Turn the volume down: London could be revolutionised by the silent automation of the noisiest parts of city life July 22, 2021 Cities have always been the future. Development is nearly always metropolitan, regeneration usually urban. London is one of the world’s major cities, and we might expect it to be one of the fastest to bounce back from the turmoil of the last year. But will a post-pandemic world view cities in the same way? Covid [...]
Raising the money to fund social care reform is half the battle, we need steely determination to mend the system July 22, 2021 Proposals to hike national insurance by 1 per cent to fund adult social care reform has caused much excitement in the media. But raising the money is barely half the battle. The tax raising options are, after all, well understood, even if the political challenge of implementing one remains formidable. As great a challenge is [...]
Editorial: Boris Johnson’s Government desperately needs a reset to avoid giving credence to Cummings’ claims July 21, 2021 Had you considered so doing before, it now seems unlikely Dominic Cummings would make the cut for a “dream dinner party” list. Your other guests wouldn’t get a word in edge-ways. In his hour-long interview aired on the BBC last night, the Prime Minister’s former adviser was half score-settling and half self-justification, delivering a vicious [...]
Zoom has bought Five9 for $14.9bn but it will need to work hard to find its niche post-pandemic July 21, 2021 As the pressure for workers to return to the office continues to grow, Zoom is looking to a future where video conferencing software isn’t a replacement for in person social interaction. It is clear that most businesses will expect their employees to return to the office for at least part of the working week. What [...]
Stripe: Fintech needs to work in tandem with traditional banks, not see them as the enemy July 21, 2021 Necessity may be the mother of invention, but it has a second child in collaboration. When it comes to crunch moments and serious challenges, the human tendency is to put differences aside and work together to find solutions. Take the vaccine rollout. The whole program is an enormous collaboration of academic institutions, public bodies, and [...]
Universities are failing us: they’re expensive, ill-equipped and entrench ‘left-behind’ towns in the UK July 21, 2021 A record number of students have applied for university, with just over 300,000 submitting applications, according to UCAS. This represents 44 per cent of the entire year group, up 10 per cent on what was then a new record total in 2020. One of the main drivers has been the uncertainty the pandemic has created [...]
British warships are traversing the world to the South China sea as the UK strengthens its foreign policy July 20, 2021 The expedition to the South China sea by the Royal Navy’s Carrier Strike Group (CSG) is the largest display of British maritime power in a generation. The group, led by the HMS Queen Elizabeth, is complete with combat jets, two destroyers, two frigates, two replenishment vessels and a nuclear attack submarine. They are supported by HNLMS [...]
Britain’s decarbonising its transport but it’s losing the race against time July 20, 2021 Dozens in Germany and Belgium have died in flooding. This month Canada recorded its three warmest days ever. The planet is warming, provoking more extreme weather, disrupting fragile ecosystems, threatening planetary catastrophe. We need action quickly to meet the targets the global community has set to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The Mayor of London wants London [...]
Bridgepoint has taken the unusual step to plan an IPO – how does private equity go public? July 20, 2021 All eyes turned to Bridgepoint this month, after the private equity firm took the unusual step to plan an IPO on the London Stock Exchange. With over £23bn under management, the company hopes to raise over £300million as part of the initial public listing. It is the first-time in nearly three decades a UK-based private [...]
Credit disagreement: the future of the high street depends on how we handle retailers’ Covid debt July 19, 2021 It is a commonplace that the pandemic has devastated the economy. The prospects of recovery may be rosier than we had dared imagine, but businesses have suffered grievously, especially those for whom in-person custom, footfall, is vital. One sector which has been hit particularly hard is independent retail. The death of the high street has [...]