Most commentators were complacent about the risks of higher inflation in 2021 and seem determined not to be caught out again this year. But some of the rhetoric is now running well ahead of reality. Take the warnings that UK families are facing an ‘overnight cost of living catastrophe’. It is true that many are […]
Radical overhaul of construction industry needed if UK to have any chance, according to new research. As I entered the construction site in England a decade ago, I was filled with excitement. This was a new state-of-the-art housing development. I was there to provide independent evidence as to whether the development stood up to its claims […]
In 2021, 20 countries pledged to no longer fund the development of fossil fuel power plants in other countries. This commitment threatens to keep millions of Africans from moving out of poverty by depriving the continent’s countries of the energy they need to develop and can best be understood as a type of environmental colonialism. Energy is […]
Originally published November 2021. What could possibly go wrong? “Africa has a significant role to play in the energy transition. We are home to a third of the world’s mineral reserves and 14% of the world’s forests… Our view is that the energy transition needs to be balanced. It needs to be just. It needs […]
Originally published March 2021. I’m sure you have your mind on higher things than the soapier side of the royal family, but I love it. I have a collection of commemorative china, my mum’s knitting me a copy of one of Princess Diana’s jumpers, I cried at Meghan and Harry’s wedding, and of course I […]
Why they beat the rest of the high street as a retail experience. A bone china teapot, a pair of leather brogues, a poetry book, a velvet coat, an embroidered tablecloth and a saucepan. These are just a few of the things I have recently bought from charity shops – where someone else’s trash became my […]
Originally published November 2021. It’s not often that I agree with Donald Trump, but on one thing he is surely right; the UK’s new American Embassy in Nine Elms was a “lousy deal”. From Grosvenor Square to Nine Elms was quite a downgrade. The building looked rather good in the architect’s CGIs, but the actualité […]
Originally published March 2021. The collapse of Greensill involved a predicable cast of unwise enablers, but it should serve as a warning to the growing number of alternative asset buyers on the dangers of complex deals which promise much but deliver less. Due diligence is critical in the highly illiquid alternatives sector. You really can’t […]
Re-alignment in a post-Covid world Despite successful vaccination programmes and economic support policies, Covid-19 continues to impact our real estate markets. As the pandemic posts its latest resurgence, most European governments have been able to successfully limit its economic impact. This is offering a different environment for real estate as well, triggering the question how […]
Not yet, but further change is needed. The harbingers of doom have been ringing the death knoll on the UK high street for some time now. The Great Financial Crisis, the tightening stranglehold of online retailing, surging operational costs, the normalising of Company Voluntary Agreements, political uncertainty around Brexit and the ifs and buts of […]
