The Standard

If you’re working in the City, data released on Wednesday by the Office for National Statistics, shows you’re probably doing very well indeed with a nice pay rise. But bankers' pay is now growing three times faster than the wages of NHS nurses and teachers, showing how unequal the Covid economic recovery really is. To unpick the ONS data, we’re joined by Luke Hildyard, director of the High Pay Cen...

Insulate Britain are warning they will bring the UK to a 'standstill' when they resume their protest action this Spring. The environmental campaign group announced on Tuesday that they are collaborating with Just Stop Oil, another eco campaign group, who are calling for the government to stop all licences for fossil fuel production. The group has threatened to ‘intervene’ if the government doesn’t...

The working week started with another blow for Londoners struggling with the cost-of living-crisis - the worst Tube and bus ticket increases for 10 years. Passengers must soon pay between 10 to 30 pence more per journey - an average of almost five per cent - as Transport for London tries to claw back a huge deficit after its finances were “decimated” by Covid. So how can TfL and Mayor Sadiq Khan j...

What happens when you find yourself in a position of influence perhaps unimaginable from when you were young? This is an invitation to meet Peter Flavel, the CEO of Coutts – the Queen’s bank. We’re going to talk about how a kid who grew up in Adelaide became the boss of one of the UK’s largest private banks, with an office looking down the Mall to Buckingham Palace. Since taking the helm six years...

Tensions have grown between the London Mayor and the Home Secretary, after Met Police Commissioner Dame Cressida Dick resigned from her role. She announced her resignation on Thursday night, after being given an ultimatum by Sadiq Khan to fix problems in the Met Police, and restore public trust. The Evening Standard understands Home Secretary Priti Patel is angry after being blindsided by the mayo...

New property data suggests London flats are back in fashion again, after demand for apartments in the city dropped during the pandemic. According to one survey flat prices are now outpacing the overall property market in five London boroughs; including Barking & Dagenham, Greenwich and Hackney. Meanwhile, Rightmove says it’s seen a complete reversal in demand from bigger houses to flats since...

London Mayor Sadiq Khan has warned Met Police Commissioner Dame Cressida Dick she has just “days and weeks” to save her job. She’s been tasked with rooting out racist and sexist officers and restoring public trust in the force. It follows the outcry over the racist, misogynistic and other abusive misconduct by officers at Charing Cross police station, which was exposed last week by the IOPC. The E...

Several MPs are calling on the Prime Minister to apologise for comments he made about Sir Keir Starmer in the commons, after the Labour Leader was mobbed outside Westminster. Last week the PM made a discredited claim that Sir Keir ‘failed to prosecute Jimmy Savile’ when he was director of public prosecutions; a comment repeated by a group of protestors who surrounded the Labour leader yesterday. T...

As the documentary about the Tinder Swindler reaches number 1 on the Netflix viewing charts, we talk with Cecilie Fjellhoy - one of the main victims of Isreali fraudster Shimon Hayut. What started with a date in a posh London hotel led to Cecilie being conned out of hundreds of thousands of pounds by a man she thought was her lover. Now, Cecilie has vowed to support future fraud victims and has se...

The Queen is about to make history as she marks 70 years on the throne. Elizabeth II is the first ever British monarch to celebrate a platinum jubilee and although most festivities are planned for the summer, the actual anniversary is this Sunday 6th February. Seven decades in any job is no easy feat, nevermind it being a period of time that has seen 14 Prime Ministers, numerous wars, we’ve joined...

The day that millions of households have been dreading has arrived, Ofgem has confirmed there will be a £693 rise to the energy price cap, taking the new threshold to £1,971, meaning an increase of 54 per cent.  The chancellor, Rishi Sunak, has outlined support measures of a £200 discount on all electricity bills from October - which will later be repaid - and a £150 council tax rebate for th...

The latest plans to ‘level up’ the country have just been announced by the Government.  The white paper largely addresses inequality between major cities… but what about people in the capital who are struggling? One in four Londoners live in poverty and the unemployment rate is higher than average… it doesn’t seem that ‘level’ here either. Paul Swinney, Director of Policy and Research at the...

A senior Tory MP's warned Boris Johnson his future is "on hold" while Scotland Yard completes its investigation into ‘partygate’ … does that mean Boris can breathe easy for now? Former chief whip Mark Harper laid out the stark reality for Mr Johnson ahead of the Prime Minister jetting out to Ukraine for diplomatic talks. The Evening Standard’s Political Reporter, Rachael Burford, shares her i...

A new Francis Bacon exhibition at the Royal Academy in London is considered so extreme it’s been given a ‘trigger warning’.  ‘Francis Bacon: Man and Beast’ explores the artist’s fascination with animals, their traits, instincts as well as human animalistic behaviours. It’s definitely not one for the faint of heart.  We hear from Michael Peppiatt, writer, art historian and curator of the...

As another January comes to a close, we're looking back at one of the month's fastest growing trends: Veganuary. Since it started in 2014, when around 3-thousand people signed up to do it, more than 2 million people have taken part in total. It appears to be having an impact on what we see on supermarket shelves and in cafes and restaurants - as Veganuary promotions have boomed in recent years. No...

London’s big return to the workplace and public transport is continuing apace after Covid restrictions were lifted. How are you feeling about the prospect of the sardine tin commute? We speak to Thalia Eley, Professor of Developmental Behavioural Genetics at King’s College London’s Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience. Professor Eley is an authority on environmental factors affec...

It’s London’s biggest rail project in a long time, eclipsing the Overground upgrade and Jubilee Line extension. We’re promised Crossrail will be up and running in the not-too-distant future this year...and although the powers-that-be are staying schtum over exactly when, there’s suggestion that May’s the month. The central part of the new purple £19 billion Elizabeth Line is now being tested to ev...

We’re collectively gritting our teeth with April approaching, preparing for energy bills soaring in a crisis fuelled by surging demand in Asia, Russia-Ukraine tensions and a spike in natural gas prices. But after years of Conservative austerity policies and a drop in life expectancy caused by Covid, the UK’s top health inequalities expert is warning London’s poorest families are going to be hit ha...

It’s the hottest new driving manoeuvre you’ve probably only just heard about. But what is the ‘Dutch reach’ and can it help keep the roads safer? The technique is part of new safety rules in the updated Highway Code to help better protect cyclists and pedestrians, although the AA says a third of motorists don’t even know it’s been revamped. It follows many years of safety campaigning by Cycling UK...

Following the success of UK police drama Line of Duty, a new TV show has arrived, promising to shed more light on counter-terror policing. Trigger Point is a new ITV thriller set in London, following the Metropolitan Police’s bomb disposal unit. It has been compared with Line of Duty, in part because it features LOD writer Jed Mercurio as producer, and actor Vicky McClure is the main character, wh...

To mark its 35th anniversary, the Evening Standard’s ES magazine has undergone a rebrand, starting with a special issue celebrating the milestone. The new-look publication, which originally launched in 1987 as a monthly magazine, has promised to bring ‘an added dimension of living to our great city’. Ben Cobb is the new editor behind the rebrand, and says he wants it to be witty, confident and opi...

Boris Johnson has announced Plan B measures, including work from home guidance and compulsory mask wearing, will be lifted next week. His decision will be well received by many people, but it comes as the latest YouGov poll puts Labour 32 points ahead of the Conservatives in London. In a series of other shocks for the Tories, it also showed that two thirds of Londoners believe the Prime Minister s...

London’s Mayor Sadiq Khan has spoken with the Leader about his proposal to replace the congestion charge and ultra-low emission zones in the city with a pay-per-mile system instead. He told us some form of smart road user charging system is 'inevitable' as London aims to cut pollution and congestion. Other proposals include an extension of the ULEZ to cover the whole of London, and charging driver...

MPs and business leaders have piled more pressure on Boris Johnson to end Plan B and the work from home advice. Some have warned of catastrophic long-term damage to some London districts, as a result of lockdowns, trading restrictions and guidance not to commute to the office over the past two years. Government officials are due to review the Plan B guidelines on the 26th. Chairman of the Conserva...

It’s been a week to forget for the Prime Minister and with allegations of even more government covid rule breaks, he’s still not out of the woods.  After a family member tested positive for covid, Boris Johnson is now stuck isolating in Downing Street giving him time to think about his next move.  The Evening Standard’s Deputy Political Editor, David Bond, explains what we know so far ab...