By: Christian May

Editor-in-Chief Christian May is the Editor-in-Chief of CityAM. He served in the role from 2015 to 2020 and returned in 2024. He writes the daily Editor's Letter for print and online and releases The Week in Business roundup video each Thursday. He is particularly interested in the health of London's capital markets, economic policy, politics, regulation and business activity in Canada. He regularly appears in the broadcast media and presents a daily Business News slot on LBC at 0730, Monday to Friday. Find Christian on X and LinkedIn.

Connect on socials

All 573 Articles

Burnham’s focused on spending but at least Streeting’s thinking about growth

Politics

So, what’s it going to be? An end to 40 years of neoliberalism or a future shaped by progressive capitalism? That, at least, is the choice represented by Andy Burnham and Wes Streeting. The former health secretary delivered an impressive speech yesterday, offering an alternative economic vision to the more left-leaning instincts of Labour’s candidate [...]
The EU has regulated itself out of the AI race but the UK is still in the game

AI

After months of debate and final negotiations that stretched long into the night, EU officials were jubilant when, as 2023 came to a close, the European Parliament reached an agreement on what would become the EU’s AI Act; a sprawling legal framework designed to regulate artificial intelligence across all member states. The EU’s top officials [...]
Never forget the undeniable moral case for capitalism

Economics

Critics of capitalism describe it as immoral. In pointing to subjective (and sometimes objective) examples of unethical or harmful behaviour they conclude that capitalism is the enabling or even necessary force. Others, in so far as they stop to think about it, may conclude that the free-market system is amoral; that it is utterly indifferent [...]

An emboldened – or desperate – new government will look to wealth taxes

June 10, 2026

Wealth taxes are climbing back up the political agenda as the Labour party begins the process of reinventing itself for a post-Starmer era. Wes Streeting thinks he’s found “a wealth tax that works” by hiking capital gains tax while Andy Burnham is flirting with a land value tax that would naturally hit wealthy areas the [...]
Jeremy Hunt is right to ask Can We Be Rich Again?

June 9, 2026

With the CBI’s latest economic forecasts warning of a dramatic spike in unemployment and a prolonged period of anaemic GDP growth, it’s a good time to reflect on the question posed by former chancellor Jeremy Hunt in his latest book, Can We Be Rich Again? The book is the latest in a series of works [...]
In 23 months Labour has dragged the UK economy to its knees

June 4, 2026

Reading our interview with billionaire John Caudwell, in which he says he was “misled” by Labour’s pitch for power, I’m reminded of just how unambiguous Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves were in the run-up to the 2024 election. They promised to be “the most pro-business government this country has ever seen.” Some of us were [...]
Is ‘disinformation’ really one of the biggest challenges facing London?

June 3, 2026

All power to the Lady Mayor and her newly assembled team of City leaders who want to shout from the rooftops about the strengths and assets of our great capital city. Dame Susan Langley will tonight launch a new campaign, Team UK, backed by some of the Square Mile’s biggest business and industry groups, with [...]
Mandelson Files add insult to injury, but the patient was already beyond saving

June 2, 2026

The deluge of emails, Whatsapp messages and hand-written notes released yesterday cover the full range of political and diplomatic life, from the absurd to the poignant; from rows over a gift for Donald Trump to soul-searching over Keir Starmer’s failures, it’s all there in black and white. What’s clear at a glance is quite how [...]
Tony Blair is the only sensible voice left in Labour

May 28, 2026

After reading Tony Blair’s essay on the state of Britain (and the state of the Labour party) I was struck by the realisation that large parts of it sounded as if they’d come straight out of one of my own columns. Regular readers will know that I’ve often used this slot to point out the contradiction [...]
Labour has become the party of welfare, not work

May 26, 2026

A generous interpretation of events would be to concede that Labour has avoided any attempt at welfare reform because it’s been waiting for the conclusions of Alan Milburn’s review into the crisis of youth unemployment. Milburn, who served as health secretary under Tony Blair, will publish the first part of his government-commissioned report this week, [...]

Kemi Badenoch can still woo the City

Hydration breaks: World Cup ad cost could eclipse Super Bowl’s $7m price tag

Bowls Club is the City’s most eccentric (and brilliant) pop-up

By: Christian May

All 573 Articles