Liberal Democrats mayor of London candidate wants to decriminalise cannabis October 14, 2019 City Hall will decriminalise cannabis in the capital under a Liberal Democrats mayor of London. Siobhan Benita, the Liberal Democrats candidate for next May’s mayoral election, said she would decriminalise the drug if elected by creating new guidelines for the Metropolitan Police. Read more: Liberal Democrats mayoral hopeful Siobhan Benita says ‘we can win this’ [...]
Takeover titan and Blackstone boss Steve Schwarzman talks charity, business and life advice October 14, 2019 Private equity does not have a reputation for giving away money: on the contrary, it is an industry known for its hard-headed obsession with turning a profit though buying companies and selling them on. So it comes as something of a surprise to find that the boss of the world’s biggest private equity company, Steve [...]
From Bloom & Wild to Moneybox, we meet the man who co-founded both October 14, 2019 What do a flower shop and an investment app have in common? More than you might think, says the co-founder of two flourishing British businesses, Moneybox and Bloom & Wild. The latter was featured in City A.M. in 2017 and remains one of the fastest growing tech companies in the country, according to Deloitte. “I [...]
If you care about the kids, there’s no excuse not to legalise cannabis October 14, 2019 If we have the chance to reduce harm, we should take it. That idea – harm reduction – lies behind much of what any government seeks to do. It is an uncontroversial principle. Yet there is a key area of government policy which does not abide by it: drugs. Our government’s approach is to pursue [...]
In defence of my friend Dominic Cummings October 14, 2019 Everyone of a certain age who worked in New York or Washington has a 9/11 story; mine concerns Dominic Cummings. It was sometime early in the afternoon of the unforgettable, nightmarish day. Three planes had already slammed into the World Trade Centre Buildings and the Pentagon, inflicting their awful havoc. A fourth plane had been [...]
Labour’s renationalisation plan ‘would cost £200bn’ October 14, 2019 The Labour party’s plans to renationalise water and energy utilities, train companies and the Royal Mail would cost at least £196bn, new analysis by the country’s biggest employer organisation has revealed. The huge sum is equivalent to the total amount of income tax paid by UK citizens in a single year, and is almost as [...]
Employers, it’s time to add some freelancers to your armoury October 12, 2019 Talk to graduates, new mothers, or young creatives about work today, and the one word you’re likely to hear more than any other is freelance. The term itself certainly isn’t new. In Walter Scott’s 1819 novel Ivanhoe, paid mercenaries described as “free lances” are offered from one feudal lord to another. Fast-forward 200 years, and [...]
Why cash-rich renters are on the rise October 11, 2019 According to conventional British wisdom, renting is something you do when you can’t afford to buy a house. While that’s still true of the majority of London renters, there is another group – and they’re growing. Some are international executives coming here to work for a year or two. There are wealthy overseas students, too, [...]
Wework’s European operational losses skyrocket 900 per cent October 11, 2019 Huge rises in staff costs and management fees related to Wework’s stratospheric expansion plans have sunk its internal division to an £80m loss. 2018 filings for Wework International reported an 898 per cent increase in overall losses to £75.9m, up from £7.6m a year earlier. Read more: Goldman Sachs keeps a Wework space to fall [...]
Rory walks on with a campaign to spice up the race for London mayor October 11, 2019 Watch out London, your favourite selfie-taking, tie-rejecting, accidental-opium-smoking, politician/rambler is coming to a Tube station near you. Yes, it’s Rory Stewart time once again. For those of us who were mesmerised by the former international development secretary’s short-lived sensation of a campaign to be Tory leader, now we get to enjoy the sequel, after Rory [...]