All Leader articles – Page 3
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NewsPlanning beyond Boris
In the end, just seven of Boris Johnson’s closest allies in the House of Commons rose to his defence on Monday, as MPs voted overwhelmingly to endorse the privileges committee’s report on his Partygate dishonesty.
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NewsBuilding safety still a concern
Six years ago this week, the nation awoke to the horrific news that a fire had broken out in the night at Grenfell Tower, a residential block in west London. The tragedy ultimately cost 72 lives, with many residents trapped in their homes unable to escape the smoke and flames.
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InsightHouse prices: who knows?
The two leading house price indices (HPIs), from Nationwide and Halifax, provide the most timely measure of sentiment in the housing market but also the most partial. The picture that each paints of what is going on – and the commentary provided by the lenders’ in-house experts – can often ...
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InsightHope versus housing
Labour’s attempts to portray itself as the party to get Britain building have begun in earnest, with a couple of policies floated so far that appear surprisingly bold and more than a little divisive.
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NewsThinking beyond the box
A few years ago, the mainstream media became transfixed by the prospect of self-driving cars, when it seemed as if either Tesla or Google spin-off Waymo might imminently bring such a thing to market.
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NewsReckoning for rent reforms
The tabling of the Renters’ Reform Bill this week begins the formal process of scrutinising the government’s proposals, which already feel as if they have been debated endlessly.
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InsightLet’s not be lizards
The incomparable Douglas Adams, much-missed author and satirist, died 22 years ago this week. The passing years have not blunted his many sharp insights. Take, for example, his view of the political animal, outlined in the fourth Hitchhikers book, when the dialogue turns to an unhappy democracy of humans ruled ...
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InsightWill King be a royal influencer?
This weekend we will witness a once-in-a-lifetime spectacle: the coronation of a king. A six-gun salute will be fired from Horse Guards Parade to mark the exact moment the crown touches the monarch’s head and the UK will be alive with colour and noise. But behind the pomp and ceremony ...
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NewsGood eggs vs bad apples
The most recent annual report issued by the Confederation of British Industry, for the year ending 31 December 2021, set out the principal risks faced by the CBI at the time.
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InsightAre we there yet?
Pick any random word – ‘elbow’, for example – and repeat it often enough and it will start to sound weird and meaningless. The phenomenon is often noticed by young children (and weary parents) when questions get repeated, and repeated, and repeated, and repeated.
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InsightIndustrial & Logistics: Another level
There is a child-like quality to multi-level logistics schemes, with their boxy designs split over several levels or storeys.
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InsightInflation proves tricky
Futurist and author Arthur C Clarke famously observed that sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic. This ‘law’ of science and progress was first postulated 55 years ago and is now widely acknowledged to be true.
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InsightApologies not accepted
Tuesday’s annual general meeting of Credit Suisse featured a lot of apologies. Chair Axel Lehmann told investors that he was “truly sorry” for the events that led to its takeover by rival UBS. “I apologise that we were no longer able to stem the loss of trust,” he added, after ...
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InsightThe time is always now
On my desk is a coffee mug, given to me by industry veteran Harvey Soning, decorated with a prayer to the almighty: “Let there be one more property boom. I promise I won’t piss it all away this time.” The mugs have been around for at least a decade, but ...
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NewsThe future’s bright (honest)
Maybe it was the weather. Warm sunshine bathed Mipim last week, sweeping away the industry’s gloom. The chatter in all my meetings was arrestingly upbeat – albeit with shades of that Monty Python song about the bright side of life.
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InsightMipim: plus ça change?
I am by no means a Mipim regular, and my first impression on arrival at this year’s Cannes jamboree was that a large section of the UK had been displaced en masse to the south of France. The number of English voices contributing to the hubbub in the busy cafés ...
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InsightThe bottom line for diversity
I am writing this on Wednesday, International Women’s Day, which serves as an annual reminder that everyone in a position of any kind of power needs to consider gender equality every day, not just once a year.
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NewsDon’t underestimate EVs
Tech titan and former world’s richest person Bill Gates observed, in the hastily rewritten second edition of his mid-90s book The Road Ahead, that the future often catches us napping.
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InsightPlanning a sustainable future
This week we learned who will shoulder the perhaps unenviable task of leading the UK Green Building Council (UKGBC). Architect Smith Mordak will take over from outgoing chief executive Julie Hirigoyen in June, at a time when the industry’s hunger for leadership in sustainability has never been more intense.
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InsightSafe as houses?
The terrible aftermath of last week’s earthquake has been difficult to watch on our TV screens. The scale of the tragedy, which has claimed more than 40,000 lives in Turkey and Syria, is numbing. It is impossible to imagine how it feels to witness or experience such devastation first hand.
