Climate Change, Politics of Projects,
Artificial News, Seasons Greetings,
Military Projects and Peaceful Stories
REPORT
By Dr. Miles Shepherd
Executive Advisor & International Correspondent
Salisbury, England, UK
INTRODUCTION
In UK, the past month has been dominated by politics as various factions within the governing “elite” react to the latest manifestation of vox populi – in other words, they were hammered in the Polls. While there is an obvious impact on the Project World, there are other matters of more interest, and bringing some of these to the wider public is the objective. One of the main claims most Politicians make is that they bring change and in keeping with that ethos, I’m changing the presentation of this report – so that it is more accessible. I was thinking of employing all the annoying cliches – going forward, but will spare this imposition. So what follows is not subdivided into the usual categories, I will leave you to decide which is Good News, which is Bad, and so forth.
CLIMATE CHANGE IMPACT
Existential Impact. The biggest and most threatening news this month is the imminent destruction of the planet by meteor impact, this is more frightening! Climate change is going to impact on the nation’s favourite drink. Erratic weather patterns are likely to make tea more bitter. All tea relies on stable environmental conditions to grow and significant variations affect flavour. Countries like Kenya, Sri Lanka and even India are experiencing temperature rises and major rainfall fluctuations, so it is becoming more difficult to ensure stable flavour profiles of the various styles. In project terms, any change to tea will have a disproportionate impact on the construction industry, already struggling to meet targets. Modelling shows that the more bitter the tea, the more sugar construction workers will use – leading to unhealthy lifestyles and ultimately peoplepower shortages.
Local Heat Benefits. Meanwhile, in UK, it is not all bad news on the climate change front. Work by scientists at the University of Nottingham have been developing varieties of rice that are able to cope with changes to our weather patterns. These varieties can withstand high temperature and water shortages. The work has followed the reactions of different rice varieties under controlled conditions. This enabled the researchers to identify varieties that coped best with extremes of weather and trace their genes and DNA patterns. They were then able to breed new varieties that were even more resistant to climate shock. This is good news for the nation as we will be able to rely on a stable supply of rice for our curries.
POLITICS OF PROJECTS
As this is a political report, we must note that the politics of the Government impact many areas, not least projects. Last month, we learned that a major data centre project had been abandoned throwing the government’s multibillion-pound plan to turn Britain into an artificial intelligence “superpower” into question. High energy costs and a hostile regulatory environment were cited as primary reasons. The Stargate UK data centre project, a partnership with Nvidia and Nscale, was reported last September as was part of a £31 billion investment package from American tech firms, including £22 billion from Microsoft and a £5 billion commitment from Google. Press reports are highly critical of the Government response, claiming no lessons have been learned.
To add insult to injury, now we learn that the boss of JPMorgan Chase, James Dimon, has warned that the bank would “reconsider” its plan to build a new multibillion-pound skyscraper in London if the government tilts further to the left and lifts taxes on lenders. The Chief Bean Counter has claimed that “We paid probably $10 billion in extra taxes by now. I don’t think that’s right or fair.” Possibly not but the Treasury has previously proposed giving JPMorgan a business rates discount of “up to 100 per cent” as an incentive to build the tower.
According to The Sunday Times, this is the starkest warning yet by a bank boss about the potential repercussions of a tax raid on the industry. It is seen as a direct result of the political turmoil in Westminster from which many speculate will ultimately result in a more left-wing government that targets lenders with high levies. I leave it to envisage what this means for the project world.
More…
To read entire report, click here
How to cite this report: Shepherd, M. (2026). June 2026 UK Project Management Roundup, report, PM World Journal, Vol. XV, Issue II, February. Available online at https://pmworldjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/pmwj165-Jun2026-Shepherd-UK-Project-Management-Roundup-Regional-Report.pdf
About the Author
Dr. Miles Shepherd
Salisbury, UK
Dr. Miles Shepherd is an executive editorial advisor and international correspondent for PM World Journal in the United Kingdom. He is also managing director for MS Projects Ltd, a consulting company supporting various UK and overseas Government agencies, nuclear industry organisations and other businesses. Miles has over 30 years’ experience on a variety of projects in UK, Eastern Europe and Russia. His PM experience includes defence, major IT projects, decommissioning of nuclear reactors, nuclear security, rail and business projects for the UK Government and EU. His consulting work has taken him to Japan, Taiwan, USA and Russia. Past Chair and Fellow of the Association for Project Management (APM), Miles is also past president and chair and a Fellow of the International Project Management Association (IPMA). He was, for seven years, a Director for PMI’s Global Accreditation Centre and is immediate past Chair of the ISO committee developing new international standards for Project Management and for Program/Portfolio Management. He is currently Chairman of the British Standards Institute project management committee. He was involved in setting up APM’s team developing guidelines for project management oversight and governance. Miles is based in Salisbury, England and can be contacted at miles.shepherd@msp-ltd.co.uk.
To view other works by Miles Shepherd, visit his author showcase in the PM World Library at http://pmworldlibrary.net/authors/miles-shepherd/.
