Real wage growth lowest since 2014 as inflation starts to bite February 15, 2017 Wage growth for British workers has slowed as inflation pushed down real earnings to their slowest increase since December 2014. Average weekly earnings grew by 2.6 per cent in the year to December before inflation is taken into account, according to the Office for National Statistics. However, when the increasing cost of living is added [...]
Carmakers must embrace Big Tech to survive the coming revolution February 28, 2017 Merger plans for Europe’s car manufacturers have dominated headlines in recent weeks, not least because of the threat they pose to UK and wider European car jobs. Combine this with Brexit jitters and concerns about overcapacity, and you might view our industry with a “glass half empty” attitude. And this is even before you contemplate [...]
Retailers will need to brave fierce headwinds in 2017 January 2, 2017 The high street's cold snap over Christmas and the New Year is not just seasonal. Several chills running through the sector could finally be felt with their full force in 2017. Rising inflation, falling wage growth, escalating costs and sterling's depreciation are all expected to weigh on retailers in the coming months. If inflation takes [...]
Why a Singapore-style London would be run by Jeremy Corbyn January 13, 2017 Occasionally, highly educated Londoners half-jokingly, half-wistfully suggest the city should declare independence from the rest of the country. They really mean independence from provincial England, whose values and political priorities they abhor. They aspire to live in a city friendly to business and the successful – an open-minded city, open to the world. Would they [...]
Here’s how much London’s Airbnb hosts will make on New Year’s Eve December 29, 2016 If you've already made your New Year's resolutions, here's one to add to your list: put your home on Airbnb. Figures by the company have suggested Londoners will make a whopping £17m this New Year's eve. The 2m people the service expects to find beds for is a 1,400-fold rise from New Year's Eve in 2009. [...]
Economists react: Immigration from eastern Europe falls as net migration dips below 300,000 February 23, 2017 Immigration to the UK from countries in central and eastern Europe fell significantly in the year to September, including the period after the EU referendum, while net migration dipped below 300,000, new figures show. Emigration by nationals from the eight nations which joined the EU in 2004 tripled, according to the Office for National Statistics [...]
For successful businesses, failure is not an option – it’s a requirement February 14, 2017 Urgent memo to executives everywhere: please stop saying things like “failure is not an option”. You’re engaging stakeholders – not saving Private Ryan. And if you are fostering a fear of failure among your people, you probably aren’t winning either. Let’s look at winning in today’s world, where it is increasingly crucial to spark emotional [...]
OAP (Old And Partying): UK pensioners have higher average incomes than their working age children, and spend more on having fun February 15, 2017 For the silver generation, this truly is a golden age. Two reports released in the last week indicate that pensioners have never had it better. The first, Tilney’s “The Cost of Tomorrow”, debunks the myth that supposedly frivolous twenty-somethings spend more on having fun than retirees, either in absolute terms or as a percentage of their [...]
Green belt reform drops off the agenda as ministers issue long-awaited housing proposals February 6, 2017 Ministers have steered away from a liberalisation of building on so-called green belt land, despite acknowledging the worsening housing crisis in many parts of the country. The government had been expected to introduce reforms to free up protected land, but proposals released today after months of delay have instead abandoned any reference to easing restrictions. Instead, [...]
Paris vs Los Angeles: Why the IOC will reward both wannabe host cities for future Olympic Games March 2, 2017 When the International Olympic Committee (IOC) members gather in Lima to choose the host of the 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games this September, ostensibly their choice is simple. It’s now either Paris from the old world or Los Angeles from the new, after Budapest joined Hamburg, Boston (LA’s forerunner) and Rome in opting out of [...]