Britain’s nineteenth century tax system is breaking under twenty-first century strains April 15, 2016 Politicians have noticed (perhaps belatedly) that they have been fiddling with a nineteenth century tax system while taxpayers have been operating in the twenty-first century. The existing tax system is a result of years of tinkering, reflecting the influence of political views and special interest lobbying. This has created vast complexity. We could look to [...]
Taxi wars: Black cab app Gett takes on Uber with £10 flat fare in central London (but it doesn’t go south of the river) July 10, 2015 Black cab taxi app Gett has drawn the battle lines against Uber, after it launched a £10 flat fare for rides in central London. The company, which works with licensed black cabs and Hackney carriages in 25 UK cities, said the fare will apply between 10am and 10pm on Monday to Friday for the rest [...]
London Craft Week 2016 kicks off next month – and here’s what to book before tickets run out April 14, 2016 Craft is the new cool. How many craft beers are tickling the taste buds of trendies from New York to New Zealand right now? From craft beer to modern-rustic homes to country-casual hotels, across the globe we have fallen for all things home-made, upcycled, and – the holy grail – bespoke from the maker. And [...]
The three leadership skills to take your business digital April 14, 2016 It would often seem that, to succeed in the digital world, you need to be a young manager in a startup born with digital DNA, like Alibaba, Uber or Google. This is not the case. Research I have conducted indicates that many traditional companies are successfully transitioning to become digital companies, steered by executives with greying [...]
We’ve not even scratched the surface of fintech’s true potential – and banks will struggle to keep up May 26, 2016 Fintech innovation has seen rapid growth over the past few years and is producing businesses with scalable products. In turn, senior executives at banks are responding to the challenge these businesses present and have begun to set up their own incubators to capture this rapid innovation. Driving much of this has been the rise of [...]
So-called Chinese Google Baidu sees share price rocket as profit jumps 663 per cent and revenue climbs in fourth quarter February 25, 2016 Shares in Chinese internet giant Baidu have rocketed by 13.13 per cent in after hours trading, after the company reported 663 per cent growth in profit in the final quarter of 2015, up to 24.7bn yuan (£2.7bn) from 3.2bn yuan in the same period of 2014. The group,sometimes referred to as China's Google, also posted revenue [...]
Lloyds Banking Group’s private equity arm buy stake in same-day delivery firm CitySprint February 18, 2016 A private equity firm owned by Lloyds Banking Group has bought a stake in same-day delivery firm CitySprint in a deal valuing the business at £175m. LDC said the secondary management buyout will see CitySprint's current private equity owner Dunedin retain a stake in the courier while the management team led by chief executive Patrick Gallagher, retains [...]
Taxi protest shuts down more London roads as black cab drivers block TfL office over Uber regulation June 30, 2015 It's becoming something of a familiar site: yet another taxi protest has brought London streets to a standstill. Yet again the black cab drivers are protesting outside TfL's offices, meaning that areas around from Blackfriars Bridge, stretching as far as Waterloo, are jammed. https://twitter.com/AndrewNickolls/status/615881341821931520 Cabbies are demonstrating against what they see as [...]
Fintech revolution? Banks will survive disruption from new technology January 19, 2016 Last week, yet another report was published suggesting banking has reached its digital tipping point. Figures from Javelin Strategy & Research suggest that for the first time ever, US consumers banked on their mobiles more than in branches last year. We’re seeing a similar picture in the UK, as the large banks increase their technology spend [...]
Calls for sharing economy to be counted in official ONS figures January 25, 2016 Official measures of UK productivity and economic growth are failing to take into account the contribution of the sharing economy, according to a new report calling for a radical overhaul of statistics. The report, authored by economist Diane Coyle in conjunction with Sharing Economy UK (SEUK) and Airbnb, says a lack of measurement of the growing sector, epitomised by [...]