Helen Thomas

Monday, 27 November, 2023

Wednesday, 22 November, 2023

Autumn Statement

The crucial thing missing from the vaunted business investment bonanza

Government should be specific about what it wants to target and create regulation to support its goal

Monday, 20 November, 2023

Isas

A Brit Isa won’t reconnect the market to the masses

Idea has some merits but seems unlikely to noticeably swell the ranks of plucky British retail investors

Wednesday, 15 November, 2023

UK banks

What is the point of green mortgages?

The impact of these loans is underwhelming

Thursday, 9 November, 2023

Waste management & recycling

The UK is doing the right thing in steel — just badly

Cutting carbon emissions is the correct path but the sector also needs a strategy to recycle scrap metal

Monday, 30 October, 2023

Oil & Gas industry

Big Oil’s transatlantic strategy gulf has never been wider — and that is OK

Mega-deals in the US make sense, but it’s not obvious why European groups should scale up too

Wednesday, 25 October, 2023

UK house prices

Another mortgage gimmick won’t help the housing market

The UK political juggling act of keeping prices high and promising affordability is increasingly unsustainable

Monday, 23 October, 2023

Financial services

Your happy customers are no match for the UK’s consumer duty

When first proposed, the new regulation was seen as slightly fluffy. Not any more

Wednesday, 18 October, 2023

Property sector

Britain needs to take its sheds more seriously

Industrial and logistics is the poor relation in a planning system that doesn’t do much very well

Monday, 16 October, 2023

UK companies

Six years after Carillion, UK audit reform is still circling the drain

Accounting regulator is no longer toothless but it still needs more powers

Wednesday, 11 October, 2023

Insurance

The insurance world is flirting with its climate doom loop

Persistent extreme weather patterns demand appropriate pricing of risks and more emphasis on prevention

Wednesday, 4 October, 2023

Commercial property

The London office market is becoming harder work

Landlords are managing to extract a price for increased flexibility and services

Monday, 2 October, 2023

London fights for its future

Dear London, my negativity is not the problem

Don’t blame the messenger: bad press is a symptom not a cause of the UK market’s woes

Wednesday, 20 September, 2023

UK infrastructure

Dithering and indecision: the British infrastructure curse

Failure to make and stick to plans means big projects cost far more than they should while hampering their benefits

Monday, 18 September, 2023

UK energy

We’re back to a Big Six energy market. So now what?

A decade of reform has left the UK with a power system in danger of failing on competition, innovation and fairness

Wednesday, 13 September, 2023

Electric vehicles

The EV car crash is a warning for Europe’s industrial transition

China is so far ahead in the electric vehicles market that its competitors are trailing in the dust

Monday, 11 September, 2023

Retail & Consumer industry

The supermarkets’ next big product is your data

Personalised online and in-store advertising could prove very profitable for retail chains

Wednesday, 6 September, 2023

UK local government finance

Local government audit is a serious mess

Birmingham city council’s bankruptcy highlights the worrying state of local government finances

Monday, 4 September, 2023

Equities

Why is the London Stock Exchange muscling in on the private equity world?

The market wants to give founders, investors and employees in private companies a way to sell their shares

Monday, 31 July, 2023

UK economy

These superfund zombies won’t take over the pensions market

For-profit superfunds raise concerns about regulatory arbitrage but the need for them is much reduced after market changes

Wednesday, 26 July, 2023

Construction sector

M&S has a point: blocking redevelopment on Oxford Street is anti-business

In absence of proper policy, decision looks arbitrary and confusing

Monday, 24 July, 2023

UK financial regulation

The cost of living crisis is no reason to buy now, regulate later

BNPL can be useful but it should be monitored alongside other forms of consumer credit

Tuesday, 18 July, 2023

Working It podcast19 min listen

Why are sexual harassment and assault still happening at work?

Sexual harassment and assault remain far too common

Tuesday, 18 July, 2023

Mergers & Acquisitions

Global antitrust needs police as well as guard dogs

The recent Federal Trade Commission defeat on Microsoft-Activision is a blow for those wanting to reverse decades of lax enforcement

Monday, 17 July, 2023

Telecoms

Why Vodafone’s megamerger could have a 3.9% problem

Many mobile companies add an identical surcharge to bills, attracting the attention of regulators

Helen Thomas

Business columnist

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