Coronavirus: Stobart Group furloughs half its staff and withdraws guidance April 6, 2020 Stobart Group will furlough 50 per cent of its staff as part of a range of measures implemented to protect the firm against the coronavirus pandemic, the industrial conglomerate announced this morning. In addition to putting roughly 750 employees on the government’s job retention scheme, the firm, which owns businesses such as London Southend Airport, [...]
Coronavirus: British Airways to suspend 36,000 workers April 2, 2020 British Airways is preparing to suspend 36,000 employees after it was forced to ground flights due to coronavirus. The airline is close to reaching a deal with union Unite after negotiating for more than a week, however some details still need to be agreed upon, the BBC reported. Up to 80 per cent of the [...]
Sadiq Khan: Still too many people catching public transport April 1, 2020 Sadiq Khan has hit out at Londoners who are not following the government’s social distancing rules, claiming there are still too many people using public transport. Khan told BBC Radio 4 today that some Tube carriages were still over crowded because “clearly too many people not staying at home”. The government has said that only [...]
Coronavirus: Imagine if the state could respond like this all the time? April 1, 2020 The effort has been extraordinary. Within a few days, entire hospitals have been constructed from scratch. Vast numbers of intensive care units and ventilators have been assembled at speed. The NHS, once a byword for bureaucracy, has been swift and nimble in getting ready for the Coronavirus emergency to come. Processes that would normally have [...]
Bank junction to be used as drone taxi landing zone April 1, 2020 The City of London Corporation is preparing to designate the newly pedestrianised Bank junction as a drone taxi landing zone, City A.M. can reveal. Taxi drones could be zipping through the skies of the capital as soon as the summer after ministers backed a plan to prioritise new regulations allowing passenger transit on autonomous flying [...]
Engineering is essential to addressing the coronavirus crisis March 31, 2020 At first it seemed – at least in commentary – that dealing with the Covid-19 crisis was mainly a task for epidemiology, medical and public health experts, and they continue to lead the global effort to combat the outbreak. But the cross-sector scale of the challenge became apparent last week with the UK government’s appeal [...]
Coronavirus: Government poised to unveil rescue deal for bus industry March 31, 2020 Transport secretary Grant Shapps has said that a sector-specific deal for the UK’s bus operators will be announced shortly after passenger numbers collapsed nearly 80 per cent. Speaking to Sky, Shapps said that he was “working very hard on a package” for buses, having announced a set of emergency measures to protect the UK’s struggling [...]
Don’t leave the South East behind as Britain levels up March 31, 2020 The Big Smoke dominates — our economy, our culture and our, well, pretty much everything in the UK. In Westminster, just a small corner of the behemoth that is London, life-changing decisions — for better and worse — are being made that will dramatically impact public services, businesses, and families for years to come. That [...]
London’s transport is failing the people that need it most March 27, 2020 Imagine being a key worker tomorrow morning. A twenty-minute wait for the next tube — if you manage to get on. A carriage so overcrowded that you’ve got no hope of social distancing. And then a rush to your hospital, your police station, your school. We’re asking key staff to put their health on the [...]
Shaun Bailey: Three steps London must take to protect key workers on the Tube March 27, 2020 Imagine being a key worker taking the Tube tomorrow morning. A 20-minute wait for the next train — if you manage to get on. A carriage so overcrowded that you’ve got no hope of social distancing. And then a rush to your hospital, your police station, your school. We’re asking key staff to put their [...]