Explainer-in-brief: What’s happening in the Meghan & Harry free zone January 9, 2023 If you started tuning out of the news in mid-December last year, you would have left as Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s Netflix series dominated the headlines, strikes caused chaos before Christmas and the NHS struggled under the weight of winter pressures. Turning on the radio this morning, little had changed, with the stateside Royal [...]
Sunak is right in taking on the unions, but anti-strike laws are no silver bullet January 9, 2023 Strike action doesn’t have to be very extensive to send British society into fits of frightening folk memories of the 1970s. People murmur knowingly about a winter of discontent coming back to haunt us from the past. Real connoisseurs will recall the Army being brought in, ageing Green Goddess fire engines wheeled out to cover [...]
Sunak – or Starmer – need to focus on building to get the country back on its feet January 9, 2023 We are merely days into 2023 and attention is already turning to the next general election, which is likely to take place next year. Both Rishi Sunak and Keir Starmer set out their ambitions in their New Year speeches last week. As ever, the commentariat was divided on who delivered the most coherent and convincing [...]
UK’s cost of living crisis will swipe over £2k from Brits pockets with some groups expected to feel squeeze of recession even more January 9, 2023 The UK is just halfway through a cost of living crisis that will swipe £2,100 year from incomes with living standards remaining at pre Covid levels until at least 2028, a report out today has revealed. The cost of living crisis which, when combined with a tough recession, will leave households worse off than they [...]
The Notebook: Dogs in the office, Next’s triumph, and the Madoff documentary January 8, 2023 The Notebook is a new addition to City A.M.’s daily offering, giving the City of London’s movers and shakers the chance to let a few things off their chest. In this first edition – it’s our editor, Andy Silvester, penning his thoughts. ONE of the things that fascinated me as a child were ant farms [...]
FTSE 350 firms up spending on ‘carbon offsets’ in race to net zero January 8, 2023 The UK’s top listed companies are increasingly using carbon offsets to achieve their net zero goals, new research shows. The vast majority (96 per cent) of Britain’s FTSE 350 companies have already upped expenditure on carbon credits over the past 24 months, while almost half (47 per cent) intend to increase spending dramatically over the [...]
Rishi Sunak hits back at critics of inflation promise but warns government ‘can’t help anybody’ if prices don’t fall January 8, 2023 Rishi Sunak has today claimed halving inflation by the end of the year – one of his five promises to the British public – will happen “because of the plans [the government] have put in place”. Speaking to the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg programme, the prime minister doubled down on a series of pledges [...]
Rishi Sunak calls for ‘radical’ action as NHS on ‘knife-edge’ January 7, 2023 Rishi Sunak has urged health leaders at an emergency meeting to take “bold and radical” action to alleviate the winter crisis in the NHS. The Prime Minister told them during Downing Street talks on Saturday that a “business-as-usual mindset won’t fix the challenges we face”. Critics said the discussions would be just a “talking shop” [...]
Iran executions condemned by Cleverly amid Tehran crackdown on Mesa Amini protests January 7, 2023 Britain has condemned Iran’s execution of two men connected to nationwide protests sparked by the death of Mahsa Amini as “abhorrent”. Foreign Secretary James Cleverly urged Tehran to “end the violence against its own people”, with four men known to have been executed since demonstrations began in September. Iran’s judiciary said Mohammad Karami and Mohammad [...]
Both Sunak and Starmer have finally vowed to put innovation at the heart of their strategies January 6, 2023 For the first time in the new year – but not for the first time in his premiership – Rishi Sunak delivered a speech against a challenging economic backdrop this week. Growth – and the best way to achieve it – continues to percolate in political and public discourse, with fears of a global recession, [...]