Business

By Steve Taggart It is easier to start a business in Lithuania than the UK, according to the latest Global Competitiveness Report from the World Economic Forum (WEF). It takes almost twice as long to start a business in the UK (12 days) as compared with Lithuania (6.5 days). The yearly report is regarded as a barometer of business competitiveness and rates 144 economies across over 100 global rankings: from property rights, to tax rates and the level of local...

By Steve Taggart It is hard to believe but there are only 87 days to go to xmas. Shops are already advertising for the festive season, which can make you feel quite unsettled. But that is nothing compared to the panic that will set in, if you are playing to sell your home before then. Well fear not, here are ten top tips to ensure can before Santa pays you a visit. Get a signboard. Ensure you have a signboard,...

Jack Peat meets Gavin Monery, Winemaker at urban winery London CRU Terroir is a hot topic in the wine world. Never has such an elusive concept caused such division amongst growers, experts and consumers of wine, but what’s the big deal? Well, in the parlance of Bill Shakespeare; nature or nurture, that is the question. Terroir comes from the French ‘terre’, or ‘land’, and is defined by the clever folk at Wikipedia as being a “set of special characteristics that the...

By Jack Peat, Editor of The London Economic  The food system is broken, NFESH President, Founder and CEO Enid Borden told me in a brief email exchange in response to my article on food waste. Highlighting the origins of food and the way in which our supermarket shelves are stocked I attempted to bring to light some of the big issues discussed in Omnivore’s Dilemma which is as harrowing a read as anything Stephen King or Dean Koontz could muster up but unfortunately housed in...

By Jack Peat, Editor of The London Economic London isn’t the birthplace of gin, but it’s the closest thing it has to a home. For London Dry is responsible for finding gin a bedfellow in the shape of tonic, a mix that has become internationally renowned and is, in part, responsible for the spirit’s global rise amongst peers such as whisky and vodka. But despite being a symbolic home, London Dry is rarely made in London these days. The East...

The Chartered Institute for Securities & Investment (CISI) has launched a Speak Up campaign encouraging financial services industry firms to adopt a Speak Up policy for whistleblowers. New research has found there is overwhelming support for introducing US-style whistleblower incentives to the UK. When asked whether the UK should offer rewards to encourage reporting of wrongdoing by companies, as is the case in the US, 46 per cent of respondents were strongly in favour of the idea while 38 per...

By Jack Peat, Editor of The London Economic There was a time when food was a valued commodity and was treated as such. We would know the source of our food, understand seasonality and accept that everything has a shelf life, but the industrialisation of food means food waste is no longer the problem, food is. I hate to waste food, I've written many an article on frugal recipes and the method behind the madness, but I'm a product of...

Over the past ten years London’s economic fabric has been permanently altered by key business zones, with start-ups flocking to Silicon Roundabout and a renewed appetite for East End properties following the 2012 Olympic Games. But of late the prestige of the West End has seen home-grown and international businesses flock in their droves. The area is home to a number of industries – investment and law firms flock to exclusive Mayfair for a postcode guaranteed to impress clients, while...

A new survey has revealed there is a concerning lack of knowledge amongst Britain's small business when it comes to disposing of hazardous waste. The study of more than 1,000 SMEs, conducted by waste and recycling company Biffa, found eight out of ten are leaving themselves open to fines and prosecutions, with only 20 per cent of companies disposing of their hazardous waste legally. Despite an overriding confidence in how to manage their business waste (95 per cent said it wasn't...