I recreated all my favourite TV tropes, from crawling through pipes to being two kids in a trenchcoat
First we need to cut fuel duty, then we must redesign our road taxes entirely March 8, 2022 In early 2011 at The Sun, I pestered the editor for long enough about rising petrol prices that he decided the newspaper should be doing something about it. A campaign to freeze fuel duty was born – with all the old-school trimmings. We even took post bags full of petitions signed by readers up Downing [...]
Ukraine crisis highlights Europe’s dependency on Russian gas March 7, 2022 Russia is currently facing the ire of the world following its illegal invasion of Ukraine, which is bringing misery to millions. It is also the second largest producer of natural gas in the world. It serves European consumers of energy through a number of pipelines. Proximity and the ease of transport means supplies from the [...]
Explainer-in-brief: Clearing up London’s air and TfL budgets March 7, 2022 Last week, Mayor of London Sadiq Khan announced he would expand the Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ) to include the entirety of Greater London. Drivers of old, polluting vehicles will have to pay £12.50 a day to enter the city. The first aim of this move is to turn London into a city with clean [...]
Londoners pay the price as Khan and No10 stay on the carousel of fights over TfL funding March 7, 2022 A FEW weeks ago, after months of wrangling, Transport for London and the Department for Transport finally agreed a slightly longer term short-term funding deal for the network. After a series of deals lasting a week or two at a time, this one runs until June. We don’t know what’s going to happen in June [...]
Polluting London drivers to be hit with daily fee of £12.50 as Sadiq Khan plans to expand Ultra Low Emission Zone to entire city March 6, 2022 London Mayor Sadiq Khan said today that he plans to expand the capital’s Ultra Low Emission Zone (Ulez) to cover the entire city in a push to cut pollution and congestion. Mr Khan has asked Transport for London (TfL) to consult on extending the scheme’s boundary from the North and South Circular Roads to the [...]
What impact will Russia’s invasion of Ukraine have on oil and gas? March 4, 2022 Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is first and foremost a human tragedy. As investors though, our role is to interpret the market implications on behalf of our clients. Here, we consider the impact of the invasion on oil and gas markets. Firstly, it’s important to understand how markets stood before the invasion. Global energy markets were [...]
Editorial: This Tube strike is self-defeating in the extreme March 3, 2022 When Ukrainian citizens are sheltering in underground stations, it can at best seem glib, or heartless, to complain about our own trivial woes. A tube strike is a trivial woe; some will work from home when the RMT go on strike today, some will walk a little further than usual, some may even try getting [...]
Terrible Thursday: Chaos returns to central London as TfL staff walk out in yet another tube strike March 3, 2022 Another tube strike has just begun with Londoners facing another day of travel chaos as the refusal by thousands of Transport for London workers is expected to cripple transport services today. Members of the Rail, Maritime and Transport union (RMT) will walk out for 24 hours in a deadlocked dispute over jobs, pensions and conditions, [...]
Retail recovery in ‘sweet spot’ last month as cost of living could discourage shoppers March 3, 2022 High street experts were pleasantly surprised at the robustness of retail footfall last month, but have warned the cost of living crunch may soon deter shoppers. Footfall strengthened a little in February over the month as a whole, to -20.7 per cent below pre-pandemic levels, from -20.8 per cent in January, according to retail experts [...]
They are coming: Calls to stop Russian tankers heading for Kent March 2, 2022 The government must immediately intervene to stop two Russian tankers – containing enough liquid gas to supply the UK for up to 12 days – from docking in Kent at the weekend, a union said this afternoon. The Boris Vilkitsky and Fedor Litke are bound for Grain LNG with plans to unload on Sunday, according [...]