UK industrial energy is four times the US. Richard Alvin on the slow strangulation of British manufacturing — and the policy choices we are dressing up as climate leadership.
Category: Columns
Columns, blogs and opinion from some of the UKs leading business opinion makers and entrepreneurs and small business owners
AI is quietly making graduates redundant: we will regret this inside a decade
Big consultancies are slashing graduate intakes. Richard Alvin warns Britain’s talent pipeline is breaking, and that the next generation of partners and CFOs has to come from somewhere.
Imminent changes to Statutory Sick Pay: What employers need to know
In a recent Acas survey, employers and employees were asked which three changes in the Employment Rights Act 2025 would have the biggest impact in their workplace.
The Apprenticeship Levy is broken, and the ‘Growth and Skills’ rebrand won’t mend it
A year after Labour’s ‘Growth and Skills’ rebrand, says Richard Alvin, the levy still funnels money to MBA-flavoured consultancies while the real apprenticeships die quietly.
After the Spring Statement, Britain’s businesses know exactly what to expect: nothing
The red box has been and gone. Richard Alvin reacts to Rachel Reeves’s Spring Statement — and why Britain’s small firms have, again, been treated as the audience, not the answer.
Reeves’s Spring Statement: brace yourselves, the begging bowl is on its way round again
The Chancellor’s Spring Statement is a week away. Richard Alvin on what Britain’s SMEs are bracing for, and the four moves Rachel Reeves should make if she is serious about growth.
International Women’s Day: spare us the lanyards and look at who’s actually got the cheque book
Another IWD of pastel-pink panels while female founders still get a fraction of UK venture capital. Richard Alvin: the gap is in capital allocation, not breakfast events.
Lent, Dry January, Sober October: when did the British pub become collateral damage in the wellness wars?
Mocktails won’t pay the gas bill. Richard Alvin on how Britain’s wellness wars are quietly sinking the public house — and the case for treating the pub as national infrastructure.
The Government’s entrepreneurship adviser says we don’t need more restaurants. She’s wrong and here’s why
Zoe Adjey, Senior Lecturer, Institute of Hospitality and Tourism, Department of Innovation and Management, Royal Docks School of Business and Law gives her opinion on the Government’s entrepreneurship adviser, Alex Depledge, declaring that Britain does not “need any more restaurants”
Building Sustainable Growth Through a Strategic Portfolio
In many organisations, portfolio is still viewed as a list of products and services – something to be expanded in the hope that more choice will unlock more opportunity. In reality, sustainable growth rarely comes from volume alone.
Late payment is Britain’s quiet pandemic, and SMEs are still being told to take it on the chin
Britain’s big firms are still paying small ones in 90 days plus. Richard Alvin argues late payment is a quiet pandemic — and the Treasury must finally make it personal.
Companies House has turned every UK director into a passport-juggling pen-pusher
Companies House identity verification was meant to clean up British business. Instead, says Richard Alvin, it has clogged up founders while real fraudsters keep moving.
Implementation of the Employment Rights Act 2025: what employers need to know
The Employment Rights Act 2025 received Royal Assent on 18 December 2025, and the Act will be implemented on a phased basis, through to 2027.
How SMEs can build diversity, equity and inclusion into their growth plans
Diversity, equity and inclusion (DE&I) are often seen as “big company” issues – tied to boardroom pledges, large HR teams or investor reporting. But the reality is quite different. For small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), building a more inclusive culture is not just possible; it’s essential for sustainable growth.
Why Britain’s world stage presence deserves more than lip service
I’ve been fortunate enough to walk the cavernous halls of a fair few of the world’s biggest trade shows in Las Vegas, they promised, and delivered, staggering innovation and energy.
