Business
Should a two-bedroom flat worth £2m be called a ‘mansion’?
Many mansions Does a two-bedroom flat worth £2 million deserve to be called a ‘mansion’? — The word ‘mansion’ is…
Why does the Latin mass prevail?
The Pope is visiting Lebanon and Turkey. Will anyone be raising the vexed question of the Latin mass and sacraments…
Singapore’s future is in capable hands
I was in Singapore last week, a city that hums with energy. It feels efficient, cosmopolitan and yet personal –…
Georgia Toffolo: In defence of my husband James Watt
Rough justice Sir: The Church Commissioners’ plan to establish a £100 million (rising to £1 billion) fund for ‘reparative justice’…
How could the Co-op be so insensitive to Jewish shoppers?
Between news bulletins of the Manchester synagogue attack last week, I popped into my local Co-op for some groceries. When…
Bring on the robot-run railways!
I awoke on Sunday to what felt like a Brave New World moment: Radio 4’s news-reader reciting an unedited Downing…
A new water regime must still reward private investors
The weekend’s torrential Yorkshire rain amid a hosepipe ban offered a handy metaphor for the chaos that has befallen the…
How private equity ruined Britain
What has happened to Britain’s rivers isn’t a mistake. The fact that serious pollution is up 60 per cent on…
Why wealth taxes don’t work
The nation owes the former Labour leader Neil Kinnock an eternal debt for losing the 1992 general election when he…
Don’t compensate drivers for mis-sold car loans
Surprisingly big numbers are the theme of this week’s column, several having flashed up to disturb the pleasures of a…
I’ve become a slave to my Airbnb star rating
‘Right, we’re going to book into Pauline’s B&B and give her a four-star rating and that will drop her down…
Mark Carney, the mischief-making pin-up
Well, would you look at Mark Carney. Just three months ago I described the incoming prime minister of Canada and…
It’s time to get rid of the Rich List
Here’s a takeover tale that captures the zeitgeist. It involves two FTSE 250 companies and some deep-pocketed US investors –…
If the numbers add up, Shell should bid for BP
A hangar full of analysts and investment bankers must have spent the long weekend formulating advice for Shell chief executive…
Save London’s black cabs!
Donald Trump’s Soprano-like threat that the ‘termination’ of Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell ‘cannot come fast enough’ has been headlined…
Why the restaurant world hates beer drinkers
I’ve always thought working in hospitality is like getting a free MBA – but one rooted in the real world…
UK tax on US tech is a useful bargaining chip
The Digital Services Tax (DST) is a relatively easy bargaining chip to give away in a last-ditch bid to appease…
Where have all the new businesses gone?
The Chancellor’s appeal to regulators last month for suggestions to boost growth was mocked as evidence that the government itself…
Rachel Reeves owes Brompton bikes an apology
I long to write less about Rachel Reeves and more about world-beating British businesses – such as Brompton, the folding…
My business predictions for 2025
Headed for ‘the worst of all worlds’ is not where any of us would wish to find ourselves at the…
The marketing genius of Jaguar
Woke it may be, but Jaguar’s ‘Copy Nothing’ video is a work of marketing genius. With its ungendered models, ungrammatical…
The Ginger Rogers theory of information
I had a friend whose approach to entrepreneurialism was to take two separate things that seemed stupidly popular and somehow…
In Mumbai, everyone asks about Rishi and Boris
Mumbai is my kind of town, a party town. In my first weeks living here, I was out most nights…
Letters: In defence of Radio 3
Vote of no confidence Sir: Rod Liddle is too harsh on those calling for another general election (‘I hope you…
The dark side of Black Friday
How is it possible that we’re still reading headlines about the £4 billion fundraising from the Gulf that saved Barclays…
