Sluggish global growth cannot be an excuse for Britain ignoring opportunities

With Labour currently looking to win the next election by a mile, the centre-left think tank the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) is growing in both influence and attention. But did the IPPR set a new world record last week for the speed of getting its recommendations translated into actual policy decisions? Last Friday […]

From Alison Rose to water exec bonuses, massive payouts are killing productivity

The last week has been momentous on various fronts. The decision by the NatWest board to scrap £7.6m of former chief executive Alison Rose’s potential leaving payout was almost buried in the avalanche. But it offers a glimmer of hope amidst the overall gloom. The decision itself has all the hallmarks of a classic corporate […]

Rush hour pricing in pubs will kill off the customer loyalty businesses badly need

Britain’s largest pub group, Stonegate, caused outrage last week with its proposal to charge 20p a pint more at peak times at some 800 of its outlets. It is but the latest example of what has become known as “dynamic pricing”. Basically, charging more when demand is high. Many can surely empathise with the concept, […]

Even if the pandemic hadn’t happened, we would have all ended up working remotely

Working from home is a phenomenon we still associate with the pandemic. Some companies are trying to reverse its growth and get more people back into the office, but the debate about productivity has failed, so far, to yield conclusive results. A fascinating and timely Stanford research paper, entitled “The evolution of working from home”, […]

As government debt jumps to fund defence spending, our economy will pay the price

Sanctions will clearly hit the Russian economy very hard. But economic prospects for the West are not exactly rosy. Twice in the 1970s and again in the early 90s, there were rapid spikes in oil prices; each instance was followed by economic recessions. The deep recession following 2008 was, of course, due to financial causes […]

A four day week must withstand the productivity test to be worth the gamble

Durham based challenger bank Atom has announced a four day working week for all of its 430 employees as more and more people debate the number of days we should be working. For SMEs in the services sector, a four day week is an attractive bandwagon to jump on. It is commonly given credit for […]