Starmer’s social media restrictions will mean the government can spy on every phone June 9, 2026 In practice, the government is demanding that Apple install on-device AI nudity-detection software at the operating system level for iOS and that Google do the same for Android. This would involve constantly scanning the camera viewfinder, screen output, livestream, and stored files, and blocking or blurring nudity in real time. This amounts to surveillance technology on [...]
London Tech Week day one: AI talk has come back down to earth June 8, 2026 AI conversations are no longer about possibility, but infrastructure, writes Russ Shaw in day one of his London Tech Week diary.
On this day: Britain’s first banking crisis June 8, 2026 On 8 June 1772 Alexander Fordyce, a partner at Neale, James, Fordyce and Down absconded to France to escape crippling debts caused by a sharp rise in shares in the East India Company, writes Eliot Wilson As 1772 opened, Alexander Fordyce seemed like a wealthy and successful man. He was 42 years old, a partner [...]
Electoral reform could destroy the Labour party June 8, 2026 Labour is playing with fire to consider electoral reform at a time when it’s share of voter support is so low, says Eliot Wilson Electoral reform is one of those issues to which most people give little thought, but for those to whom it matters, it matters a great deal. Changing the voting system for [...]
Even Zack Polanski’s favourite economist admits wealth taxes don’t work June 8, 2026 Gabriel Zucman has told Zack Polanski’s podcast that wealth taxes don’t work – so why are they both so keen to bring them back? Asks Kristian Niemietz “The historical experience with wealth taxation, by and large, is a failure. Pretty big failure.” Who said that? Was it an economist from a Tufton Street think tank? [...]
The world runs on English law – let’s make the most of it June 8, 2026 All governments yearn for growth levers that are affordable, credible and deliverable within a parliamentary term. This government is fortunate enough to have one: English common law, says Brandon Lewis There is a quiet truth about British global influence that rarely makes it into the conversation about economic growth. International litigants, when consulting a regulatory [...]
Natwest housing finance chief: Social housing changes lives – I would know June 8, 2026 Behind every discussion about social housing are real people whose lives can be changed by the security of a permanent home, writes Paul Eyre.
Upgrading the grid risks ending up like HS2 June 7, 2026 Upgrading the UK's electricity grid is a vastly complex project. I hope the government's learned from HS2, writes John Lazar.
On this day: The death of Ronald Reagan June 5, 2026 On this day, 5 June 2004, Ronald Reagan died of pneumonia at his home in Bel-Air aged 93, writes Eliot Wilson.
The UK chemicals sector is in trouble June 5, 2026 From ammonia to plastics, there can be no modern economy without a functioning chemicals industry, and Britain's is in peril.