathered Brexit, Covid and market mayhem October 24, 2022 Prime property finance is experiencing a boom in demand but battling falling prices. Yet, as the most resilient part of the market shows it can insulate itself from Brexit, the pandemic and current financial woes. While not immune from external shocks, its ability to recover faster than the rest of the industry makes it a [...]
Spam sales up nearly 40 per cent at Waitrose as price hikes bite October 20, 2022 BRITAIN’S DISCOUNT retailers are set for a winter windfall – with even Waitrose shoppers turning to spam and fish heads as the cost of living crisis bites. The sales of both have risen more than a third at the high-end supermarket over the past year, the firm confirmed overnight. Analysts reckon budget grocers like Aldi [...]
Just Eat Takeaway returns to profit despite warning of ‘challenging’ consumer backdrop October 19, 2022 Just Eat Takeaway has returned to profitability earlier than expected, although the food delivery platform warned of a “challenging” consumer backdrop in the months to come. The London-based firm said it processed 235m orders in the third quarter of 2022, an 11 per cent dip on the year previously, with bosses pointing to the end [...]
Sadiq Khan: Tax “confusion” could hit London’s investment appeal October 19, 2022 SADIQ KHAN has warned that instability at the top of British politics could hit London’s status as a desirable investment destination. Investors are “not sure that the stability and certainty that existed in London will be there going forward,” the Mayor of London told City A.M. yesterday. “Instability is good for no-one,” he added. A [...]
Khan: Tourist tax-free shopping u-turn bad for London’s businesses October 18, 2022 Sadiq Khan has slammed the government’s decision to u-turn on a plan to give tourists tax-free shopping. The Mayor of London said he “absolutely” shared the concerns of West End businesses, who have expressed disappointment that the capital will lag behind other cities’ in efforts to welcome high-spending foreign visitors. “VAT-free shopping for international tourists [...]
Inside AlUla, Saudi Arabia, where monuments are older than the pyramids October 17, 2022 Just when you think you’ve grasped how ancient the city of AlUla, Saudi Arabia is, you stumble upon an even older part, and then another, each earlier still. By the time someone mentions palaeolithic axe-heads from 200,000 years ago, a 12th century Islamic town is beginning to sound contemporary. What’s made all this Indiana Jones [...]
Young punters protect Boxpark sales from consumer slowdown October 13, 2022 Young Londoners receiving inflation-related salary boosts has helped to protect Boxpark from a slowdown in discretionary spending, its CEO has said. The shipping container hospitality concept has seen sales increase by double digits compared to the previous year, with London sites in East Croydon, Shoreditch and Wembley “trading really well,” Simon Champion told CityA.M. The [...]