In Conversation with Nickie Aiken Nickie Aiken

Schools are now thankfully back in action, but I want to take a moment to thank every single teacher in The Two Cities who have done an amazing job over the challenging past few weeks in keeping our children learning. I recently joined Hampden Gurney pupils for a virtual Q&A - and boy did they put me through my paces! 

This Thursday (4th March 2021) is World Book Day - which is all about encouraging children (and adults) to read. In this episode I'm joined by Cassie Chadderton who is the Chief Executive of this important initiative, and David Shelley who heads up leading UK publishing group Hachette UK. We discuss our favourite reads, why it's never too late to pick up a book, and why the UK excels in publishing.

The Royal Society for Public Health (RSPH) recently published a report that found 57% of black, Asian and minority ethnic people said they would take a COVID-19 vaccine, compared with 79% of white people. One reasons for this is a number of rumours being spread about the vaccine within some BAME communities. I recently sat down with representatives from the Bengali community in Pimlico to discuss the vaccine and the rumours being spread about it..

London’s hospitals are under a lot of pressure from Covid right now. One of the Capital's hospitals for instance normally has 44 intensive care beds - today they are ventilating over 120 patients. Jeremy Cordingley, a consultant in intensive care medicine works at St Bartholomew’s Hospital - he joins me in this episode to explain what they’re dealing with. We can help them by staying at home. 

Central London is struggling without its office workers supporting their coffee shops, sandwich bars, pubs and theatres. People need to feel safe using public transport and we need to encourage them back to work even if it’s for part of the week. I brought together some of our major employers in the City and the West End, who between them have tens of thousands of staff, and we discussed practical solutions. Thanks to Linklaters, Landsec, Hippodrome, Brookfield, British Land and New West End Company for taking part. 

Our fantastic and vibrant city of London needs all the support it can get from visitors and returning workers as it gradually recovers. Joining me to discuss the Central London economy are: Sir Nick Kenyon from the Barbican Centre, Ruth Duston from Cheapside Business Alliance, and Gareth Banner who runs the Ned in Poultry (where we record this episode).