Creating wealth, giving back: Highlights of my year as the lord mayor of London November 1, 2015 This is my final City A.M. column as lord mayor – in less than a fortnight, I’ll hang up my hat, pass on the chain, and watch the removal van pull up outside Mansion House. But what a fantastic year it’s been! It’s the one job in the world where I have felt that absolutely [...]
Making the most of mobile: Fetch’s James Connelly talks the death of Crazy Frog and the land of opportunity November 1, 2015 It is only after lengthy tenures that most marketing entrepreneurs feel ready to start their own agency. Fetch founder James Connelly took the plunge when he was just 23 in 2009. His mobile first agency was sold to Dentsu Aegis Network last year. Connelly’s success is a testament to the indefatigable rise of mobile [...]
Digital natives have untapped talent: It’s time to exploit it November 1, 2015 We are leading digital lives. In our homes, in our workplaces, when we travel and when we relax, we are swiping screens, searching for answers online, ordering goods and services, and sharing the minutiae of our lives via social media. Young people are the leading explorers of the digital world and are seamlessly moving [...]
The weekend’s movies: The Vatican Tapes, Do I Sound Gay and Outcast October 30, 2015 The Vatican Tapes | ★★☆☆☆ There’s a dearth of horror movies to see you through this Halloween weekend, and The Vatican Tapes is a rather hollow token release. Californian twentysomething Angela (Olivia Tyler Dudley) is admitted to hospital with all the signs of a demonic possession, which your GP will be happy to talk you through. [...]
Under Milk Wood is a raunchy, filthy, surreal take on Dylan Thomas’ epic radio play October 30, 2015 Cert: 15 | ★★★★☆ Under Milk Wood, Dylan Thomas’ masterful radio play, doesn’t easily lend itself to film. The twisting, languid structure of the poetry means the visuals inevitably feel tacked on, like a montage in a music video. In director Kevin Allen’s adaptation they bray for your attention, all saturated colours and vivid, nightmarish imagery. [...]
Pig Farm is good, dirty fun but fails to live up to Urinetown October 30, 2015 St James's Theatre | ★★★☆☆ It’s an apt time to pen a comedy about pigs and Greg Kotis – writer of last year’s musical hit Urinetown – does so with some style, if little substance. The action takes place on the eve of a federal government visit to an intensive pig farm. A wayward young [...]
Robot revolution: Will machines replace humans and take our jobs one day? October 30, 2015 Robotics and automation (R&A) is becoming an indispensable part of production, offering advancements in productivity, worker welfare, and production output capabilities. This is evident when looking at global spending figures which project investment of £43bn by 2025, an increase of £34bn from 2010. Currently, manufacturers are beginning to harness collaborative robotics, one of the highest [...]
Halloween map reveals London’s most haunted Tube stations from King’s Cross and Liverpool Street to Bank and Elephant & Castle October 30, 2015 You might usually worry more about delays and crowded rush hour Tubes on your commute than encountering a ghost. But if you’re the impressionable type, this spooky map might just change all that. On the eve of Halloween, this map created by Brilliantly British reveals the London Underground’s most horrifying ghost stories. The map includes [...]
We need to measure well-being to reverse Britain’s social decline October 29, 2015 It was only two-and-a-half years ago that an economic statistic threatened to kill off George Osborne’s economic strategy. There was speculation that the British economy might have shrunk in the first quarter of 2013. When the Office for National Statistics did announce – at 9.30am on Thursday 25 April (remember how some of us used [...]
Citizens Advice: Debt among young adults is soaring October 29, 2015 Young adults are having more money problems than ever before, according to a new report out today from Citizens Advice. The charity says that the number of people between the ages of 17 and 24 asking for advice on debt issues has risen by more than 20 per cent in the last year – and their average [...]