7/7 London bombings remembered: 10 years since terror struck July 6, 2015 Today marks the tenth anniversary of the 7/7 bombings, a series of coordinated suicide bomb attacks on London Underground trains and a double-decker bus that killed 52 civilians and injured more than 700 others. Prime Minister David Cameron and London mayor Boris Johnson will mark the date this morning by laying a wreath at the [...]
7/7 London bombings 10th anniversary: Sadiq Khan – “Our spirit of togetherness saw to it that the terrorists failed” July 6, 2015 I can remember all too vividly where I was on the 7th July 2005, when word started filtering through that there had been several explosions on London’s public transport network. I was with my staff in our House of Common's office and all of us were in high spirits as we were still digesting [...]
UK is contactless capital of world due to the Tube as payment limit to hit £30 July 5, 2015 Over one billion contactless Visa card payments were made in Europe alone in the last 12 months, double the previous year, in transactions worth a total of €12.6bn (£8.9bn). The UK is leading the trend, with 49.6m contactless Visa cards in circulation, an increase of 37 per cent from March 2014. Britain has [...]
Preparing for a workforce bred on mobile: Technology must become second-nature for firms to attract talent July 5, 2015 In case you missed the news, the Teletubbies are returning to our TVs. And they’re sporting a new look – they are now complete with touch screen bellies. Considering that (most of) the audience won’t be able to speak properly yet, this is a telling sign that the UK is now fully immersed in the [...]
Resilience and revival: 7/7 bombings and London’s bid for the Olympics 10 years on July 5, 2015 Today is the tenth anniversary of London winning the competition to host the 2012 Olympics. Tomorrow is the tenth anniversary of the worst terrorist attack on the capital in recent times, when 52 people were killed and 770 injured by bombs on the underground and a bus. From the pinnacle of celebration to the depths [...]
Heathrow is just one decision where the government could be falling short of its infrastructure promises July 3, 2015 The recommendation that Heathrow should have a third runway sent ripples of disbelief among business communities in the UK regions. Not the least of those was the West Midlands. They had hoped that the Davies Commission on the future of aviation would advocate measures that would help rebalance the economy, a frequent promise from Prime [...]
Airports Commission report: Heathrow runway expansion by 2025 will be too little, too late for London’s tech sector July 2, 2015 It cannot be denied that the announcement of Heathrow’s runway expansion is a step in the right direction for the capital’s business community. According to Andrew Macmillan, operations director at Heathrow Airport, direct air connections between airports lead to a twentyfold increase in trade between destinations. Equally for Declan Collier, chief executive of [...]
Davies: I chose Heathrow because it offers strongest benefits for UK economy July 1, 2015 HEATHROW’S dominant position for UK freight traffic, focus on long haul flights and better domestic transport links were the decisive factors underpinning Sir Howard Davies’ decision. The former London School of Economics director said Heathrow expansion would boost the productivity of the UK economy more than Gatwick expansion and offered better strategic benefits. Building a [...]
London mayor hopefuls square off on Heathrow July 1, 2015 PROPOSALS to build a third runway at London’s Heathrow Airport are set to take centre stage in the race for City Hall, as mayoral hopefuls plant their flags on all sides of the debate. The Airports Commission’s recommendation yesterday to expand Heathrow has cut across party lines, with Conservative and Labour candidates split over the [...]
Airports Commission: The fight is still on to stop Heathrow third runway, say local action groups July 1, 2015 Heathrow still faces a fight for its third runway to be finalised, despite being recommended by Sir Howard Davies’ independent airports commission yesterday. Speaking in the House of Commons today, transport secretary Patrick McLoughlin accepted that the issues are “not easy to resolve”, and local residents showed no sign of dropping their fight after [...]