The Standard

As London buckles under another 72 hours of Tube and rail strikes - are there other, better ways to get from A to B? How will future generations of Londoners navigate their daily commutes? The Leader speaks with Paul Campion, chief executive of TRL, formerly the Transport Research Laboratory, whose futuristic projects include London’s flagship driverless car trials, investigating smart materials a...

Thousands of railway workers have walked out on strike, leaving a fifth of services running and half of lines closed. It’s the sixth bout of such industrial action this year as members of the RMT, TSSA and Unite unions working for Network Rail and 14 rail operators take to the picket lines in a dispute over pay and working conditions. There's also another Tube strike on Friday, followed by more ra...

With winter approaching and those rocketing electricity and gas bills - what are the best measures to save pounds on our electricity and gas without breaking the bank? Is the government doing enough, how are London families coping and what about future power supply? The Leader’s speaks with Jack Wilkinson-Dix, policy officer for the Energy Saving Trust, and David Wilson, chief executive of Energy...

Office for National Statistics data reveals wages plunged by 4.1 per cent in the last quarter, with pay now dropping fastest since 2001 when the latest records began. But historical analysis shows we’re actually suffering the biggest pay squeeze since Jim Callaghan was PM. The Leader’s joined by Dr Grace Lordan, labour economist at the London School of Economics and Hannah Slaughter, senior econom...

Mudlarking is the historic pursuit of combing the Thames foreshore for, hopefully, some rare or valuable artefacts to give us a glimpse back into history of how Londoners used to live. Among the coins, bottles, occasional weapons and oddities like tiny Roman spoons for scooping out ear wax found nestling in the silt, mudlark Jason Sandy made a chilling discovery - what was apparently a giant boa c...

If you work in the financial and investment sectors, you will know about the CFA - their exam is known to be “the world’s toughest”. The mere mention of the gruelling test on Wall Street would probably leave some of the toughest finance veterans weeping. Celebrating their 75th anniversary this year, we’re joined by Marg Franklin the CEO of The Chartered Financial Analyst Institute. In this episode...

Transport for London might be in trouble. Away from the strikes and behind the scenes TfL is in financial turmoil - and has been for a while. The Mayor of London’s transport authority has been trying to come to a deal with the Government and it’s all on a bit of a knife edge.  As Londoners wait eagerly to see what happens next, it's got many concerned that if a deal isn’t made, whether TfL co...

As we all crack out the factor 30 to head outside and enjoy the sun for yet another heatwave… you can’t help but notice that everywhere is looking very dry. We’re experiencing another heatwave, our water sources are depleted, parks and green spaces are no longer… well, green. Plus, there’s no signs of rain on the horizon. Hannah Cloke is a professor of hydrology, climate expert and natural hazards...

A growing campaign ‘Don’t Pay UK’ is aiming to get one million people to pledge not to pay their energy bills once the price cap goes up in October.  Their argument is that if enough people do this, it will force energy companies to look at ways to ease financial pressures. Over 97,000 people have already ‘promised’ to cancel their direct debits and the number is rising.  But, what exact...

Get ready for a summer of discontent.  It’s the season for industrial action; TfL, train operators, bus drivers, airport & airline staff, ferries & sea container port staff… and even barristers are all getting in on it.  Don’t worry though, Katie Strick, commissioning editor and senior feature writer at the Evening Standard, is on hand to give you the ultimate guide on everything...

Wildfires might not have been something you would associate with London or the UK previously, but in 2022 times have changed. There have been reports of more wildfires across the capital and it seems like we’re going to need to adapt, another heatwave is expected over the coming week and conditions are still very dry… So just how prepared are we?  Andy Elliott, firefighter, wildfire rese...

This is taken from our business podcast How to be a CEO. As an SVP at Diageo Catharina von Franck sits on the company's UK board and is in charge of growing iconic brands like Guiness, Johnnie Walker , Baileys and others.  Diageo has just moved to a new HQ in the heart of Soho, London's hospitality centre.   In this episode she tells us:    What’s it like inside Diageo’s new bu...

After experiencing the driest July since 1935 the first hosepipe ban of 2022 is in place in the UK . Residents in Hampshire and the Isle of Wight are the first to face a ban, and will be followed by people in Kent and the South East from August 12th. To add to drought concerns, river experts have reported the source of the Thames has dried up for the first time on record. Some experts have critici...

The UK is once again facing a recession, as the Bank of England announced its predictions for the economy, alongside a 0.5% rise in interest rates . It’s the highest for 27 years, and the Bank of England has also predicted  energy bills will push inflation to 13% - up from an already 40-year-high of 9.4%. The Bank has predicted the UK will go into recession in the fourth quarter of this year,...

As TfL passes the latest deadline in discussions over government funding and unions continue to threaten strike action, the future of transport in London hangs in the balance.  On Wednesday afternoon Transport For London said discussions with the DfT were “ongoing” and repeated calls for £927million to get through the rest of the year, as well as a long-term funding deal. The company also acc...

The news that BP has reported record profits of almost £7billion has not gone down well with bill payers and campaign groups. The energy firm’s highest profits in 14 years come as people in the UK are warned their annual energy bills could reach on average £3,300 a year by January. It led to campaign groups calling the situation a “Cost of greed crisis” , and the words “don’t pay UK” trending on T...

Following England women’s history-making Euros win at Wembley , there’s now a focus on how the tournament will impact the women’s game. As well as the trophy, the Lionesses saw a record crowd at Wembley for a women’s home game of more than 87,000 fans, and the final also set the record for the most-watched TV broadcast of a women’s match, with the BBC revealing a peak audience of 17.4 million view...

We join Meta's northern Europe VP Steve Hatch in the company's new HQ at King's Cross. In this episode we talk about: The opening of the huge new office Why Facebook chose London for their new base What is the Metaverse? What can the Metaverse offer to SMEs? Why businesses need to constantly evolve Buying dog beds on the platform.... Listen to the full episode here Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/p...

Do you remember the Eighties and Nineties earworm theme broadcast from Down Under to television sets in millions of British homes on BBC One twice a day? Now, it’s all over for Neighbours as the long-running Australian soap ends its 37-year run now amid dwindling viewing figures on Channel 5, after a total 8,903 episodes. While these days you’ve got a never-ending on-demand buffet of online shows...

The discovery of the Lulo Rose, a pure pink diamond, in Angola is thought to be the largest such gemstone found in 300 years - and interest is already intense ahead of its sale. The ancient gem was found in Angola at the Australian-run Lulo alluvial diamond mine, which focuses on scouring river beds, and so how important is this discovery? Well, just one in 10,000 diamonds is coloured pink, so fin...

It is another strike day and more travel chaos on railway services. Once more there’s commuter misery as main lines into and around London are hobbled on the fourth day of nationwide rail strikes, with just a fifth of the usual services expected to run. Industrial action has left many services grinding to a halt, and freight’s being given priority over passengers. More than 40,000 RMT union member...

Russia’s state-controlled energy giant Gazprom says it will severely cut gas into the European Union that’s delivered through its main offshore pipeline. Gazprom says it’s stopping operation of a compressor turbine for Nord Stream 1 - which pipes Russian gas into Germany and is already operating at reduced capacity - due to what it calls the “technical condition of the engine”. In an escalation of...

The National Health Service faces what’s described as the “greatest workforce crisis” in its history due to severe levels of understaffing. A report by the cross-party Health and Social Care Committee warns poor staffing levels are creating a serious risk to patient safety. It comes as research by the Nuffield Trust shows the NHS in England is short of 12,000 hospital doctors and more than 50,000...

Taken from our How to be a CEO podcast. We join AXA’s UK&I CEO Claudio Gienal to talk about his career at one of the world’s biggest insurance companies, and their research into the post-pandemic landscape for SMEs. To hear the full episode click here . Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The great British getaway hasn’t got off to the best start.  A critical incident was declared at Dover on Friday morning, Saturday is predicted to be the busiest day on the roads in years and we all know air travel is absolutely all over the place. But with families desperate to get away for what is for some their first proper holiday since before the pandemic, the travel chaos doesn’t look l...