Best of opinion 2023: From politics to Barbie, CityAM’s top comment pieces of the year
As 2023 comes to a close, we take a look back at the best of opinion from CityAM’s columnists. From office politics to Barbiemania, here’s what got the Square Mile talking this year.
1. Over 50s aren’t staying out of work because they’re sick – it’s because they’re rich
Ben Cope, March 2023
While many of us would have liked to have fully put it behind us by now, Covid-19 and post-pandemic life has remained a big talking point this year, especially in the workforce. At the beginning of the year, Ben Cope looked at how this was affecting the workforce, as over-50s sought greener pastures and bid au revoir to the rat race.
“Increasing economic inactivity has been caused by the “Great Resignation”, where wealthier workers decided they’d accumulated a large enough pension pot to quit the rat race. A report by the Resolution Foundation showed that the over 50s seeking early retirement are skewed significantly towards higher earners. These people aren’t ill; they’re rich.”
2. From Big Four contracts and partner bonuses, why everyone hates consultants
Nick Parmenter, November 2023
Consultants get a bad rep, but is it justified? Nick Parminter examined that in this column, which answers why consultants have become the “traffic wardens of capitalism” and how the industry can regain its renown.
“For some, they are fast becoming the traffic wardens of capitalism. Disliked, derided, unhelpful and parasitic. Historically characterised as slimy, self-interested, entitled, theorists, and “morally bankrupt”, clients, journalists and increasingly the general public are painting a multi-billion dollar industry, employing millions of people globally, with a very broad and very negative brush.”
3. London has a Soho problem. We need to fix it now.
Eliot Wilson June 2023
Long the capital’s famous nightlife destination, noise complaints and venue closures have reduced Soho to a shadow of its former self. Eliot Wilson reflects on the sad demise of the West End district in this zingy piece.
“Soho is London’s other Square Mile, filled not with the chatter of high finance, but with the clink of glasses, the whiff of Italian coffee and the thrum of a grand time had and a grander time yet to come. It is the swoop from glamour to grime, it is theatre and art and gossip and whisper; and it is dying on its feet.”
4. Gen Z will work hard, but not while stressed millennials stay home
Eliza Filby, September 2023
Generational wars are as old as time, but throw in a pandemic and you’ve got quite the cultural outcome. Generations expert Eliza Filby looks at how Gen Z and millennials have adapted – and resisted – the post-pandemic culture shift in the workplace.
“The major puzzle piece in this jigsaw is not Gen Z’s desire for work-life balance but in fact your millennial managers who are juggling young kids, the mortgage rate crisis, have done the ten-year slog and don’t want to commute. If your Gen Z’ers aren’t flocking to the office, it’s not out of sheer rebellion. It’s because they do not fancy coming in just to sit on Zoom while their beleaguered millennial managers WFH.“
5. The Great Ken Debate
The year of the rabbit, the year of the pothole, but 2023 was also undoubtedly the year of Barbie – and Ken.
Accordingly, a war of words on the life-in-plastic fantastic blockbuster broke out between CityAM‘s esteemed columnists, with Pheobe Arslanagic-Little and Josh Williams taking up their pens to answer the million dollar question: should Ken get off the beach and start contributing to the economy?
Arslanagic-Little said a resounding yes. Ken doesn’t need to question his masculinity, he just needs the purpose and drive of the 9-to-5.
“Just beach. This is true tragicomedy – behind Ken’s smouldering plastic gaze, a howling internal waste stretches, a desolation for which we will see him desperately seek remedy over the course of the film. But the emptiness of Ken’s life mirrors that at the heart of all of Barbie Land.”
Williams, however, was unconvinced. Taking up his quill, he suggested perhaps we should all stop projecting on Ken and learn to “just beach” a little bit more, all while offering a Hegelian breakdown of the Barbie movie.
“I have heard complaints at how Ken’s story ends. An esteemed fellow columnist in this very newspaper concluded yesterday that ‘Ken just needs a real job’. While this is an understandable argument to grace the pages of London’s finest business newspaper, it is tragically misguided.”
6. Piazza power! London needs to embrace the European public square
Lucy Kenningham, November 2023
Faced with only the measly scrap of grass at Spitalfields Markets as the backdrop for her philosophical musings, CityAM‘s esteemed Lucy Kenningham found herself dissatisfied with London’s offering of public spaces. Duly, she took up the cause and presented her case for the European public square.
“But if you ask to meet a friend in a square in London, the options will be Trafalgar, Sloane or Parliament (though no one has ever done this unless armed with placards). These tarmac-ed locales are generally drab, proffering the odd mediocre Christmas market. Let’s be honest: despite the prestigious National Gallery presiding over it, no self-respecting Londoner would seriously consider ‘chilling in Trafalgar Square’.”
7. A cash-based society isn’t just for the old, it’s for the young and foolish too
Anna Moloney, December 2023
Prone to losing her purse (and being occasionally robbed), CityAM’s Anna Moloney knows a thing or two about trying to get around London with only cash – and it’s no walk in the park. In this column, she makes the case for making London a more cash-friendly city; it’s not just the old who stand to gain, but the young and foolish too.
“I once considered myself a progressive young woman, but last week, when left phoneless and purseless after an ignoble pickpocketing while carrying my Christmas tree home, I was forced to reconsider. Out in the wilderness of central London, armed with a £20 note, I was faced with just how hostile our city has become to the use of cash and I, young and astute by traditional metrics, was left in the lurch.”
BONUS: Corporate jargon
CityAM‘s comment desk was thrilled this year to take on a burden that’s been weighing down the City for decades: the scourge of jargon. From circling back to the GFC, we examined the worst offenders of corporatespeak in a bid to cleanse the Square Mile. CityAM would like to thank our loyal readers for hearing our rallying cry and supporting us in our journey. Join us for more squaring the circle in 2024 and email [email protected] to report any offences you’d like us to take on!