Free Republic

The City after the pandemic is a shadow of its former self and the government may struggle to persuade its workers to come back. Commuting into - and working in - the City daily during the COVID-19 crisis has, at times, been a depressing experience. I began working in the City 30 years ago and have spent most of the intervening period since working in and around the Square Mile. It is an inspiring place. The City, along with Canary Wharf to the east, is the throbbing engine of UK capitalism. It is where entrepreneurs raise the money that helps...

Attacks on nuclear power stations, oil and gas terminals, Canary Wharf and Heathrow’s control tower were being considered by leaders of the plot to blow up seven transatlantic airliners in mid-flight, a court was told yesterday. Documents found on computer memory sticks at the home of an alleged terrorist ringleader contained a list of targets across Britain – including the gas pipeline between Britain and Belgium. The man, Assad Sarwar, was said to be in contact with terrorist leaders overseas and visited Pakistan a month before his arrest as preparations for the airline attacks were being finalised. Peter Wright, QC,...

LONDON (AFP) – China?s state sovereign wealth fund has bailed out the heavily indebted majority owner of London's Canary Wharf, according to the real estate development's owner. The Financial Times reported that the move by China Investment Corporation (CIC) was its first big investment in Britain. The owners of Canary Wharf, Songbird Estates, said in a statement that CIC would form a consortium with Qatar Holding, the Qatari sovereign wealth fund, and a number of existing investors, to provide more than 800 million pounds in new equity. The money is needed to pay 880 million pounds that Songbird owes to...

A New Zealander working for Reuters in London says two colleagues witnessed the unconfirmed shooting by police of two apparent suicide bombers outside the HSBC tower at Canary Wharf in London. The New Zealander, who did not want to be named, said the killing of the two men wearing bombs happened at 10.30am on Thursday (London time). Following the shooting, the 8000 workers in the 44-storey tower were told to stay away from windows and remain in the building for at least six hours, the New Zealand man said. He was not prepared to give the names of his two...

LONDON (AFP) - British security services have foiled an Al-Qaeda plot to fly planes into targets in London in a September 11-style attack, Britain's independent ITV News network reported. "This is the story of what could have been a nightmare averted," said ITV's political editor Nick Robinson. "A story not of failure, but of success." "That, at least, is what I am told by a senior authoritative source who says that the security services managed to avert a plot to fly planes into Canary Wharf here, and also into Heathrow Airport," he said. "I simply do not know the details...