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Is government preparing to shake the magic money tree again?
Will my bath water still be hot by Christmas? That’s not a question I’d normally feel a need to share…
The government should be helping, not hindering, start-ups
I’m hugely enjoying meeting the finalists for The Spectator’s Economic Innovator of the Year Awards. This year’s bumper entry was…
What tea with the WI taught me about responsible investment
Late-breaking exam results: many of the City’s top fund managers have failed a vital test of ‘stewardship’ — defined for…
How to solve the looming pigs-in-blankets crisis
This is getting serious. Never mind global shortages of microchips, plastics, copper and container ships; now we’re running out of…
Rishi’s stamp duty gimmick did little but help greedy builders
The Hundred — some sort of pimped-up cricket tournament, I gather — passed me by entirely, but I’ve been admiring…
Head back to the office – it’s your patriotic duty
Give or take a few leader-writing shifts and editing projects, I’ve been working from home for the past 30 years,…
Why filling Santa’s sack will cost more this year
Bank of England governor Andrew Bailey looks increasingly uncomfortable as inflation notches upwards from ‘nothing to worry about’ towards the…
Is it time for a Dad’s Army of lorry drivers?
Here’s a patriotic proposal: let’s form a Dad’s Army of lorry drivers, of which the Road Haulage Association reckons there’s…
Is the airline ‘booking surge’ a load of hot air?
Be glad you’re not in Dr Mike Lynch’s shoes. A London judge has ruled that the founder of the Cambridge-based…
The clever radical who led the City’s transformation
It’s a vivid example of unintended consequences that the swimming-pool builders of southern England should owe so much to Sir…
Could hydrogen power turn air travel green?
Have you been scanning airline websites for exotic destinations to which your double-jabbed status might allow you to slip away…
Will a John Lewis home be up Boris and Carrie’s street?
The Financial Times carried a curious story at the weekend about ‘the secretive process to elect the Lord Mayor of…
The Nicola Sturgeon effect on house prices
Nicola Sturgeon depresses me and seems to be having the same effect on Scottish house prices. In a housing market…
Why private equity sharks are shopping at Morrisons
The late Sir Ken Morrison — founder of the eponymous supermarket chain that’s the latest UK target for US private…
Foreign opportunists are turning Britain into a corporate car-boot sale
The snatching of a 12 per cent stake in BT by French entrepreneur Patrick Drahi, last seen here when he…
Suddenly used cars are hot property
Companies should willingly pay tax wherever they generate profits — this column has long argued — because it’s fair they…
Will the new breed of retail investors cash in – or crash out?
‘Feed the ducks when they’re quacking’ sounds like advice from a foie gras farmer — but let’s leave gastronomy till…
Who cares who runs the railways? We just want them to run on time
The long-awaited review of the railways by former British Airways executive Keith Williams chugged past the platform of public debate…
Is Farrow & Ball’s business model flaking?
The happiest thing that happens in May is the coming into leaf of my long beech hedge. The shift from…
The pandemic’s transatlantic divide in executive salaries
‘Consider a temporary cut in executive salaries’ was the Confederation of British Industry’s advice to members at the start of…
Can Melinda still keep Bill Gates in check?
‘We are seeing very substantial inflation,’ the great investor Warren Buffett told shareholders in his master company Berkshire Hathaway at…
Who’s really to blame for the Post Office scandal?
The alleged frauds for which the Post Office prosecuted no fewer than 736 of its sub-postmasters has turned out in…
Crypto is a virtual Vegas whose towers must fall
What should we make of the valuation of Coinbase, the cryptocurrency exchange listed on Nasdaq last week at $80 billion…
Can the ‘next Bicester Village’ take off without tourists?
Retail footfall will be the first measure of recovery this spring. Everywhere I look, from central London to small-town Yorkshire,…
Was Deliveroo the most embarrassing flop in City history?
The market emphatically endorsed my negative opinion of the Deliveroo share offer, which bombed from its offer price of 390p…
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