Boris Johnson’s survival will be a test of endurance February 1, 2022 Margaret Thatcher is oft quoted on the green benches of the House of Commons. But it is not often that it is a Labour leader taking the words of the architect of many modern ideals of Conservative politics and using them against a Tory prime minister. In the wake of an “update” from Sue Gray’s [...]
The Online Safety Bill’s noble objectives won’t save it from disastrous outcomes February 1, 2022 For months, technology experts and digital rights advocates have voiced concerns about the Online Safety Bill — namely, that the bill in its current form will not be able to curtail harmful content, as the Royal Society recently claimed. The conversation is finally starting to shift in their favour. Last month, the House of Commons [...]
Letters: Music to my ears – if I want it January 31, 2022 [Re: Competition watchdog shines spotlight on music streaming, Jan 28] Leah Montebello wrote last week that the UK competition watchdog will “look at the roles played by record labels and streaming platforms” and decide if the market leaders hold excessive power. Music streaming has been around in some form for decades and even before the [...]
Opinion-in-brief: A day in the life of Nadine Dorries Twitter January 31, 2022 Clearly, Nadine Dorries is jealous of Rishi Sunak’s social media stardom. The Culture Secretary, famed for telling a reporter she would nail his testicles to the wall, has decided to do what every jilted lover has considered doing, and posting passive aggressive, vaguely amusing jokes on twitter. After the discovery of the “pork pie plot” [...]
Spotify faces the music amid Rogan row January 31, 2022 How the streaming giant may have taken its podcast push too far
Wanted: A new culture war chair of the watchdog Ofcom. Anyone? Anyone? January 31, 2022 It’s been a busy time for news, as Russian forces mass on the border of neighbouring Ukraine and the British political establishment grapples with the mental image of being ambushed by a cake. So you may be forgiven for failing to notice that the government is once again advertising the position of chair of Ofcom, [...]
National insurance doesn’t deserve its dishonest name nor the money of the poorest January 31, 2022 National Insurance is misnamed. It is not an insurance, nor is it hypothecated for any specific welfare benefits. It is a tax, the proceeds of which go into the general revenues that finance government expenditure. At its outset in 1911 it was regarded as insurance against sickness and unemployment, and even when enlarged in 1948, [...]
UK tech special: The rocky but unstoppable rise in startup valuations January 30, 2022 The accelerated growth of startup valuations has sparked debate around the world, particularly in the markets where this has been reflected in the most significant raises and the speediest unicorns. Despite ongoing pandemic uncertainty, a quarter of the UK’s 116 unicorn tech companies became unicorns during 2021. Investment climbed significantly, up to £26bn in 2021 [...]
London must not rest on its laurels, it needs strong access to talent to continue to thrive January 29, 2022 The past twelve months have been one of the biggest tests that London has undergone in recent memory, with the twin challenges of Brexit and the Covid-19 pandemic leading some cynics to doubt the capital’s future as a world leading business hub. Even though streets across the City and central London fell quiet at times [...]
Opinion-in-brief: A nuclear future gets lifted off the ground January 28, 2022 On Tuesday, Rolls-Royce invited bids from English and Welsh regions to host the site of a small nuclear reactors’ factory. Yesterday, fresh news of £100m of government money invested in the Sizewell nuclear site made the headlines. Sizewell C could generate enough electricity to cover 7 per cent of what the country needs, providing around [...]