London is embroiled in a battle over the right to drive taxis. In the future, this period will surely be referred to as the Great Cab War of 2017. Uber, at the centre of this conflict, is a company founded in California in 2009. It has had literally billions of dollars poured into it by banks such as Goldman Sachs and investment funds like BlackRock (for which the multi-jobbed London Evening Standard editor, George Osborne, toils one day a week in return for £650,000), and Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment fund, which has invested $3.5 billion. Uber is a simple idea. It deploys a computer programme which uses modern phone technology. The customer logs on to the Uber website using a mobile phone or other smart device and asks for a minicab. Any nearby driver, who is also connected to Uber, will see the request, and the would-be passenger’s location. One...
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