Inside the Belfast boutique hotel taking on Airbnb June 20, 2025 Can this hotel-private home crossover concept take on Airbnb? Julia Khamissa checked in to delve deeper THE CONCEPT Room2 bills itself the world’s first ‘hometel,’ a hybrid between hotel convenience, boutique design, and Airbnb-style autonomy. Think flexible booking, pet-friendly policy, and a kitchenette in (almost) every room. Room2 Belfast is set in a modern, curved [...]
Inside the Caribbean island that’s becoming a secret AI hub June 20, 2025 Anguilla is where high-rolling lawyers from New York go to work remotely in tranquillity. It is also becoming an unlikely world-leading beacon for AI due to one lucky coincidence. Adam Bloodworth went in search of answers The Sunset Bar on St Maarten’s Maho Beach is one of the weirdest tourist attractions in the world. Go [...]
Keir Starmer accused of hypocrisy over Camden housing targets June 20, 2025 Keir Starmer has been accused of hypocrisy over low housebuilding targets in his own constituency amid a country-wide push to ‘get Britain building again’. Camden council, which falls within Starmer’s constituency of Holborn & St Pancras, has shrugged off the government’s targets for housebuilding this parliament and instead used figures set by the 2021 London [...]
Lord Darzi: Tech and global collaboration could save the NHS’s ‘critical condition’ June 20, 2025 The NHS is in ‘critical condition’ and in urgent need of reform, but technology and international partnerships, particularly with India, could hold the key to its recovery, said Lord Ara Darzi. “We have a lot to learn from our colleagues in India”, Darzi announced on Thursday at the India Global Forum. “They’ve done some really [...]
Absence of defence spending plan ‘entirely unsatisfactory’ June 20, 2025 The government has been “entirely unsatisfactory” in failing to assess whether their defence spending plans are affordable, a group of senior MPs has said, in a damning assessment of ministers’ transparency. The row comes amid concerns spending on the nuclear deterrent would be higher than first assumed. Prime Minister Keir Starmer said the government would [...]
Canada is investing in Britain’s future – why aren’t we? June 20, 2025 Foreign capital is helping to drive UK growth – yet too much of our own pension funding remains on the sidelines, says Tony Dalwood Canada is betting billions on Britain’s future. One of the world’s most influential pension investors, CDPQ, has committed more than £8bn to UK infrastructure and energy transition projects over the next [...]
A week in the life of 1 Lombard Street June 19, 2025 Soren Jessen of Square Mile institution 1 Lombard Street on seven days in the City… MondayDawn, and boxes of fresh fish on ice are arriving from Dorset. Chef checks the gills and the eyes for freshness and decides on the Fish of the Day for the menu. More boxes arrive packed with gloriously colourful vegetables [...]
Vodafone picks Microsoft exec for £2m finance chief role June 19, 2025 Microsoft exec Pilar López is to join Vodafone as its new chief financial officer, the telco giant said on Thursday. López replaces Luka Mucic, the company’s shortest-serving CFO, who is leaving in November for a position as chief executive of the real estate developer Vonovia. She held several positions at Microsoft including as its Western [...]
Holly Tucker: I was lost after leaving Not On The High Street June 19, 2025 Holly Tucker, founder of retail behemoth Not On The High Street, tells us about leaving her business and setting up anew in this week's Square Mile and Me.
Number of UK homes worth more than a million has doubled since 2019 June 19, 2025 The number of homes in the UK priced at £1m or above has doubled since the start of the pandemic as the housing market continues its upward march. Just over five per cent of homes for sale across the UK are now priced at over a million pounds, versus just under three per cent in [...]