Could you have lost out on a job because of your politics? Almost definitely September 8, 2021 Being part of a group is central to how humans survive, and once we have found ours, it fundamentally shapes how we behave. Under pressure, this tendency to group – for all its benefits – can lead us to double down on who we see as “us” and who becomes a disliked “them”. Feelings become [...]
Editorial: A Tory tax raid means Boris mustn’t break his promises again September 7, 2021 “You can’t fix the Covid backlog without giving the NHS the money it needs, you can’t fix the NHS without fixing social care, you can’t fix social care without removing the fear of losing everything to pay for social care and you can’t fix health and social care without long term reform.” This is the [...]
After 18 months of sporadic education, schools need a reset September 7, 2021 Throughout this week, close to 9 million pupils will return to school, after 18 months of constant disruption caused by the pandemic. What have we learnt? That school is best in person, obviously – but also that the pandemic has also amplified the scale of inequalities across the national educational system. The UK government has just launched its “back [...]
Paying for the privilege: inside the members’ club with a conscience September 7, 2021 As I write this, the weight of the world’s many crises feels heavy on my shoulders. The Conduit’s reopening comes at a time of general global unease. Closed in 2020 during the pandemic, and following the exceptional collective effort of its co-founders, team, and board thereafter, it will make its return next week to an [...]
Straight from the horse’s mouth: Why Extinction Rebellion are disrupting your commute September 7, 2021 In response to Eliot Wilson’s piece in CityAM last week, ‘What does Extinction Rebellion actually want?’ Extinction Rebellion protests always divide opinion. In the heat of frustration at another delay to your journey, it’s always tempting to come out against. Like Eliot Wilson in last Tuesday’s City AM, you may dismiss XR activists as trustafarians [...]
Boris Johnson has forgone Conservative party principles with his climate change tactics September 7, 2021 Governments that set ambitious targets — with no intention or realistic plan to meet them — are fundamentally deceptive and intrinsically anti conservative. This is especially apparent when it comes to UK efforts to combat climate change. A true conservative is pragmatic and has realistic plans for the future. They understand gradual change is preferable [...]
From McDonalds to supermarkets: The slow-motion car crash of Britain’s labour shortages September 6, 2021 World trade in toys is a highly cyclical business. Every year, just as everyone is putting their Halloween masks away, Chinese exports of toys drop back, and by March the following year they will typically be nearly 60 per cent lower. For the last four years, October’s peak has been getting progressively lower. Since the [...]
How much is that window with the doggie? An end to no-pets leases September 6, 2021 We are a nation of animal-lovers. 45 per cent of UK homes have a pet, of which the most popular is man’s best friend, the dog (7.3 million), followed by man’s most inscrutable observer, the cat (7.2 million). But we also keep rabbits and rats, hamsters and horses, snakes and salamanders. These numbers have swollen [...]
9/11 tribute: America and Britain have always bound together in adversity and will help solve future crises September 6, 2021 Twenty years ago on this coming Saturday, almost 3,000 people were killed in an act of barbarism. As the world marks the 20th anniversary of 9/11, the City of London will remember all of those who fell. Trinity Church Wall Street, at Ground Zero in New York, and it’s twin in the Square Mile, the [...]
How worker shortages are cleared will determine UK economy’s trajectory September 4, 2021 You would be forgiven for forgetting we are currently amid one of the best runs of economic growth in living memory with all the negative news about supply chain snarl ups, worker shortages and soaring inflation flying around. A slew of data published this week, alongside a raft of announcements from supermarket, retail and food [...]