A (PLANNING) STORM IS COMING...

It is rare that we start LDN with LCA news. But last week we made it to 21 and so now have the keys to….well our office, as we re-opened to staff who want to come in to work (and use the AC)! As London, and central London especially, faces a difficult recovery, we certainly feel some sense of duty in unlocking our Covent Garden doors once again.

ANOTHER ONE BITES THE DUST

The ramifications of delaying May's Mayoral and London Assembly elections by a full year have once again made headlines, after Lib Dem Mayoral candidate Siobhan Benita stepped down for personal reasons.

TUBE TURBULENCE

A month or two ago, deep into crisis mode, we used this space to reflect on how difficult it was to plan ahead under such strange circumstances - noting that there would soon come a time when we would all need to start thinking beyond the ultra-short term once again.

A TENTATIVE RETURN

Today we have re-opened our office at Berkshire House. It’s a tentative start, with lots of safety measures in place. While it’s entirely voluntary, we know that many of the team are excited about being back at LCA Towers. Read more about this in today’s LDN and we hope to see many of you face to face in the weeks ahead.

RISHI MAKES IT RAIN

This week’s edition comes 15 years and two days after the enormous high of London winning the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games and then the massive low, one day later, when 52 people lost their lives as a result of terrorist bombings on the transport system on 7/7.

FDR OR... FD-BLAH?

We don’t normally start LDN with an obituary, but this week we make an exception.

IF YOU BUILD IT THEY WILL COME

In the space of the last 24 hours, two famous London buildings and institutions have made the news, providing a fascinating contrast.

GETTING CLOSER 

Our commentary over the last few weeks has mainly and rightly been about how we all feel – whether about the empty streets of central London or Black Lives Matter.  Like many, we now feel it is time for action. 

PROTESTS AMID A PANDEMIC

Last week I wrote about the shock of seeing London’s West End deserted on a sunny Saturday morning in late May.

A PHASE TWO SUMMER

With everyone keen to see the pandemic consigned to the past, the economy restarted and the achievement of a ‘new normal’ that is better than the old one, this has been a week of contradictions (and much political point-scoring).

A CITY RUN BY COMMITTEE?

First comes the crisis, and then come the committees – or in this case we’ve got two new Boards, on top of a Group, a Partnership and a couple of Taskforces, all to tackle COVID-19 in London. Let’s hope some of the additional bureaucracy proves a boon to the wider economy and not just the market value of red tape.

BITTER BAILOUT? ...

Today, no new cases of COVID-19 were reported in London. Tomorrow and the next day? Who knows. A crisis forces us to think in days and weeks rather than months and years.