Missing the opportunity to align ourselves with the US would be a serious mistake April 29, 2019 The UK is the world’s leading exporter of financial services. Within that, there are few better success stories than the special relationship that we have built with the United States. The benefits for both sides are obvious. Every day, a million UK citizens go to work for US firms, while the same number of US [...]
The white paper’s strict salary threshold on EU migrants would only exacerbate inequality April 29, 2019 Britain is on course to leave the European Union by 31 October. However, Theresa May has expressed her wish that the UK should quit well before, provided her withdrawal agreement is passed. Nonetheless, whether we leave with a deal or without one, the government has been clear that ending free movement and bringing down immigration [...]
A pro-business mayor? Khan is less so than Livingstone April 29, 2019 Before he was elected, Sadiq Khan promised – in this newspaper and elsewhere – to be the “most pro-business mayor yet”. In a literal sense, that pledge was already a bit limited, because Khan has only had two predecessors: Ken Livingstone and Boris Johnson. The first one was an apologist for assorted Communist regimes. In [...]
Protecting the UK’s creative treasures by bringing the digital pirates down a peg leg or two April 26, 2019 The gathering storm of state-backed piracy is high on the agenda, as leaders from creative industries gather for World Intellectual Property Day today. As you read this, a pirate media empire is illegally broadcasting 10 channels of live sport – including one of Britain’s most valuable exports, the English Premier League – to a region [...]
How to cope with culture clashes and different time zones when collaborating across global offices April 25, 2019 "If everyone is moving forward together, success takes care of itself." While this Henry Ford quote sums up a simple idea for businesses, sustaining a culture of collaboration across a global organisation is more difficult than it sounds. When offices are split across different countries, operations and communications, departments can quickly become siloed. The trick [...]
Leaving EU behind: The potential winners and losers from a soft Brexit deal April 25, 2019 After three failed votes, Prime Minister Theresa May has another six months to get her Brexit deal through the House of Commons. Despite her securing an extension from the EU, the Brexit deadlock seems as intractable as ever. Still, some form of soft Brexit remains a likely option, so it’s worth exploring the potential impact [...]
What a tin of battered beans can tell us about behavioural finance April 25, 2019 "Most people get interested in stocks when everyone else is. The time to get interested is when no one else is. You can’t buy what is popular, and do well.” Those are the words of one of the greatest investors of our generation, Warren Buffett. The investment guru got me thinking: why is the stock [...]
Why playing a different version of ourselves at work can cause stress April 24, 2019 Just be yourself. It’s a mantra that’s been drummed into us since we were kids. Yet when you leave the comfort of home and school life to start your first job, it can feel like a completely different story. People often adjust their personality in the workplace. Sadly, research indicates that over half of employees [...]
Leaving the legacy behind: Meet the tech company that could put a stop to the banks’ IT failures April 23, 2019 IT meltdowns are becoming dangerously common among the big banks. According to Which, at least one British bank suffered an IT failure every day during the last nine months of 2018. TSB’s outage last year, which left 1.9m customers locked out of their accounts and cost the bank £330m, demonstrates how catastrophic these IT issues can [...]
The fault in default funds: Why you might not be getting the most out of your workplace pension scheme April 17, 2019 There is no denying that auto-enrolment is paving the way for the British population to have a half-decent savings pot in retirement. According to recent figures from the Office for National Statistics, 76 per cent of UK employees were members of a workplace pension scheme in 2018, up slightly from the 73 per cent enrolled [...]
