DEBATE: Should gig economy workers be given more rights and protections, as John McDonnell suggests? September 12, 2018 Should gig economy workers be given more rights and protections, as John McDonnell suggests? Brhmie Balaram, senior researcher in the RSA’s Economy, Enterprise and Manufacturing team, says YES. I imagine most people would agree with John McDonnell that it would be desirable to grant gig economy workers more rights. At the same time, they might [...]
Mobike refunds user deposits in China, in a bid to pedal away with market share July 5, 2018 Chinese bike-sharing company Mobike has said it will be ditching the traditional deposit scheme for all of its Chinese users, in a bid to win over the market amid fierce competition. Existing customers will be able to claim back their deposits from Mobike, which was priced at 299 yuan (£34). Mobike said in a statement [...]
Time for UK rules to catch up with electric scooters September 11, 2018 As I ride my bike into work, there are numerous obstacles to watch out for. I treat buses, trucks, and cars as though they are on fire, while I try to give pedestrians and other cyclists a wide berth. In recent weeks, I have noticed a new player competing for space in the weekday rat [...]
From Red Flag Laws to the Uber ban, transport has always been a battle of innovation vs. precaution | City A.M. September 26, 2017 Last Friday, Transport for London (TfL) informed Uber that it would not be issued a private hire operator licence after its current licence expires on 30 September 2017. Only a few days before, Taxify, the Didi-backed car-booking app that is seeking to rival Uber, had been forced to halt operations in London for breaking rules [...]
Could the UK be on the brink of a US-style class action explosion? December 16, 2018 The Royal Bank of Scotland, Lloyds Banking Group, Tesco, Google and Mastercard. These are just a handful of the household names that have been targeted in group action lawsuits in the UK with billions of pounds at stake. The UK, unlike the US or Australia, does not have a long history of class action-style lawsuits, [...]
Property bosses clamp down on the white van man in bid to protect London business October 7, 2018 London’s landlords are declaring war on vehicle deliveries, amid fears that overcrowded and polluted streets are jeopardising business. Property heavyweights fear that worsening congestion is driving commuters, shoppers and tourists away from major destinations in the capital, as the rise of online purchasing leads to ever more delivery vans, motorbikes and lorries. Moves to pedestrianise [...]
Jobs tsar Matthew Taylor warns MPs minimum wage rules would end gig economy work for Uber, Deliveroo and other on-demand platforms October 11, 2017 The government’s jobs and employment tsar has warned MPs that handing Uber drivers and Deliveroo riders minimum wage guarantees would bring the gig economy to an end. Matthew Taylor, the man behind an independent review into modern working practices, told a parliamentary committee today that the type of flexible work found in the gig economy [...]
How a new ‘CEO’ can singlehandedly transform a brand March 16, 2018 THIS WEEK MARKS the fifth anniversary of Pope Francis’ inauguration. To Catholics, he is a divisive figure. Right-leaning Catholics have taken exception to his aggressive criticism of unbridled capitalism, which he called ‘the dung of the devil’. In 2014, Timothy Dolan, the Archbishop of New York, actually wrote a column in the Wall Street [...]
Graphcore lands $30m from top AI experts Demis Hassabis from Deepmind, Uber’s Zoubin Ghahramani and more along with Atomico and others | City A.M. July 20, 2017 Some of the world’s leading experts in artificial intelligence are among fresh investors to plough $30m into a Bristol-based chip startup. Google DeepMind founder Demis Hassabis and Zoubin Ghahramani, Uber’s chief scientist and Cambridge university professor, are among new investors in Graphcore, which makes chips that can process machine learning faster and more efficiently. It [...]
Transport for London is “urgently” investigating Taxify, the city’s newest ride-hailing startup and rival to Uber | City A.M. September 7, 2017 London’s transport authority is “urgently” investigating Taxify, a ride-hailing startup which launched in the capital this week to take on Uber. “Taxify is not a London licenced private hire operator. We are urgently investigating the nature and extent of its activities and will take action where appropriate,” a Transport for London spokesperson told City A.M.. [...]