Editorial: Sir Lindsay Hoyle leads by example and stands up to China September 16, 2021 The Chinese embassy has accused UK parliamentarians of undermining Beijing’s attempts to improve Sino-British relations. No, that is not satire. The same regime which slapped sanctions on MPs who spoke out against egregious human rights abuses of Uyghur Muslims has claimed it is in fact Westminster standing in the way of a cohesive and collaborative [...]
Analysis: How did inflation rise at its fastest pace on record? September 15, 2021 Inflation in the UK is soaring at its fastest pace since records began. On an annual basis, prices jumped 3.2 per cent last month, up from two per cent in July, the highest monthly percentage point increase recorded, primarily driven by sharp rises in the cost of eating out compared to the same period in [...]
Hikes to national insurance funds a level of public services we can’t afford September 15, 2021 The government’s plan to increase National Insurance has sparked the predictable furore. The pressures to raise taxes to pay for the level of public services the electorate have come to expect is hardly new. The welfare state was created immediately after the Second World War. For a time, the financial demands were held in check. [...]
Facebook’s no fact-checking for VIPs policy will fuel conspiracy theories – the tech titan needs to come clean September 15, 2021 Fact-checking has been a key part of Facebook’s fight against misinformation – I should know, I used to be one of their fact-checkers. What’s more: it works. And yet, this week in one fell swoop, Facebook has managed to both fuel the fire of conspiracy theories and seriously undermine its own fact-checking programme. Emails from [...]
Stop blaming private equity, without it small businesses would be strapped for cash September 15, 2021 Private equity has been branded the bad guy for snapping up pandemic-hit business. After household names such as Asda were bought up, there was an immediate flood of warnings about price hikes. But private equity’s role as a pantomime villain is worn out. Big leveraged buyouts are attention grabbing, but private equity plays a vital, [...]
Money won’t solve the problem of the gas boiler September 14, 2021 For all the talk about building back better, green jobs and investment, the UK is lagging behind its European counterparts in the number of low-carbon heat pumps installed in homes. Later this month, the government is due to publish its much delayed heat and building strategy. But it is expected to dilute plans to force [...]
Vodafone: We need to focus on the tech we already have to tackle climate change rather than gambling our future on innovation September 14, 2021 The United Nations Climate Change conference – better known as COP26 – has forced us all to keep climate change at the front of mind. The world is awash with public and corporate pledges to be net zero. But in order to do this in a fair and equitable way, there will need to be [...]
Britain must be alive to the threat of Chinese influence in our universities September 14, 2021 Last year, Downing Street U-turned on a decision to grant Chinese state-backed telecomms giant Huawei even “non-core” access to Britain’s 5G famework. The threat of influence or privacy invasion was deemed to be too high a price to pay. Not so for Cambridge University it seems. Yesterday, it was revealed that three out of the [...]
As electric cars follow the trajectory of the smartphone, software will be the turf war September 13, 2021 When Steve Jobs launched Apple’s iPhone in January 2007, the mobile phone industry was turned on its head. At the time, Jobs described the iPhone as a “revolutionary product” and said that Apple was “reinventing the phone”. This was a rare occasion where a businessman’s hubris was justified. With the iPhone, Apple changed the way [...]
Cressida Dick should go and her successor needs to jump-start the police force September 13, 2021 Even a palate jaded by the madness of modern Britain will have found piquancy in Dame Cressida Dick’s two year extension to her term as Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis. Dame Cressida will stay in his position until 2024. She has been the UK’s senior police officer since 2017, is the first woman to [...]