This Month
Murdoch circles as Fleet Street jewels up for sale
An auction starts this week for two august Tory titles, The Spectator and The Daily Telegraph. Rupert Murdoch is among the rumoured bidders.
- Hans van Leeuwen
- Analysis
- Israeli-Palestinian conflict
How war in Israel stirs up Europe’s cocktail of divisions
Antisemitism, Islamic extremism, Islamophobia, far-right violence: these combustible cross-currents are sowing fear in Jewish communities and terror in Belgium.
- Hans van Leeuwen
The Aussie tech start-up trying to crack the corridors of Westminster
GovConnex, a tech platform for lobbyists, is barely out of the blocks at home but already eyeing up Britain. Here’s their plan to get a foot in the door.
- Hans van Leeuwen
- Analysis
- UK leadership
Why Britain’s next PM has memorised the Albo playbook
Ultra-cautious Labour leader Keir Starmer is taking the small-target strategy into the 2024 election. He’ll be hoping it’s like Australia in 2022, not 2019.
- Updated
- Hans van Leeuwen
British PM puts rocket boosters under Lendlease’s London project
Rishi Sunak has scaled back an upgrade of Euston station, but says he wants Lendlease’s associated urban regeneration project to be much bigger.
- Hans van Leeuwen
I’ll be like Margaret Thatcher, British PM Sunak says
Trailing badly in the opinion polls and presiding over a divided party, the embattled leader paints himself as a bold agent of change.
- Hans van Leeuwen
- Analysis
- UK leadership
Why British PM Sunak’s road to re-election is strewn with potholes
The Conservative leader is scarcely more popular than his party. But a combination of retail politics and a reviving economy could pave the path to a comeback.
- Hans van Leeuwen
September
- Analysis
- World politics
How Murdoch’s anti-elite crusade was forged in England
Rupert Murdoch’s early career in Britain was formative in shaping his robust political views and contrarian identity as the anti-establishmentarian.
- Hans van Leeuwen
UK climate backdown sparks business backlash
PM Rishi Sunak’s moves have sparked business concern and raised fears that such political climb downs will spread to the European continent as elections loom.
- Updated
- Hans van Leeuwen
EV makers call for incentives to lure wary UK drivers
The British government wants to phase out petrol cars by 2030, but isn’t offering financial incentives to help motorists overcome their doubts.
- Hans van Leeuwen
- Opinion
- Analysis
It’s not just the ‘Remainers’ whingeing – Britain really is broken
Post-Brexit gloom has spread from the Remainers to the Tory tribe. Some hope Britain can respond with pragmatism, but this pessimism could breed paralysis.
- Hans van Leeuwen
Britain’s shoplifting spree forces retailers to fund police crackdown
As shoplifting becomes more frequent and brazen, the UK’s big retail chains are giving the police $1.2 million to help them get on top of the epidemic.
- Hans van Leeuwen
Frugal government deals a blow to UK’s offshore wind industry
Taxpayer support created a world-leading sector. But subsidies didn’t rise this year to reflect surging costs – and now nobody can afford to build a wind farm.
- Hans van Leeuwen
- Analysis
- Global economy
Britain no longer the ‘sick man of Europe’ after GDP revision
Germany has now taken the mantle of being Europe’s weakest link after the UK’s statistic office tweaked its data, but will it impact monetary policy?
- Hans van Leeuwen
August
As NIMBYs harden to NOBYs, the threats to green power are growing
Britain’s offshore wind industry urgently needs more grid capacity. But the rise of NOBYism – in no one’s backyard – shows growing resistance to poles and wires.
- Updated
- Hans van Leeuwen
- Part Two | Europe
- Nuclear energy
Britain fires starter’s gun on race to nuclear
In the second instalment of the Nuclear Option series, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s government is suddenly ready to shower billions of pounds on getting modular nuclear reactors up and running by the early 2030s.
- Updated
- Hans van Leeuwen
July
British banking bust-up claims Aussie CEO’s scalp
Peter Flavel, the most senior Aussie banker in London, has fallen on his sword – the latest victim of right-winger Nigel Farage’s fight against his de-banking.
- Hans van Leeuwen
How a battle with the King’s bank turned nasty
Right-wing maverick Nigel Farage’s stoush with Coutts, banker to the royal family, has sparked debate over whether or when institutions can close clients’ accounts.
- Hans van Leeuwen
Macquarie pumps another $1b into its UK water company
The fresh equity injection into Southern Water, which takes Macquarie’s investment to almost $3.3 billion, aims to meet the rising cost of a ‘turnaround plan’.
- Hans van Leeuwen
Delay casts pall over Lendlease’s $7.7b Euston project
A parliamentary committee has highlighted how the developer faces a fork in the road, as the government grapples to get a grip on its side of the deal.
- Hans van Leeuwen
