Don't Banksy on it

Plans to attend the Banksy exhibition at Waterloo station were thwarted this weekend, when I was confronted with a 50-minute Alton Towers-style queue snaking around barriers to get into the exhibition.

It was a sad day for graffiti aficionados everywhere, whose respect for an artist whose daring, anarchist point of view and sense of humour gained him notoriety has dwindled since his canvases began...

By admin2 08/05/08 11:18

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Election roundup

Thursday is crunch time for London’s mayoral candidates, bringing an end to the mud-slinging and soap opera antics that have kept us entertained over the last eight weeks. With more gossip than TheLondonPaper, these elections promise to be more dramatic than the Democratic primaries – but what have they promised to do for you? Here’s our round up of the candidates’ small business policies:

Siân Ber...

By admin2 29/04/08 13:52

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The kids are alright

As if entrepreneurs don’t have enough to worry about, what with higher corporation tax rates, excessive red tape, and the prospect of increasing fuel duty, this week the news broke that they may face heavy competition from below.

Yes, precocious five-year-old Sam Houghton became an overnight media sensation, after it was revealed he is the youngest person to hold a patent for his invention, the ‘Im...

By admin2 24/04/08 10:43

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Cleaning up the high street

The town where I grew up, Bath, has seen a significant drop in the number of independent shops in recent years – and a significant rise in chain stores.

Media coverage of the phenomenon has been rife: in towns across the country, independent clothes shops, record shops and cafes are moving out, and Top Shop, HMV and Starbucks are moving in, draining towns everywhere of their character.

So it was ver...

By admin2 17/04/08 10:47

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Cabinet mutiny

Hot on the heels of his very open criticism of Brown’s decision to penalise non-doms, Digby Jones has dealt another lethal blow to Downing Street with rumours he’s on the verge of quitting.

The prime minister’s announcement of a new business council for Britain earlier this year was met with a surge of criticism from the small business community.

The likes of Branson and Sugar posed for their photo...

By admin2 16/04/08 17:18

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Nurturing our hidden talent

Trevor Baylis, inventor of the ClockWork Radio, believes we  ‘need to create a culture in the UK which encourages and nurtures innovation across all groups in society’.

Referring in particular to an older generation of potential entrepreneurs who have built up a wealth of career experience, Baylis thinks these are the people who can ‘act on business ideas quickly and effectively’

He adds: “It seems...

By admin2 15/04/08 16:31

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Salt of the earth

By admin2 09/04/08 16:43

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Ready or not

This week’s story that businesses underestimate how much it would cost them if their business were to be disrupted by a ‘major incident’ hit a nerve at the startups office.

It hit a nerve because firstly, we spent a great deal of last summer talking to small businesses who had underestimated how much it would cost them if their business were to be disrupted by a ‘major incident’, and consequently, ...

By admin2 03/04/08 12:18

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Terminal illness

The ill-fated, and aptly named, Terminal 5 at Heathrow Airport cost £4.3bn. With so much money spent on the project, the opening was supposed to be somewhat of a spectacle. And indeed it was.

No sooner had the Queen cut the ribbon when passengers started pouring in, unsuspectingly handing over their luggage to a baggage system already riddled with inadequacies.

Since opening last week, more than 400...

By admin2 02/04/08 14:36

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A tangled web (site)

There’s been an awful lot of hype lately about how web-based sales are going to be the saviour of British retail: Over the Christmas shopping period, there was lots of going on about how British websites made £7bn in one second at 1.24pm on the 17th - or something.

Anyway, this week’s news was less encouraging: it turns out these fabulous sales were only reported by big brands. Smaller web-based bu...

By admin2 27/03/08 14:09

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