Chicago Tribune (November 1)
“So the pattern established oceans away now visits America,” specifically New York, where “terror by the ton” disrupted what should have been a delightful Halloween. “We don’t know if this suspect was heeding an Islamic State call to attack trick-or-treaters on Halloween. Or if only his own twisted thinking drove him,” but we have “seen enough of these car and truck attacks—in London, Nice, Stockholm, Berlin—to know they are all but impossible to predict or prevent.”
Tags: Berlin, Halloween, London, New York, Nice, Predict, Prevent, Stockholm, Terror, Truck attacks, Twisted, U.S.
Reuters (July 27)
“British-based investment firms’ long-standing ability to manage billions of euros of assets elsewhere in Europe could be threatened by Brexit.” Newly issued EU guidance suggests regulators will crack down on “delegation” with the aim of preventing investment firms from “setting up ‘empty shell’ subsidiaries in an EU country, to allow them to continue serving European clients, but leaving the bulk of their management staff and operations in London.”
Tags: Assets, Brexit, Clients, Delegation, EU, Europe, Euros, Guidance, Investment, London, Shell subsidiaries, UK
Sydney Morning Herald (July 13)
“The Grenfell tower fire in London has opened the eyes of the world to the dangers of building with materials that do not conform to safety standards.” But this comes three years after Australia’s “own wake-up call…when fire ripped through Melbourne’s Lacrosse building.” Since then “all the solutions to the problem have been presented by expert bodies to the Senate inquiry,” yet not enough has been done. An “audit of apartment buildings undertaken by the Victorian Building Authority has shown that half contained non-compliant materials.” It is “time for governments to advance from talking and thinking to actually doing something.”
Tags: Dangers, Experts, Fire, Grenfell, Lacrosse building, London, Melbourne, Non-compliant materials, Safety standards
Chicago Tribune (June 5)
“The stoic determination and decency of the British people and their leaders was on full display in the hours after the latest horrific terrorist rampage.” In contrast, President Trump “acted like a clod, a heartless and dull-witted thug in sending out a series of tweets” on the London attacks. “One is prompted to ask if he is off his rocker. But this is vintage Trump — impulsive and cruel, without an ounce of class or human decency.” With his tweets, Trump has embarrassed “himself—and America—once again.”
Tags: Attacks, Clod, Decency, Determination, Embarrassed, London, Stoic, Terrorist rampage, Thug, Trump, Tweets, U.S., UK
Newsweek (February 8)
“A hard “Brexit could threaten 30,000 jobs in London’s world-class finance sector,” according to a recent report, if the firms “lose their ‘passport’ to operate across the EU.” Of course, nobody will really know until Brexit transpires, but the same study suggests “17 percent of all U.K. banking assets might be on the move as a result of Brexit” and the U.K.’s share of the European financial services market could contract from the current 90% to around 60%.
New York Times (September 20)
Days after the Chelsea bombing, with an eye to this week’s UN meeting, the mayors of three great cities (Bill de Blasio of New York, Anne Hidalgo of Paris and Sadiq Khan of London) write, “We know policies that embrace diversity and promote inclusion are successful. We call on world leaders to adopt a similar welcoming and collaborative spirit on behalf of the refugees all over the world during the summit meeting this week. Our cities stand united in the call for inclusivity. It is part of who we are as citizens of diverse and thriving cities.”
Tags: Bombing, Chelsea, De Blasio, Diversity, Hidalgo, Inclusion, Khan, London, Mayors, New York, Paris, Refugees, Thriving cities, UN meeting
Washington Post (April 22)
During his visit to London, President Obama has been somewhat controversially urging the British to remain in the EU. “British leadership in the world is very much at stake. And because it really is a matter of profound, bipartisan, long-term U.S. interest that Britain remain a European power and thus a world power, Obama is right to take the risk and say so.”
Tags: Bipartisan, Controversial, EU, London, Obama, Risk, U.S., UK
Financial Times (October 11)
If Uber “wants to continue to grow in London and around the world, Uber needs to be able to persuade politicians that it is worth facing down the established taxi operators who are resisting change. If vested interests prevent its innovations in service from reaching their full potential, it would count as an enormous missed opportunity.”
Tags: Change, Innovation, London, Missed opportunity, Politicians, Potential, Service, Taxi operators, Uber
Financial Times (May 26)
Global cities now “drive the world’s economy. The 600 biggest cities account for more than 60 per cent of global gross domestic product. The top 20 are home to one-third of all large corporations, and almost half of their combined revenues. Tokyo leads the pack — in population size, economic punch and number of corporate headquarters — ahead of New York, London and Paris.”
Tags: Cities, Corporations, Economics, Economy, GDP, London, New York, Paris, Population, Revenues, Tokyo
The Economist (April 4)
“Poor land use in the world’s greatest cities carries a huge cost.” There isn’t much real shortage of land in even the most heavily populated areas. Instead poor regulations stifle efficient land use. “In the West End of London,” these regulations “inflate the price of office space by about 800%; in Milan and Paris the rules push up prices by around 300%.” But the effect on economic growth is even more profound. “Lifting all the barriers to urban growth in America could raise the country’s GDP by between 6.5% and 13.5%, or by about $1 trillion-2 trillion.”
Tags: Barriers, Cities, Economic growth, GDP, Land use, London, Milan, Paris, Regulations, Shortage, U.S., Urban growth
