The Calais migrant crisis shows why Europe needs a common migration policy and a new asylum system August 3, 2015 The ongoing crisis in Calais is a sad reminder that the EU is still far from finding a solution to its migration problems. It also shows how deep national divides have become in Europe. France blames Italy and Greece for failing to process asylum seekers arriving on its shores, opening the doors for them to [...]
August 2015 TfL Tube strike: As the unions reject the pay deal, here’s how to cheat the strike August 3, 2015 This week London will once again be brought to its knees if the planned Tube strikes go ahead. Commuter routes will be in chaos with platforms tens of people deep and bus stops will have queues so long, anything previously seen at a Greek ATM will pale into insignificance. Millions using the public transport [...]
Greece debt crisis: With today’s stockmarket shocks and manufacturing data, further economic contraction seems inevitable August 3, 2015 Further economic contraction in Greece seems inevitable after today's bad news. Not only have bond yields returned to 2012 levels, Greek stocks plummeted to a three-year low as soon as the market re-opened, with all major banks hit hardest. And then of course there are the manufacturing figures. The three-year Troika austerity programme’s challenges to [...]
Why the London Stock Exchange’s digital infrastructure needs a backup – in Leeds August 3, 2015 We all have to prepare for the unexpected, with a Plan B to fall back on, and this isn’t just true for day-to-day life. It applies to the business world as well. With that in mind, it’s worrying that the UK’s trading systems can be so exposed. Most of the global connectivity into UK trading [...]
Don’t be afraid to fire your failing staff: How to eliminate problem employees August 2, 2015 Are you frightened of firing your staff? If so, you’re not alone – it’s hardly surprising that most managers are. After all, such interactions are commonly known as the worst of “difficult conversations”. But what if I told you they were not, and said that it is both easy to sack staff and that you [...]
Stephen Greenhalgh: “Buy to leave” investors are pricing Londoners out of the property market – this is how I’d tackle it July 31, 2015 Often it is the non doms in London who are given a really bad press for inflating the property market. However I believe that it is the "non res" rather than the non dom that London should really worry about. The global non resident super rich see London residential property as a holiday home [...]
To stay ahead in a digital economy, we must dismiss the myth that digital skills are only for a certain few July 31, 2015 To stay ahead in a future digital economy, leaders of any business need to culturally prepare for radical change. Today, the digital skills that underpin the success of our future economy lie in the hands of a small group of people. How many business leaders can confidently say they understand what goes on behind the [...]
Detractors are wrong: OntheMarket is here to stay July 31, 2015 It has been just six months since the launch of agent-owned, agent-controlled OnTheMarket.com. In this very short period in the history of property portals, we have already made significant in-roads in disrupting the current duopoly of Rightmove and Zoopla Property Group. Read more: OntheMarket will fizzle out before its first birthday Rightmove and Zoopla [...]
Today’s job cuts at Shell and Centrica were about more than just rapidly falling oil prices July 31, 2015 The UK’s offshore oil and gas industry is at a crossroads. Though it has spent over £500bn and employed hundreds of thousands people in high-skilled jobs across the UK to extract the nation’s oil and gas over the last 50 years, it has found itself with a bloated cost base and worrying inefficiency. Job [...]
When successful people do stupid things it’s not intentional – they’re just desperate for a stress release July 30, 2015 Why do successful people like Lord Sewel do things that are stupid, or even life destroying?You might have expected a person in such a position of power to realise snorting cocaine with prostitutes while wearing an orange bra was a risky thing to do, but the reality is that he's one of a litany of [...]