Modern slavery can be hidden behind even the most innocent businesses December 8, 2021 Britain’s millions of small and medium sized businesses may assume that modern slavery has nothing to do with them, as they’re not major firms with a global footprint. Little do they know that a Cornwall café owner could be using coffee produced by child labour in Colombia, or that a tech start-up’s furniture could be [...]
Schools across the country have forgotten how to teach kids to aspire to be better December 8, 2021 Omicron, the new Covid variant, has had an unexpected victim: the long-awaited White Paper on levelling up. Boris Johnson’s plans to put his 2019 election pledge into reality will not be published until New Year, to give the government more time to focus on containing Covid. The document, set to span industry, skills and transport, [...]
A final leg to stand on for the Tate Modern neighbours December 7, 2021 Today, neighbouring residents of the Tate Modern will ask the Supreme Court to stop visitors looking into their flats, in what could be a landmark moment for property owners’ rights to privacy. The neighbours allege that the Tate’s viewing gallery – which attracts hundreds of thousands of people and permits a direct view into their [...]
Remembering GameStop and the troublesome currency of information December 7, 2021 At the beginning of this year, a seismic event shook markets and uprooted the status quo. It birthed a thousand explainers and even more commentary about the relative perils and benefits of retail investing. Yes, I’m talking about GameStop, if our minds, muddied by a year of heavy news, can reach back that far. In [...]
Handle with care: Big Tech mergers are not as evil as our watchdogs might believe December 7, 2021 Watchdogs and oversight bodies around the world, including the US Federal Trade Commission, have tried to break up Big Tech, but the UK may be the first to succeed — at the cost of entrepreneurship and innovation. Last week, the Competition and Markets Authority ordered Facebook’s parent company, Meta, to sell Giphy over antitrust concerns. [...]
In a brave new world, we still need clear lines to tackle a dark online underbelly December 7, 2021 The Online Safety Bill has the potential to trigger a full-blown shake-up of how we interact online, from shopping, to searching or streaming. The online world is a cornerstone of modern life: it enables us to stay in touch with those we know, while building communities with those we don’t. The presence of all things [...]
Letters: Calling time on the Lib Dems December 7, 2021 [Re: By-elections might be political candy but tell the seers of Westminster little, yesterday] The recent by-election in Old Bexley and Sidcup showed a 10 per cent anti-government to Labour swing. With the Government’s contempt and arrogance seeking to change the anti- sleaze rules rather than face up to one of the members being found [...]
Why would anyone snog at a Christmas party anyway December 6, 2021 I’d like to take a moment to reflect on the debate that made the headlines last week: should we be snogging under the mistletoe this Christmas, or stay apart to avoid Covid-19 transmission? First of all, snogging is a cringe and uncomfortable word that reminds of Matt Hancock’s taped sins. And we can all agree [...]
To revive London, women need to be able to stop looking over their shoulder December 6, 2021 Winter is here. The heating is on, the gloves and hats are out, and the decorations are up in the shops. Winter in London can be such a joy, but for many women it also means months of feeling frightened when out and about after dark – of planning different routes to avoid the park, [...]
By-elections might be political candy, but tell the seers of Westminster little December 6, 2021 By-elections are strange events. They can defy political gravity. Sometimes they launch sparkling but short-lived careers, sometimes they are obvious protests against incumbent governments, and sometimes they are signs of genuine shifts in the political landscape, harbingers of greater changes to come. In any event, they stir the pot of political commentary. Hypotheses are built, [...]