Floating on Airbnb: We meet the founder who is taking the hassle out of hosting November 11, 2019 When James Jenkins-Yates rented out his London home via Airbnb while he went on holiday to Rome, it was a complete disaster. “Everything went wrong,” he tells me. “I had three back-to-back bookings over the week and guests were everywhere — I received calls at 3am, one guest couldn’t get in through the gate, cleaners [...]
Don’t dismiss small publications, they serve a role in PR November 11, 2019 “Do our customers read that publication anyway?” It’s a question that any chief executive or marketer should ask. Marketing that’s not targeted at your audience is waste — or so the theory goes. Brands should of course aim for coverage in relevant media. But what about leads from publications that aren’t strictly on point? Sometimes [...]
ATP Finals 2019: The battle for world No1 ranking and four more things to watch at the O2 this week November 10, 2019 Winning the final and biggest ATP Tour event of the year will be enough motivation for the eight taking centre stage at London’s O2 Arena this week, but for Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic the world No1 spot is also on the line. Nadal currently leads Djokovic in the rankings by 640 points, but the [...]
People’s Vote chief executive Patrick Heneghan resigns amid sex harassment claims November 10, 2019 The People’s Vote new chief executive has resigned less than two weeks into the job pending an investigation into sexual harassment claims. Ex-Labour election strategist Patrick Heneghan has stepped away from the campaign after a tumultuous two weeks in the job, which included mass staff walkouts, a vote of no confidence and a data privacy [...]
The legacy of the Berlin Wall is the city’s thriving tech scene November 8, 2019 Tomorrow marks the thirtieth anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, arguably the most symbolic political moment of the post-war twentieth century. On 9 November 1989, tens of thousands of people flooded across a barrier that had divided ideologies for 28 years. The German capital was transformed. Anniversaries like this are important because they [...]
General Election 2019: Tory candidate throws in the towel after backlash from ‘unacceptable’ rape comments November 7, 2019 A Conservative election candidate who said that women should “keep their knickers on” during a conversation about rape has stood down from the contest. Nick Conrad, a BBC Radio Norfolk host, made a series of comments during a live debate about footballer Ched Evans, who was convicted of rape five years ago, before the sentence [...]
Eddie Jones has enriched English rugby but the RFU should try and hire Steve Hansen November 7, 2019 Firstly, I want to hold my hands up: I called the Rugby World Cup final completely wrong. I have rewatched the match since to try to make sense of it, and although Kyle Sinckler’s early injury helped give South Africa the ascendancy in the scrum, it was far from the biggest factor in England’s 32-12 [...]
Can business models like Wework’s really work? November 7, 2019 Flexible businesses can, by their very nature, roll with the punches and evolve as their customers do. But the recent pace of change at WeWork has shown that even the most flexible of businesses can be at risk. Those of us in the property industry cannot fail to have noticed how WeWork has become central [...]
Rugby World Cup: Why the legacy of Japan’s tournament will live on November 6, 2019 The Rugby World Cup may have ended without the ultimate prize for England last weekend but the tournament itself created winners beyond those in the triumphant South Africa camp. The decision to choose Japan as host nation, ahead of bids from Italy and the eventual winners, appeared bold back in 2009. With the benefit of [...]
Not all engineers wear hard hats and high-vis jackets November 6, 2019 What do prosthetic limbs, cosmetics, clean water, YouTube, and biodegradable plastic alternatives have in common? None of them would exist without engineers – but that would likely come as a surprise to most people. Unfortunately, we suffer from narrow and outdated stereotypes of what engineers do and the role they play in society. And this [...]