Why your next marketing crisis is going to be self-inflicted December 16, 2025 Most 2026 plans ignore marketing’s geopolitical exposure, the aggressive monetization of platforms, and the erosion of trust, requiring leaders to shift from chasing reach and automation to strategic discipline, internal alignment, and building direct customer relationships, says Paul Armstrong Most 2026 marketing plans are already built on assumptions that no longer hold, not because the [...]
Lotus Esprit is back as a £430k carbon fibre restomod December 12, 2025 This is the Lotus Esprit as you’ve never seen it before. Fifty years after its debut at the Paris Motor Show, the classic British sports car has been resurrected for the 21st century. Forget Noel and Liam, this is the biggest comeback we’ve witnessed all year. Encor’s stated aim with its new Series 1 restomod [...]
Is Microsoft becoming the new Vodafone? December 11, 2025 America’s biggest tech firms – Microsoft, Amazon, Meta, Google – have thrown the kitchen sink at becoming leaders in AI. They have forked out whatever is necessary to get to the front of the race. The four firms spent a combined $16bn on capex in the first quarter of 2020. Fast-forward to the third quarter [...]
Somerset Cider Brandy: The UK’s most sustainable spirit December 10, 2025 The Somerset Cider Brandy Company claims to produce the most sustainable spirit in the UK, a bold statement, given the range and variety of products on the market. However, as managing director, Matilda Temperley tells City AM, apple trees, in particular cider apple trees, are one of the most environmentally friendly crops on the planet. [...]
A complete guide to ISAs December 9, 2025 For UK investors, few acronyms carry as much weight as “ISA.” The Individual Savings Account remains the bedrock of personal financial planning in Britain, a tax-efficient sanctuary for your wealth amid ever-increasing taxes. As we move into the new tax year, the importance of maximising this allowance has never been greater. According to the IFS, [...]
How Natwest, Lloyds, Barclays and HSBC fired up the FTSE 100 in 2025 December 9, 2025 If 2025 was supposed to be the year of the AI bubble, nobody told Britain’s banking giants. Amidst the noise of the US tech boom, the UK’s FTSE 100 banking heavyweights, Natwest, Lloyds, Barclays, and HSBC, have staged a formidable, if understated, rally. Lloyds delivered an astonishing 75.8 per cent gain, while Barclays surged 65 [...]
Paramount crashes Netflix-Warner Bros party with £108bn rival bid December 8, 2025 Paramount Skydance has launched a hostile takeover bid for Warner Bros Discovery (WBD), throwing the film titan’s recent deal with streaming giant Netflix into uncertainty. On Monday, Paramount said its all-cash tender offer of $30 (£22.50) per share provides shareholders $18bn more than Netflix’s $27.75 per share offer. Paramount chief executive David Ellison argued the [...]
Where to drink wine in London with a touch of old-fashioned glamour December 8, 2025 It is a pattern we see repeatedly. At times of austerity and economic hardship: people crave luxury, colour and escapism. During the Great Depression we saw the rise of jazz, dancehalls and art deco glamour, while the World War II ushered in an era of escapist, technicolour movies filled with flights of fancy. Now in the [...]
Why Formula 1 is a rare global sports asset December 6, 2025 Formula 1 has become one of the most sought-after properties in global sport — and the reasons run far deeper than glamour and horsepower. In a fragmented media landscape, F1 is one of the few rights-holders that can credibly claim global scale, cultural momentum and commercial scarcity. Start with the basics: reach. F1 remains one [...]
No selfies please: Croatia has a quiet luxury island that’s more Succession than Kardashian December 5, 2025 Adam Hay-Nicholls finds this island in Croatia is rather more ‘Succession’ than ‘Kardashian. This piece is published in City AM The Magazine, Winter edition, distributed at major Tube stations and available to pick up from The Royal Exchange Towards the northern end of Croatia’s coast, where the Kvarner Gulf melts into ribbons of silver and turquoise, lies [...]