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ABBA's Voyage concert series is making London "Money, Money, Money"

Dec 29, 2023
ABBA's avatar-based concert series has generated more than $400 million for London's local economy.
ABBA band members Benny Andersson, Agnetha Faltskog, Anni-Frid Lyngstad and Björn Ulvaeus attend the World Premiere of "ABBA Voyage" in London in May 2022.
David M. Benett/Getty Images

The barrow boys

Dec 11, 2023
When markets favored street smarts over fancy degrees.
Costermongers or street sellers, also known as "barrow boys," were often recruited to work as financial traders in London.
London School of Economics Library via Wikimedia Commons

Years after Brexit, a London honey shop looks beyond Europe for sources

Apr 18, 2023
Samantha Wallace of From Field and Flower considers changing her supplier network in response to changes in trade regulations and rising costs.
Beekeepers at one of Samantha Wallace's suppliers in Sweden.
Courtesy Wallace

Surging energy costs push British businesses to the brink

Sep 30, 2022
The U.K.'s rate of business failure has climbed far above pre-pandemic levels as economic uncertainty reigns.
Energy-intensive businesses like bakeries are suffering energy price shocks. Above, workers at Sourdough Sophia in London.
Victoria Craig/BBC

Even a London honey stall is caught up in Britain's historically high inflation

Jul 5, 2022
"It's a bit like pushing a boulder up a hill," says London store owner Samantha Wallace.
Bees at an apiary in Italy. "We've actually just had to, for the first time, raise our Italian honey prices," said Samantha Wallace.
Macro Bertorello/AFP via Getty Images

Elizabeth line: London's new train that's fit for a queen

Jun 3, 2022
The train line, honoring the monarch's Platinum Jubilee, was overbudget and behind schedule. But it's also shortening travel times.
It's taken about 13 years to build and fit out London's Elizabeth Line, which was one of the biggest infrastructure projects in Europe.
Andrew Matthews/Pool/AFP via Getty Images

The U.K. wants to be the hub for crypto. What will it take to get there?

May 12, 2022
London, already a major foreign exchange market, wants to be the same for crypto.
"Similar to the past so-called crypto winters, the underlying foundation, the development, the technology and the adoption [of crypto] has been continuing," said William Cai, co-founder and managing partner at Wilshire Phoenix.
Ina Fassbender/AFP via Getty Images

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UK accused of dragging its feet over sanctions on Russian oligarchs and of failing to clean up the “London laundromat”

Mar 4, 2022
Despite billions' worth of assets in London owned by Russian oligarchs, only a handful have been formally sanctioned by the U.K.
Roman Abramovich, owner of the Chelsea soccer club and one of London's most well-known Russian oligarchs, has not yet been sanctioned by the United Kingdom.
Paul Gilham/Getty Images

Will the UK sanction Russian-owned assets over the Ukraine crisis?

Feb 15, 2022
The British government has threatened to freeze Russian oligarchs’ property in the U.K. if Russia invades Ukraine. Is the threat credible?
By one estimate, at least 150 luxury properties in the U.K. — $2 billion worth — are owned by Russians with links to the Kremlin.
Hollie Adams/Getty Images

Brexit import changes are still painful for London honey seller after 2 years

Dec 7, 2021
After a strong summer, a London honey seller is dealing with the coronavirus omicron variant and changing trade policy on animal goods.
A beekeeper in northwestern Italy. New laws governing imports of animal byproducts in the United Kingdom go into effect in January.
Marco Bertorello/AFP via Getty Images