City Pages Review: Twitter fame, the meaning of life and abortion rights August 26, 2021 Since the curtains came down on 2019, many of us have spent more time inside our homes than we had ever imagined. The pandemic has thrown up political and social change rarely seen in peacetime, but living through and talking about Covid has consumed incredible amounts of oxygen, often to the exclusion of other worthy [...]
The UK’s plans for Afghan refugees will be a test of the nation’s moral character August 26, 2021 The UK has promised to welcome 20,000 Afghan refugees fleeing the Taliban. The proposal looks set to mirror a scheme introduced at the height of the humanitarian crisis in Syria, under which more than 20,000 vulnerable refugees have been resettled by the start of 2021. In its first year, the Afghan Citizens’ Resettlement Scheme will [...]
Britain and its allies must not use the IMF’s new special drawing rights to heap more debt on poor countries August 26, 2021 In 2008, the IMF created Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) – an international reserve asset used to supplement member countries’ official reserves – in response to the global financial crisis. This week it has done so again with a new target in mind: coronavirus. The IMF estimates ending the pandemic could inject $9tn into the global [...]
City Pages Review: The legacy of Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin’s bizarre bond August 25, 2021 Since the curtains came down on 2019, many of us have spent more time inside our homes than we had ever imagined. The pandemic has thrown up political and social change rarely seen in peacetime, but living through and talking about Covid has consumed incredible amounts of oxygen, often to the exclusion of other worthy [...]
Westminster needs to get a grip and learn some digital skills August 25, 2021 In the last year, the Queen convened her historic Privy Council by video, parliamentarians have voted online and the Cabinet has been meeting via Zoom. Even the hardened leaders of the country in Westminster and Whitehall have had to adapt to different ways of working because of Covid. This will be particularly useful as many politicians [...]
Science has been overrun with politics – it’s time to take it back August 25, 2021 At the onset of the Covid pandemic in February 2020, the pages of the Lancet, a very prestigious medical journal, carried a statement eulogising China and the efforts it had already made to deal with the virus. For the luminaries who signed the statement, no praise could be too high for the Chinese. They had [...]
IBM UK CEO: Accept the future of hybrid working and look at what needs to be done to retain company culture August 25, 2021 The measures taken to minimise the impact of the pandemic have upended some long-held certainties; none more widespread than the move to remote working. What was initially seen as a stopgap measure to maintain business continuity during lockdowns has quickly become an established part of the daily routine for employees. Digitisation is changing everything around [...]
DEBATE: Are overseas private equity bids good news for the UK? August 24, 2021 Morrisons has accepted a £7bn bid from US private equity firm Clayton Dubilier & Rice. The fierce competition from US investors to buy the British supermarket giant has prompted concerns over what an injection of foreign money would mean for the high street stalwart. Ewan MacKinnon and Fraser Thorne take on the debate: Ewan MacKinnon, [...]
City Pages Review: Understanding sex, feminism and porn in the 2020s August 24, 2021 Since the curtains came down on 2019, many of us have spent more time inside our homes than we had ever imagined. The pandemic has thrown up political and social change rarely seen in peacetime, but living through and talking about Covid has consumed incredible amounts of oxygen, often to the exclusion of other worthy [...]
Nicola Sturgeon is playing the long game for Scottish independence in a toxic deal with the Greens August 24, 2021 Nicola Sturgeon entering her SNP government into a formal cooperation agreement with the Scottish Greens is all about optics and momentum, and not about substance. In the May election, the SNP narrowly failed to win an overall majority of seats at the Holyrood election. This doesn’t mean they needed a co-operation agreement to govern; the [...]