Category: Columns

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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”

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 identity verification was meant to clean up British business. Instead, says Richard Alvin, it has clogged up founders while real fraudsters keep moving.

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.

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. 

Britain’s rural economy is under mounting pressure from tax reform, rising costs and political uncertainty. From family farms to village livelihoods, this is why the countryside should worry us all.

As some companies quietly soften their climate commitments, UK business risks mistaking short-term discomfort for long-term strategy. Retreating from carbon neutrality now would be an act of economic self-harm, and a betrayal of hard-won trust.