Workspace CEO: London’s working map will change as offices reopen but it’s an opportunity for true innovation July 13, 2021 There is widespread agreement that we are all undergoing a fundamental re-examination of our day-to-day lives as a result of the pandemic. Few aspects of modern life have been scrutinised as much as they way we work and where we work. With restrictions on work from home set to be lifted, much of this is [...]
Boris Johnson needs to tread a path back to a free market economy and focus on facilitating investment July 12, 2021 Boris Johnson has always been difficult to classify in ideological terms. Ten years ago, he was a small-state economic and social liberal who identified as a One Nation Conservative. His City Hall rival Ken Livingstone initially feared he was “the most hardline right-wing ideologue since Thatcher” but later concluded he was “a fairly lazy tosser [...]
KPMG: Financial services firms ability to tackle the pandemic and climate risk will be a measure of their success July 12, 2021 Tomorrow’s Financial Stability Report from the Bank of England will no doubt applaud the crucial role played by UK financial services in guiding our economy through the pandemic so far. But, to think we are out of the woods is an error – leaving lockdown will require every bit as much caution as surviving it has. [...]
Finally ending Covid-19 restrictions in the UK will be a new dawn for business July 12, 2021 Last week the Prime Minister outlined the Government’s long-awaited plans to ease social and economic COVID-19 restrictions in England. July 19 is the expected date, with a final decision to be taken today. If the PM goes ahead, this would be a new dawn and the first step towards returning the Square Mile to the [...]
High as a kite: The boom in the cannabis industry has forced the green sector to tackle its sustainability challenge July 10, 2021 Cannabis has long been considered a green industry, ready for the future. More and more places are decriminalising cannabis and the UK has become awash with CBD products. There has even been a growing market for hemp-based clothes as demand for sustainable fashion has eschewed cheap products. Hemp, a variety of cannabis, is an extremely [...]
Buy now pay later schemes need light-touch regulation to protect consumers and nurture economic growth July 9, 2021 The rise of buy now, pay later schemes has been remarkable in the UK. New financing products have flooded the market and revolutionised the online retail and consumer credit market. The use of delayed payments has nearly quadrupled in 2020, with 5 million people using them since the start of the pandemic. Klarna, now the [...]
Screenshot: Should the UK tech sector really be cashing in its chips? July 9, 2021 This week **Media Moment of the Week: Tesco’s football fail **Should the UK tech sector really be cashing in its chips? **A Wise move Media Moment of the Week: Tesco’s football fail Once again the internet was awash with football this week, and plenty of brands decided to jump on the England bandwagon for a [...]
Grant Shapps has reopened travel but plans to manually check vaccine statuses is out of the dark ages July 9, 2021 Yesterday, Grant Shapps announced the new plans to finally allow the travel sector to reopen by allowing fully-vaccinated people to skip quarantine upon return from Amber list countries. However, the Transport Secretary admitted travellers should “expect” queues at border control as a result of the stack of paperwork passengers now need to fill out. Despite [...]
Brexit: Financial services will thrive on the world stage with access to rich foreign markets July 9, 2021 Something has changed in financial services. The events of the last week have put this beyond doubt. In the aftermath of the Brexit referendum, we were focused on designing a deep and comprehensive relationship with the EU based on alignment. When that was rejected, we hoped for the significantly less comprehensive equivalence determinations. As the [...]
Socialism is on the rise in the UK – we need radical free-market solutions to issues like the housing crisis to fight it July 8, 2021 Last Friday, an underwater oil pipeline burst in the Gulf of Mexico. Spectacular images of a burning oil patch, which looked a lot like the “eye of Sauron” from Lord of the Rings, quickly went viral around the world. What had gone wrong? It did not take long for Twitter to reach its verdict: the [...]