Martin Vander Weyer

Martin Vander Weyer is business editor of The Spectator. He writes the weekly Any Other Business column.

Bailing out businesses looks inevitable – but it’s not all bad

30 May 2020 9:00 am

Should the government be prepared to take equity stakes in major companies that will struggle to survive the current crisis?…

Rico Back’s departure is a first-class opportunity for Royal Mail

23 May 2020 9:00 am

The Royal Mail worker who rang my bell to deliver an Amazon package on Friday was wearing a glittery ball…

It’s mavericks like Elon Musk who’ll get us through this crisis

16 May 2020 9:00 am

This month’s most significant corporate deal attracted less attention than it might have done in normal times, crowded out by…

Now is not the time to throw money at airlines

9 May 2020 9:00 am

British Airways warns of 12,000 redundancies. Ryanair announces 3,000 job losses as ‘a minimum to survive the next 12 months’;…

Rishi Sunak must stick to his guns

2 May 2020 9:00 am

Was the Chancellor wrong to guarantee only 80 per cent, rather than 100, of ‘coronavirus business interruption loans’ to keep…

Will GSK show us what ‘purpose before profit’ really means?

24 April 2020 11:00 pm

Keep your eye on GlaxoSmithKline. The UK-based multinational drug-maker represents the future, both as a mass-producer of the vaccines that…

A lesson in survival from pre-21st century Marks & Spencer

18 April 2020 9:00 am

When I wrote last week about business-to-business pain-sharing for survival, I was naturally thinking first about UK companies. I say…

At least some of the Chancellor’s promises are actually working

11 April 2020 9:00 am

The phrase ‘sharing economy’ was coined a decade or so ago to describe collaborative new business models made possible by…

Spare a thought for the poor estate agents

4 April 2020 9:00 am

The suspension of the residential property market is disheartening for those who were hoping to buy a first flat or…

Have you been invited to a Zoom cocktail party yet?

28 March 2020 9:00 am

The CBI’s guidelines on ‘best practice for business’ during the pandemic tell the 1,500 larger companies that make up the…

Airlines are no special case when we all need a bailout

21 March 2020 9:00 am

The world needs airlines — and, barring Armageddon, will still have some when this crisis is over. It will also…

The antidote to virus panic is in the hands of entrepreneurs

14 March 2020 9:00 am

‘It’s a ghost town,’ said the officer manning the body scanner at Manchester airport — Manchester, New Hampshire, that is,…

entrepreneurs

The antidote to virus panic is in the hands of entrepreneurs

13 March 2020 3:43 am

It’s a ghost town,’ said the officer manning the body scanner at Manchester airport — Manchester, New Hampshire, that is,…

Britain’s economic fate doesn’t depend on Heathrow

7 March 2020 9:00 am

Hit-and-miss, heavy-handed, but a necessary use of justice to deter repetition. That was my summing-up, last year, of the Serious…

Coronavirus is a chance to buy cheaper – but it comes with a health warning

29 February 2020 9:00 am

If anything, stock markets have been slow to respond to the spreading coronavirus outbreak. Stories of Chinese supply interruptions, from…

Time for new leadership at Barclays and HSBC – and a new name at RBS

21 February 2020 10:00 pm

After a dull interlude, the big banks in their annual results season look a bit more interesting again. First to…

Never mind the numbers – the boardroom gender battle has barely begun

15 February 2020 9:00 am

It’s the way the world’s going, but still it looks quite impressive that the number of women directors of FTSE100…

Is it worse to be an environmental polluter or a moral one?

7 February 2020 10:00 pm

So farewell Bernie Ebbers, former chief executive of WorldCom, the long–distance phone operator that became America’s biggest-ever bankruptcy case in…

The most sinister thing about Huawei may be how clean it is

1 February 2020 9:00 am

I first wrote about the risks and rumours around Huawei — and made bad jokes about its name — in…

HS2’s completion is as likely as King Harry’s coronation

24 January 2020 10:00 pm

Seven years ago, when HS2 was still officially costed at £33 billion, I wrote that I was looking forward to…

Never mind the royals – the real national crisis is at John Lewis

18 January 2020 9:00 am

Asked to name British institutions they’d rather not see shaken to the foundations, many consumers would list the John Lewis…

All forecasts are off if Iran shuts the Strait of Hormuz

11 January 2020 9:00 am

Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water… Late last year, a range of forecasts…

Neil Woodford could do the washing-up at my fantasy Christmas lunch

21 December 2019 9:00 am

It’s the season for kindness and conviviality. In that spirit — and recognising that business, like personal life, rarely follows…

I was born to be a pantomime Dame (oh yes I was!)

21 December 2019 9:00 am

‘Flamenco, lambada/ But hip hop is harder/ We moonwalk the foxtrot/ Then polka the salsa…’ I’m sure you know those…

Take note, Peloton: sweaty blokes make safer marketing

14 December 2019 9:00 am

You’ll have had enough of politics and punditry, so let me introduce a non-political City debate (even if rather a…