For years London's urban landscape has been transformed with the annual tradition of illuminating its iconic streets during the festive period. Regent Street and St James’s, managed by The Crown Estate, have recently seen the switch-on of their iconic ‘Spirits of Christmas’ display, marking the start of the season and running until 2 January....

Rishi Sunak faces one huge headache – the Tory party is lagging badly in the polls and to date everything the Prime Minister has tried has failed to make a dent in Labour’s lead. Since the summer, Sunak has deployed a ‘Bazball’ policy blitz which saw a watering down of net zero commitments, taking an unashamedly pro-car stance and dumping HS2 Phase II from Birmingham to Manchester. He also tried to use his party’s conference in Manchester to regain the initiative....

Following the Conservative Party Conference in Manchester, attention shifts down the M62 to Liverpool where Labour comes together for their annual gathering. In stark contrast to the Tories, Labour head to Merseyside with the wind in their sails. Polls consistently show the party with a double-digit lead, with a resounding win in the Rutherglen and Hamilton West by-election providing a further boost....

The London Real Estate Forum (LREF) is a key date in the property calendar and at last week’s gathering at the Barbican there was a collective sense of ‘let’s do business’ pushing forward development despite the headwinds....

For politicos, the first sign summer is gone and autumn is here isn’t kids going back to school or even Strictly Come Dancing back on Saturday night TV screens – it’s party conference season....

Reshuffles are not unique to British politics, but they certainly play a much more prominent role in events than in other countries. Party leaders shuffling their front benches has become an almost annual ritual, as much a part of the political calendar as budgets and party conferences.   ...

Losing two by-elections and clinging on in a third has clearly energised the Conservative party, who’ve come out fighting. First, following their Uxbridge strategy of opposing Sadiq Khan’s Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ) expansion, they’ve adopted a more aggressive pro-motorist stance. And second – on housing and planning, with two major interventions in a week, one specifically London focused....

In a busy week for politics in the capital, what have we learnt from events and what might it mean for the looming Mayoral and General Election? Here are my top 10 takeaways from the turbulent last 7 days....

This was my 20th MIPIM, I think, with my first way back in 1997. Over the years I have always been interested in the straplines that cities, regions and countries use to try to encapsulate their USP....

Stefanos Koryzis, LCA Account Director, Insight, explains where we currently stand on this critical piece of legislation, at the end of a tumultuous two weeks for planning reform....

LCA Senior Advisor Paddy Hennessy gives us the lowdown on a ruling party in crisis at this year’s Conservative Party Conference in Birmingham....

As ever LCA is out and about this Party Conference season. Aside from supporting Opportunity London and the Central District Alliance, our team is also travelling to both Liverpool and Birmingham to take a sounding of the prevailing political currents. Senior Advisor Paddy Hennessy reports on an eventful few days at this year’s Labour Conference in Liverpool....