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A soggy journey

Southwark council recently approved Dexter Moren鈥檚 274-room hotel on The Cut, home to the thesp destinations the Old and Young Vic theatres. You鈥檇 think, given the building is seven storeys tall, that there would be little fear of flooding in the event that the Thames, which flows more than a quarter of a mile away, were to burst its banks. But the legally required health and safety regulation is firmly in place if the guests need to evacuate the premises. There鈥檚 just one snag. The hotel鈥檚 muster point is a 1.5 mile-long schlep to some street corner in not-so-neighbouring Walworth.

Not even time to say 鈥榗heese鈥�

Interserve has ringed the last week of March for releasing its 2017 results. The firm normally releases its year-end totals in February but chief executive Debbie White had to delay these while she shored up the company鈥檚 finances. I wonder if it will be updating its press pics of White. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 think she鈥檚 had time to do a photo shoot,鈥� I鈥檓 told. 鈥淪he鈥檚 been stuck with the banks every day.鈥� No wonder she鈥檚 off on a two-week break.

Skirting the issue

Businesses of a certain size are all too aware of their new duties to report on gender pay differences, and my hacks tell me there is keen interest in not being seen to be worst-in-class. But despite publishing 鈥渄isappointing鈥� figures outlining a 23.4% average discrepancy between hourly rates for men and women, multidisciplinary firm Stride Treglown has insisted that its mix of engineers, planners, architects and surveyors are a tolerant and forgiving bunch. Company chairman David Hunter claimed staff had reacted positively to a prepublication consultation on the data, with the most common response being a 鈥渞equest for ongoing feedback鈥�. Wouldn鈥檛 it be simpler and quicker to ask the firm鈥檚 female staff: 鈥淲ould you like to be paid more money?鈥�

Surprising apathy

A public petition to parliament calling for 鈥渁n urgent public inquiry鈥� into why Carillion continued to be awarded contracts by the government after last summer鈥檚 拢845m profit warning is not gathering the head of steam its organisers must have hoped for. It is 鈥渧ital any potential criminal activity is investigated and acted on鈥�, the petition, which was launched on the day the firm went bust, thunders. The government will respond if there are 10,000 signatures within six months. But at the time of writing fewer than 400 have signed. I would have thought the firm鈥檚 20,000 former UK employees might have been tempted to put pen to paper, not to mention all those owed money as a result of the debacle.

Question time

Has Zaha Hadid Architects鈥� press office been taking tips from politicians on how not to answer questions? Its building at Shad Thames has 鈥渦nique planning conditions鈥�, which the firm said 鈥渞educes the potential pool of tenants for the building [meaning] the site could remain empty for some time鈥�. When my hack asked what the conditions were, he was told that the former Design Museum site holds the practice鈥檚 archive and late architect鈥檚 collection of works. An answer to an entirely different and unasked question! If companies are going to start acting like Boris Johnson on a particularly evasive day, I have instructed my journalist to use some Jeremy Paxman-style tactics and ask the same question again dozens of times.