Turning around Tower Hamlets: How John Biggs can transform the reputation of the rotten borough June 12, 2015 The voters of Tower Hamlets have been to the polls, and with Labour’s John Biggs elected as the new mayor, there might finally come the opportunity to turn the reputation of this beleaguered borough around. Lutfur Rahman was elected mayor of Tower Hamlets in 2010, during his tenure his detractors have accused him of [...]
What entrepreneurs can learn from sport – Investec Comment July 5, 2015 It's as true in sport as it is in business: everything you do has a risk attached. I’m a rower and have been training for the past two years to compete at the Paralympic Games in Rio next year, but there was nothing inevitable about me getting to this stage in my career. Before [...]
Natoora’s Franco Fubini on why he prefers Italy’s food to its labour laws June 28, 2015 It is a promising time for Britain’s premium food sector. Last year, sales of organic food rose by 4 per cent to £1.86bn and specialised suppliers have been looking to capitalise on a disenchantment with supermarkets. Franco Fubini is one of them. “I was in the fresh produce section of a chain of delicatessens [...]
Most Londoners have too much work to take a proper lunch break April 23, 2015 It turns out lunch is a dull meal for Londoners, with the majority remaining chained to their desks while they reply to emails and get on with work. A survey of 500 Londoners by L’atelier des Chefs found 69 per cent of people in the capital find their workload too intense to nip out for [...]
From Fifa and Greece to the rail strike and Queen’s Speech: Here’s what got us talking this week May 29, 2015 There was a speech. There was a protest. There were some strange-looking balloons. And rapidly receding in our memories, there was a bank holiday. Here's what got us talking this week 1. Fifa was in the news Commentators expressed but little surprise when a number of Fifa officials were arrested this week, but [...]
The space age: Condeco’s Paul Statham talks trickle-down economics, expansion plans and why being a business leader feels so good August 2, 2015 Back in the early 1980s, the Statham family started an electronic security business in their garage. “We grew it into a fairly formidable company; we had 200 people working for us,” says Paul Statham, son, and now founder and chief executive of Condeco Software. The family sold Masco Security in 1999, in a multi-million pound [...]
Best of the rest: other useful dining apps for hungry Londoners April 22, 2015 Bookatable Bookatable not only finds the best restaurants around, it also finds the best deals. With a range of offers at great restaurants, it’s a useful, cheapskate’s way of eating in some of London’s best restaurants. Free iPhone/Android Urbanspoon Perfect for when you’ve just arrived in a new city, Urbanspoon organises restaurants by distance, cuisine [...]
Wage increases gather pace as recruiters battle skills shortage April 9, 2015 Salaries for new staff rose at their fastest pace in six month in March, recruiters said today, as diving unemployment combined with strong growth to push up pay. Finance workers and engineers are in the highest demand, closely followed by executive staff. The study from the Recruitment and Employment Confederation and KPMG found that almost [...]
Green & Black’s founder Craig Sams on his plans to get us drinking real kola beans with Gusto Cola July 26, 2015 Back in the 1980s few people even knew that cocoa came from a pod grown on a tree. Absurd though that sounds, even supermarket buyers were unaware of cocoa’s provenance. As an experiment, Craig Sams, a legend in the macrobiotic diet community and founder of organic food company Whole Earth, decided to have some [...]
Restaurant review: Is £38 the dearest burger in London? Sackville’s serves up x-rated food porn July 29, 2015 This week I ate a burger that cost £38. It was at new truffle-themed restaurant Sackville’s in Mayfair, and while it wasn’t the most expensive burger I’ve ever eaten – that dubious honour goes to Miami’s Bâoli which charged me $95 (£60) – it’s the most expensive I’ve had in this great city of ours. [...]