Sadiq Khan’s ill-conceived pollution plan only threatens London’s push to go green April 8, 2019 From today, all private hire drivers in London will have to pay the daily £11.50 congestion charge when driving in central London. This is an enormous financial burden for some of the city’s lower paid workers – costing nearly £3,000 a year for a driver earning around £25,000. It's also hugely unfair for operators, many [...]
It’s time for the pensions industry to stop taking customers for granted April 5, 2019 With workplace pension contributions increasing from tomorrow, I’m reminded of a recent industry event that I attended. During the keynote, the speaker cut to a video where members of the public were stopped on the street and asked “who is your pension provider?” Most of those questioned looked confused, unable to recall where their pensions [...]
Don’t be fooled, May’s talks with Corbyn merely bide her time April 5, 2019 Very few people believe that the ongoing talks between Theresa May and Jeremy Corbyn will yield a satisfactory solution to the Brexit crisis. The Leader of the Opposition is in a ludicrously powerful position: he can demand exactly what he wants from May, and if she tries to make him shift or compromise, he will [...]
Stop unfairly demonising firms that have large gender pay gaps April 5, 2019 Bad data cannot produce good policy. This gets us to the heart of the problem with the mandated gender pay gap reporting legislation, which is now into its second year. It’s all good and well finding a hook to speak about cultural issues. And no doubt, women are still operating in an unequal world, even [...]
Why student housing is a first-class honours investment April 4, 2019 When it comes to the UK property market, an investment in knowledge clearly pays off. High yields, low risk, and fast returns are just a few of the reasons reasons luxury student housing has become the new essential in any high-net-worth individuals’ investment portfolio. While many of the UK’s older generation will reminisce of sub-standard [...]
US expansion: Plotting your route across the pond April 4, 2019 As the country renegotiates its place on the global stage, many UK businesses are following suit – looking abroad for growth opportunities that were once found closer to home. But there is nothing manifest about a business’s destiny to grow overseas. Instead, there are several questions that you should answer before expanding overseas. Take the [...]
Six tips to protect your portfolio during a market downturn April 3, 2019 When equity markets took a turn for the worse towards the end of last year, the onslaught of predictions about the end of the 10-year bull run came flooding in. With the markets creeping upwards since the start of 2019, it now seems that expectations of a bear market were premature. Even experienced fund managers [...]
If there is something fishy about online influencers, why do we take the bait? April 3, 2019 Social media influencer, Yovana Mendoza, provided an amusing diversion from Brexit last week. The 20-something vlogger built a very lucrative personal brand around veganism. She amassed over 3m followers on YouTube and Instagram by advocating a raw vegan diet and 25-day water fasts. All seemed to be going well until a competitor observed and filmed [...]
The Copyright Directive might have noble aims, but it is plagued by a lack of clarity April 3, 2019 Last week, the European Union inched closer to finalising new rules governing the use of copyright material on the internet. Set out in the Directive on Copyright in the Digital Single Market, the rules set out to curb the power of big tech firms by levelling the playing field between content creators and those who [...]
The European Union is on the backfoot, but few seem to notice April 2, 2019 There is a very bad habit that many of our broadcasters have of focusing on what might befall us. It reminds me of Frankie Howerd in Up Pompeii bemoaning “woe is me, woe is me” – as if he might warn his master against leaving the Empire without a deal. It would be refreshing were there [...]
