Letters: Easy target for a windfall tax November 16, 2022 [Re: Windfall tax hike risks no new investment in North Sea, warns analyst, yesterday] In addition to a potential increase in the oil and gas energy profits levy to 35 per cent over an extended period, it is increasingly likely that the UK will also introduce a new “excess returns” tax on energy generators more [...]
Explainer-in-brief: Tax rises? Make it someone else’s problem November 15, 2022 As the Autumn statement looms this week, Rishi Sunak and Jeremy Hunt are trying, desperately, to do anything except break the manifesto promise not to raise income tax. But by freezing income tax thresholds people will wind up paying more anyway, without actually having to break the promise. Elsewhere, there were suggestions council tax could [...]
For Afghan women activists at risk, marriage is the best way to the UK November 15, 2022 We have been talking about asylum seekers and migration all year. First, we had the fights with France about Channel crossings; then the debate about the extortionate Rwanda plan. More recently, we’ve been exposed to the inhumane conditions in asylum centres like Manston and just yesterday, there were more conversations with the French over people [...]
Pro-choice voters made their choice and beat back a wave of Republican candidates November 15, 2022 After Joe Biden saw off a “red wave”, the central role played by one issue in buoying up Democratic performance is clear: abortion.
Hunt readies for biggest budget since Cameron and Osborne’s first outing November 15, 2022 Thursday’s budget (okay, Autumn Statement) is the biggest since David Cameron and George Osborne’s first statement in 2010, just after they seized the keys to number 10 (with a little help from the Liberal Democrats) from Gordon Brown’s Labour. Chancellor Jeremy Hunt faces a daunting task. Weaker than expected economic growth, high inflation and a [...]
We have all the information to change our lives, but we don’t know how to use it November 15, 2022 Accurate, accessible and secure data has the potential to transform policymaking in the UK. During the pandemic, data helped us identify the most vulnerable in society. It provided the backbone for the medical research used to create the vaccines so quickly. The ability to understand and use data across the public sector is critical to [...]
Letters: Elon Musk has a people problem November 15, 2022 [Re: Musk sends remaining Twitter staff back to office, Nov 10] We often see Elon Musk front and centre of the news for being a brilliant businessman. But if the past two weeks have shown us anything, it’s that being a brilliant businessman doesn’t automatically make you a brilliant leader of people. A full U-turn [...]
Climate Change & Sustainable Eye Care November 14, 2022 | City Talk The last week has seen world leaders and changemakers from around the world gather in Sharm-El Sheik in Egypt at the annual Conference of the Parties event (COP27). This year, the goal is to build upon what has been discussed and implemented at the conference since its genesis in Rio in 1992. Global Unison Enhancing [...]
The Unsteady Rise & Decline of Poverty and How to Tackle It November 14, 2022 | City Talk One of the largest issues that concern the world is poverty. Someone is described as living in poverty if they survive on less than $1.90 per day. From 2015 to 2018, global poverty continued to decline as it has done for the past 25 years. From 2015 to 2018, the number of those living in [...]
Explainer-in-brief: Amazon chases the robotic revolution in the retail space November 14, 2022 Amazon wants 100 per cent of its packaging to be managed by robots in the next five years. The retail giant is not far from this target, given three quarters of the packages it delivers have been – at least partially – wrapped up by a robot. Employees have been reassured that “the need for [...]