Investment minister Jason Stockwood: I don’t want to be political October 22, 2025 Jason Stockwood insists he hadn’t been angling for a plumb ministerial job before the call from Keir Starmer asking for him to be investment minister came six weeks ago. The serial entrepreneur – and Grimsby Town Football Club co-owner – had, instead, been “moaning” about the paucity of politicians with genuine business experience, when the [...]
Labour is finding that renationalising rail doesn’t make trains come on time October 22, 2025 Since returning to public ownership, delays and cancellations on our commuter trains have got worse, not better. So why is Labour doubling down? Asks Thomas Turrell When Labour took South Western Railway into public ownership earlier this year, they promised passengers a new era of punctuality, reliability and accountability. They have failed. Within just a [...]
Rachel Reeves is in a hole, but she just keeps digging October 22, 2025 Only the Conservatives have a plan to turn the economy around by abolishing stamp duty, cut welfare spending and get Britain back to work, says Andrew Griffith Rachel Reeves’ much-dreaded Autumn Budget is now just over a month away. And with each passing week there is a crescendo building. It’s made up of voices from [...]
Autumn Budget: JCB boss calls on Reeves not to do anything ‘daft’ October 22, 2025 The chief executive of JCB has called on Chancellor Rachel Reeves not to do anything “daft” in her Autumn Budget which would deter inward investment. Graeme Macdonald, who leads the Staffordshire-headquartered manufacturing giant under chairman Lord Anthony Bamford, said he’s “not optimistic” about the Budget next month, adding that Reeves is “definitely” going to raise [...]
Good luck to my fellow Toast the City award nominees! October 21, 2025 It is the day of City AM’s Toast the City Awards, celebrating the hospitality and placemaking that makes the Square Mile great. I could not be more proud to be attending, as both a judge and a nominee. I would like to reach out ahead of the event to wish all the best to everyone [...]
Rolls-Royce Corniche Shooting Brake review: Estate of the art October 21, 2025 Niels van Roij looks every inch the English gentleman. The Dutch-born designer is wearing an immaculately cut tweed suit with leather-lined pockets, topped off with a green woolen tie. Only later do I realise that identical fabrics were used to trim the Rolls-Royce waiting outside. “I have a suit created to celebrate each car, using [...]
Railways an ‘untapped resource’ for housebuilding drive October 21, 2025 Railway stations are a crucial untapped resource for housebuilding and economic growth, according to a new report. The Railway Industry Association (RIA), which represents suppliers to the sector, has called for a significant housebuilding drive within a 10-minute radius of railway station sites. “The railway is the economic backbone of the United Kingdom… [our proposal] shows [...]
Exploring the cannabis farms of wild, untamed Canada October 20, 2025 In Boundary Country in British Columbia, Canada, mountain ranges give way to impossibly wide valleys. Inhabitants range from descendants of Doukhobor settlers, a radical and pacifist Russian sect, to those from the varying First Nations groups. Fortunes were made down forgotten mines that never managed to truly alter the feeling of this wilderness. Many of [...]
Lord Mayor: Armed Forces should mine London’s fintechs for reserves October 20, 2025 A strong defence and a thriving economy are two sides of the same coin. The Armed Forces should utilise the City's talent.
L&G: FTSE 100 giant reveals £2bn plan to create 24,000 jobs October 20, 2025 FTSE 100 giant Legal & General (L&G) has revealed plans to invest £2bn in regeneration projects across the UK in a move which it said will create around 24,000 jobs. The group said it would invest into ‘productive assets’ such as infrastructure, affordable housing and urban regeneration between now and 2030. L&G added that it [...]