As inflation pushes up prices, businesses should only hike them where it really counts April 13, 2022 Just as the impact of the pandemic was subsiding, inflation has risen to its highest rate since March 1992 – hitting 5.5 percent in January 2022. The Bank of England has projected that inflation will hit 7 percent by the spring. From freight rates to oil to furniture and groceries, prices are increasing dramatically. Many [...]
Explainer-in-brief: As NHS chiefs call for more rules, is Covid-19 back? April 12, 2022 Just as many of us were beginning to feel like the worst of Covid-19 was behind us, the chief executive of the NHS Confederation has warned that Easter could be ‘as bad as any winter’ in the health service. In the last week, around 20 NHS trusts issued divert warnings, telling ambulances to take patients [...]
From Calais, with love: CCTV funding rows capture our migration challenge April 12, 2022 In the first five weeks of war in Ukraine, more than four million people have fled their home, according to the United Nations. The bulk of these have gone to Poland, but many are trying to find permanent homes elsewhere in Europe. Before introducing the Homes for Ukraine scheme, the UK was scrambling to process [...]
Levelling up state administrators’ salaries won’t help us address economic inequality April 12, 2022 Last week, the Department of Levelling Up, Housing and Communities advertised for a new set of lucrative public sector jobs. As part of the “flagship” plans to ensure equal economic growth across the country, a team of 12 “levelling up directors” will receive a generous, tax-payer funded salary of up to £144,000. The job? To [...]
Macron and Le Pen rematch over France’s global voice: in the choir or a monologue April 12, 2022 As Emmanuel Macron and Marine Le Pen prepare to face off in the final round of France’s presidential election, most French voters (like voters anywhere) will probably be thinking more about their own economic situation than events in other countries. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine may still be in the headlines, but after a month it [...]
Explainer-in-brief: Energy strategy won’t push prices down for years to come April 11, 2022 When asked about the effect the newly unveiled energy strategy would have on prices, business secretary Kwasi Kwarteng replied“the impact could be very soon”. By very soon, he specified, he meant three or four years. Now, we know a transition to sustainable energy produced here takes time. No government could simply do some magic and [...]
Rishi stole the crypto thunder with an NFT as Whitehall fights to go digital April 11, 2022 Last week, away from the grinding tragedy of the war in Ukraine and the ongoing fears over rising costs of living, Rishi Sunak unveiled an eye-catching plan. The Royal Mint is set to launch its own non-fungible token (NFT), marking the beginning of the government’s plans to wade into the cryptocurrency sector. NFTs have been [...]
We need green jobs to build bridges between net zero and the cost of living crisis April 11, 2022 London urgently needs a larger specialist workforce to decarbonise its commercial buildings and meet net zero targets. And there is growing evidence that employees in the capital’s built environment industry itself believe that the sector’s workforce lacks the skills required to achieve the UK’s ambitious climate goals. With concern over a widening “green skills gap”, [...]
Global economies distracted by crypto must be alive to advanced security threats April 11, 2022 Cyber security isn’t just about somebody reading your email; it has nation-sized implications. Before Russia’s invasion began, a wave of cyberattacks hit Ukraine’s banks and government departments. Now, the US is modelling how it would respond to escalations, including major cyberattacks on financial institutions, according to the New York Times. It’s clear that cyberattacks are [...]
Explainer-in-brief: Downing Street’s non-domicile resident April 8, 2022 The latest in a string of bad news for the chancellor’s PR team post-spring statement is, unfortunately, his other half. Akshata Murty, the daughter of an Indian billionaire, has apparently been claiming non-domicile status since she moved to the UK in 2015. This means Murty pays tax on money earned in the UK, but not [...]