The statistics present a stark business reality. Research indicates that nearly one in three UK workers experience bullying during their careers, whilst sexual harassment remains persistently underreported despite heightened regulatory scrutiny.
Category: Columns
Columns, blogs and opinion from some of the UKs leading business opinion makers and entrepreneurs and small business owners
Treat Your Business Like Your Body This New Year
Every January, millions of people resolve to get healthier. They join gyms, hire trainers, and put themselves in environments engineered for progress. The formula is obvious: the right expertise, the right structure, and the right people make improvements inevitable.
The Twelve Days of Business
On the first day of Christmas, my mentor taught to me, resilience as a growth strategy…
From planning to applause – How to run a Christmas team event they’ll talk about in January
Each December, the festive season seems to arrive sooner than expected. As employees strive to meet year-end deadlines, the responsibility of organising the annual Christmas social arises without warning.
Is the government intent on killing London’s hospitality sector with a double-whammy tourist tax?
First came the scrapping of VAT-free shopping, sending high-spending tourists — and their wallets — to Paris and Milan. Now London faces a second hit: a proposed nightly hotel levy. As businesses warn of declining sales and shrinking visitor numbers, is the capital intent on taxing its way out of competitiveness?
The rich are fleeing and our charities may be left holding the bill
Rachel Reeves’ non-dom overhaul is driving Britain’s top donors overseas. Could UK charities become the biggest losers as major philanthropists depart?
Fine dining’s death by a thousand cuts, and at least a £250 bill
Opinion: Richard Alvin argues rising energy costs and Rachel Reeves’ policies risk killing Britain’s fine dining scene, as £250 dinners become the norm.
The EUDR: A Challenge and an Opportunity for Small Sustainable Businesses
As a sustainable business owner, I’ve always believed that every choice we make, from the suppliers we trust to the packaging that carries our products, reflects our values.
How Leaders Build Trust by Leading with Integrity
According to the Oxford English Dictionary, integrity is “the quality of being honest and having strong moral principles.” In theory, it’s a simple word. But in the workplace, it can be one of the hardest qualities to sustain – especially in leadership.
Sorry Gordon, whilst you own the restaurant, but trainers with a tux? really?
Richard Alvin questions Gordon Ramsay’s white-trainer look at David Beckham’s knighthood dinner — modern flair or a step too far for fine dining?
Waiting on Reeves: London entrepreneurs face the gallows
Richard Alvin on why Rachel Reeves’ looming 26 November Budget feels like London’s business community waiting for its final sentence.
Why we must give graduates a chance: Building teams that blend youth with experience
When I founded Invicta Vita, I knew that building an exceptional team would be the cornerstone of our success. What I didn’t anticipate was how fundamentally my thinking about hiring would evolve.
From This Life to The Split: rethinking the lawyer’s life – beyond courtroom portrayals
Television dramas have long had a fascination with the legal world. From Rumpole of the Bailey and Kavanagh QC to Silk, The Split, and perhaps most memorably This Life, the profession is often portrayed as a chaotic cocktail of high-stakes cases, late nights, tortured personal relationships, and constant ethical dilemmas.
Waitrose’s kindness gap: how a supermarket lost its humanity
When a 27-year-old volunteer with autism was shown the door after his family asked if he could be paid, Waitrose didn’t just lose a helper—it lost a chance to prove that inclusion means more than a press release.
The AA’s loyalty problem: sixty-four years and still taken for a ride
When loyalty no longer pays: Richard Alvin uncovers how his stepfather’s 64 years of faithful AA membership was rewarded with a renewal quote nearly three times higher than that for a brand-new customer, a telling symptom of Britain’s warped service culture
