London Tech Week, Day Four: Building the workplaces of tomorrow June 16, 2022 As we moved into the second half of London Tech Week, focus shifted from the trends witnessed over the last year, to what we can expect from the future. One issue in particular was exploring what is in store for the future of work. The demand for people with the skills capable of facilitating the [...]
Explainer-in-brief: The rail strike coming to a station near you June 16, 2022 The biggest rail strike in thirty years will be hitting the UK next week, on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. It will involve thirteen operators on the national network, including South Eastern and Western Railways, Northern and Greater Anglia. There will be trains still working, but they will start running later and finish earlier, from 7:30 [...]
Even if Google’s chatbot isn’t sentient, we need to think seriously about AI June 16, 2022 Can a chatbot be sentient? That was one of the questions facing Google recently after it put an engineer on leave after he claimed their AI-driven bot talked about “having a soul”. Many of the solutions to the global crises we face will be driven by technological advances. Politicians from across the spectrum espouse the [...]
The intervention of the Strasbourg courts is a short-term win with an enduring threat June 16, 2022 THE OUTRAGE over the plan to send asylum seekers to Rwanda was palpable as the first flight was expected to take off on Tuesday. It was met, almost decibel for decibel, with anger yesterday morning after the decision of the European Court of Human Rights to block the plane from taking off. Many of the [...]
Before giving the CMA more teeth, we should look at its Meta shaped bite marks June 16, 2022 The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has been flexing its muscles like a growing schoolboy recently. On Tuesday, it finally got a well-deserved admonishment from the Competition Appeals Tribunal after an appeal by Meta – the company formerly known as Facebook – against the watchdog’s decision to stop it buying Giphy, a provider of moving [...]
Letters: Reconsidering the Court’s value June 16, 2022 [Re: Patel: UK’s Rwanda immigration policy is ‘legally compliant’, yesterday] This week’s news, which saw the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) block a deportation of migrants to Rwanda, indicates an ECtHR that has rather overstepped its bounds. We must be clear. The sole role of the ECtHR is to adjudicate on important issues of [...]
London Tech Week, Day Three: Facing the future June 15, 2022 Steamrolling into day three of London Tech Week, the attention today turned to the emerging technologies – quantum, health tech, blockchain, AI – which are transforming our world. Many of these ‘emerging technologies’ are in fact on the cusp of becoming mainstream. There are few industries that will not be impacted by the technological revolution [...]
Explainer-in-brief: the new Brexit wars over Northern Ireland June 15, 2022 On Monday, the government introduced a bill that allows it to change parts of the Northern Ireland Protocol, which governs post-Brexit trade rules on the island of Ireland. On Tuesday, the EU started devising retaliatory legal action. Here come the new Brexit battles, with a potential trade war in sight. Amongst the areas of contention [...]
If we take abuse of women for granted in politics, our democracy will pay June 15, 2022 Online abuse and harassment of women in public life has become a curse on our political landscape. For many, such abuse is simply the cost of doing politics, an unfortunate but largely inevitable factor women have to wrestle with when making the decision to enter public life. At best, the abuse is insulting and unsavoury, [...]
Scotland needs to abandon its dream world and realise what independence truly means June 15, 2022 Nicola Sturgeon has relaunched her bid for Scottish Independence.