London needs a shadow Mayor September 19, 2025 The Conservatives weak response to last week’s tube strikes proves the party needs to select their candidate for City Hall sooner rather than later, writes James Ford The recent tube strikes should have taught Londoners three important truths: that tube drivers really love Legoland, that Lime bikes are not for the feint hearted, and that [...]
Banking customers hate chatbots – and it could cost the sector £9.3 billion September 19, 2025 75 per cent of people would rather deal with a person than a chatbot concerning their finances; one in five has shouted at their robot antagonist; and one in eight admits swearing at them. Rather than save money, Chatbots may actually be driving business away, says Chris Teasdale If you’ve interacted with customer services in [...]
Was Trump right about “horrible” and “lousy” Battersea? September 18, 2025 Donald Trump may well swing by the new US Embassy in Nine Elms during the state visit, so does he still hate it? President Trump, on his September U.K. visit, will possibly swing by the US Embassy, the imposing glass block located in Nine Elms, between Vauxhall and Battersea Power Station. What would be interesting [...]
Time to restore true independence to the Bank of England September 18, 2025 The Bank of England is no longer held directly responsible for inflation but must juggle multiple, sometimes competing objectives. As a result price stability, the Bank’s founding mission, risks being sidelined, says Jonathan Eida While parliament took its summer recess, the Bank of England was busy. The Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) last month announced another [...]
The only way to make HS2 cheaper? Build HS3 September 18, 2025 It’s a basic fact of economics that the more efficiently you make something, the easier it is to bring down the price. Among the best-known examples is the Ford Model T, one of the top-selling cars in the 20th century with more than 15 million produced. The manufacturing process became so efficient, and each car’s [...]
Labour’s AI ambitions will clash with its housebuilding targets September 18, 2025 It was all smiles on Tuesday as Chancellor Rachel Reeves became the latest PPE grad politician to don her PPE robes, in a visit to a construction site in Waltham Cross where she unveiled Google’s new data centre. The opening was a moment of celebration, as Google announced another £5bn investment into the UK, a [...]
Young people are headed for pensioner poverty – and there’ll be no Triple Lock to save them September 18, 2025 Younger generations stand no chance of enjoying the kind of comfort current pensioners in their old age. We need a policy reset to help the young build wealth now, says John Oxley There was good news once again this week for pensioners, as the Triple lock delivers them a 4.7 per cent increase next year. [...]
Starmer and Macron face a shared Waterloo September 18, 2025 Facing crippling national debt and a politically divided public, both Keir Starmer and Emmanuel Macron have proved unable to implement necessary economic reforms, and both are heading for a downfall driven by market forces, says Helen Thomas A country gripped by the highest debt levels since the Second World War; an unpopular leader facing a [...]
Britain is heading for a fiscal crisis September 18, 2025 Without immediate, credible action to rein in spending, contain debt and keep inflation under control, Britain will sleepwalk into disaster, says Gerard Lyons The UK is in danger of sleepwalking into economic torpor. The issues we face are real, sizeable but, crucially, solvable. However, solutions have too often been evaded through short-term fixes and political [...]
What the US tech investments tell us about the UK’s public markets September 18, 2025 There was some debate in the Morning Wire newsroom on Tuesday over which story should grace the front page yesterday. On the one hand, news of £30bn worth of tech investment offered the kind of optimism we’re always looking out for, but on the other hand news came that global fund managers were pulling out [...]