How geopolitics trumps economics July 7, 2017 Earlier this week I attended the "Athens Seminar", an economic and political round table discussion that has been hosted annually since 1979. I thought it would be of interest to share some of the main takeaways, as they help understand the current environment. Since the global financial crisis, economic and financial issues have dominated this [...]
Three-quarters of millennial graduates will never pay off their student loan July 5, 2017 Millennials want mobile-friendly banking and fixed rate mortgages, but many are overwhelmed with student debt, as a slew of new reports out today has shed light on the finances of the UK’s young people. Three quarters of graduates since 2011 will never pay off their full student loan, while high earners can expect to pay [...]
LGA: Skills gap to cost UK £90bn as Brexit piles on jobs pressure July 5, 2017 The UK’s skill gap could cost the UK’s economy £90bn a year by 2024, new research suggests. There will be 21.8m people chasing low and intermediate-skilled jobs by the middle of next decade – a surplus of 8.1m – while there will be 4.2m highly skilled jobs that cannot be filled by the right candidate, [...]
Our guide to getting the most out of the remote and uniquely beautiful Pacific island of Samoa July 3, 2017 Samoa has one of the South Pacific’s most beautiful and varied coastlines, complemented by a lush mountainous interior. An ideal island getaway, visitors here can pick and choose between paddling round kiddie pool lagoons of vast breadth but knee-high depth, to catching the spray off gargantuan waves crashing into craggy sea cliffs. Or both, because [...]
Focus On New Cross: With year-on-year house price growth at nearly 15 per cent, SE14 is a safe bet in Zone Two July 3, 2017 Like many areas tipped for great growth in years to come, New Cross is a place that’s sandwiched in between two much trendier neighbours. The meteoric rise of Peckham and Deptford has left poor SE14 trailing in its wake, but there’s no reason why it shouldn’t be just as popular in just a few years. [...]
London’s best restaurants explain how they design their dining spaces, from banquette to banqueting table June 29, 2017 Few things in the restaurant design world have been so hotly debated as the humble tablecloth. Since Noma stormed onto the international food scene in 2003, the rulebook for what a high-end restaurant should look like went out the window; gone were the plush carpets, extravagant chandeliers and, most importantly of all, the table cloths. [...]
Come clean, Comrade Corbyn: Socialism is always a disaster June 27, 2017 Have you heard the good news? Jeremy Corbyn loves you, and wants you to love him. He offers you peace and joy and a fulfilled life. So sayeth Monsieur Zen: “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of [...]
Edinburgh ranked one of the world’s top cities for investment in new survey June 26, 2017 Investment activity in commercial real estate in Edinburgh, relative to the city’s current economic size, has seen Scotland's capital ranked as one of the world’s top cities for investment in the latest JLL Investment Intensity Index 2017. The index, which compares the volume of direct real estate investment in 150 cities, over a three-year period, [...]
Vince Cable: Young people will turn to the Lib Dems when the penny drops about Labour’s real stance on Brexit | City A.M. June 25, 2017 The favourite to win leadership of the Liberal Democrats has said young people will be “disillusioned” when they realise Labour’s real stance on Brexit. Vince Cable, who became the first to throw his hat into the ring for the Lib Dem leadership contest after Tim Farron resigned earlier this month, told Peston on Sunday the [...]
Republicans unveil a nonsensical healthcare reform bill to replace Obamacare June 23, 2017 Nobody knew that healthcare could be so complicated,” Donald Trump declared, 38 days into his presidency. His party has been having similar difficulties. After seven years of vocally opposing Obama’s Affordable Care Act (ACA), Republicans found at the start of this Congress that designing a replacement that slashes taxes while keeping the current system’s most [...]