Letters: Wising up to our energy usage June 6, 2022 [Re: Price cap will rise to £2,800 per year warns Ofgem, May 24] Smart meters are attracting huge amounts of criticism, with the rollout currently in a state of purgatory. With yet another price cap being announced for October, it is still only being seen as an overhyped, increasingly obsolete piece of tech. However, with [...]
Remembering the legacy of Tiananmen is our duty as China censors history June 5, 2022 As Brits celebrated the Platinum Jubilee, a much more sombre event was taking place in the capital, as Hongkongers and the wider Chinese diaspora gathered on Saturday to commemorate the Tiananmen Square massacre in Beijing. With vigils taking place throughout the city, people set out to remember the 33rd anniversary of the massacre on June [...]
Platinum Jubilee Reads: the best in our opinion pages on politics and the economy June 4, 2022 May was a weird month for Bitcoin – it included a price dip of 15 per cent weeks ago. Yet the cryptocurrency is not going away any time soon, and as Christian Keroles wrote at the beginning of the month, the UK should find a coherent approach to deal with it. The Chancellor could take [...]
The tonic for Boris Johnson’s ailing leadership may well be boring politics, not Churchillian June 3, 2022 Boris Johnson’s Churchillian love affair is well documented. But facing increasing pressure over his future, the Prime Minister must resist his idol’s playbook for how to govern. When penning a biography of Britain’s wartime hero in 2014, the canny PM knew this would draw instant comparisons between him and the man voted the “greatest Briton”. [...]
The influencer economy is one step ahead of us and changing again as TikTok stars demand freedom June 2, 2022 Influencers – also known as content creators – have been anticipating what the public likes since the beginning. From blogging in the late ‘90s – showing a new appetite for sharing intimate thoughts in public arenas – to TikTok now – with our thirst for informal, snappy content – influencers started doing it before the [...]
Explainer-in-brief: A refresher in getting rid of a Prime Minister June 1, 2022 Are there enough letters? Are there not? Another MP, John Stevenson, publicly announced he had written one. For those who have forgotten, or wilfully blocked out the Theresa May-era of votes of no confidence, even if the magic number of 54 letters do find their way to Sir Graham Brady, Boris Johnson won’t necessarily be [...]
Feature: Big Tech’s big bet on India June 1, 2022 Alphabet has given the Indian market another vote of confidence this week, reportedly pumping fresh capital into Mohalla Tech, the parent firm behind short-video platform Moj and regional social network ShareChat. Though the companies are yet to confirm the $300m funding round, which is expected to take Mohalla’s value to a whopping $5bn, the reports [...]
If the monarchy wants to survive, it must learn from the Queen’s longevity June 1, 2022 The Queen’s Platinum Jubilee Weekend has almost arrived. With over 16,000 street parties around the country, beacon lighting, a pageant and concert in central London, it’s set to be a bumper celebration for the whole nation. The journalist and author Walter Bagehot once wrote that “a royal family sweetens politics by the seasonable addition of [...]
London’s many strengths can be bound together and renewed by public transport June 1, 2022 The opening last week of the Elizabeth Line, Britain’s latest engineering marvel, prompted reflections on how much there is to gain from better physical connections into and between London’s two biggest financial hubs – Canary Wharf and the Square Mile. The Square Mile is home to London’s insurance market, preeminent in the world and writing [...]
As Johnson squirms, his party must remember the roots of Conservatives values June 1, 2022 Boris Johnson has strayed very far from Conservative ideals