“Cameron, take your lead from Obama”
Today came the announcement that president Barack Obama is pledging more than $50bn (£32bn) to rebuild America’s roads, railways and airport runways. The UK must take note.
Business Link closure: a grave mistake
Richard Baister, the entrepreneur behind Velocity Drinks, on why shutting down Business Link is a “huge own goal” by Mark Prisk and a blow to the country’s small businesses.
Our election system is a mess
The economic difficulties we’re facing at the moment are not going to be fixed by a magic spell or the wave of a wand. The next best thing the coalition can do for business is provide as much consistency as possible in terms of governance and a regulatory framework. No big changes. No messing. Just leave entrepreneurs to it.
Halfords, rail strikes and ridiculous quangos
In my last column for Real Business, I had some choice words for the management of Halfords and their ridiculous parking contractors. Since then, they have decided that I do not, after all, have to pay a parking fine. All very well, but there should never have been any debate in the first place: I went into their store and left within the time allowed – and still got a ticket.
Why I’ll never shop in Halfords again
The nation is in the midst of a retail breakdown and everyone is trying everything to attract and retain their customers. Everyone, that is, except Halfords.
What’s with all the government bashing?
I like to give the government a hard time as much as the next man – and in a tabloid society it is almost a sport. But even I have to admit that we’ve taken government bashing too far.
Businesses, switch off your lights!
Night in, night out, half of the country is illuminated by businesses with huge coloured signs across their buildings. Don’t they realise the disastrous effects on the environment?
No wonder businesses are moving overseas
The government is doing entrepreneurs no real favours right now.
Out of the credit crunch, great advertising campaigns
Despite all the talk of people cutting back on marketing budgets, there are some brilliant adverts around at the moment.
Entrepreneurs are best placed to ride out the recession
Opinion is divided on how the economy will fare in 2009. Most people are prophesising doom and gloom, with the downward multiplier sucking us all into oblivion. However, a less publicised school of thought says that with change comes opportunity.
It’s not the most cheerful subject – but you can’t escape redundancies
There are redundancies all over the place at the moment. Even for those of us not directly affected, there’s just no getting away from it in the media.
There’s no point denying it: sex sells
Everyone knows sex sells. Everyone knows the economy relies on things selling. So I was baffled when I read that the EU is considering stopping advertising that uses this age-old formula for success. Madness!