Investors should have a duty to investigate links to modern slavery June 25, 2021 While slavery might sound like an egregious crime of the past it is still commonplace in modern society. It is a crime that exploits and dehumanises individuals and sees them as property to be bought, sold or traded. While it is prevalent, it is not public, and across the world acts of modern slavery take [...]
Council tax fails every rule of good taxation and is blowing back holes in local government budgets June 25, 2021 It won’t surprise anyone to hear local governments are in crisis. A decade of austerity has forced councils to cut essential services to the detriment of ordinary people across the country. The pandemic took that gap in funding and turned it into a black hole — one with the potential to force the Government to [...]
Deliver us from Evel: Whitehall is gearing up to fight Scottish Independence June 24, 2021 Six weeks on from the Scottish election defined by a campaign for a second independence referendum and the Nationalist camp has been eerily quiet about indyref2 since the ballots were cast. Nicola Sturgeon and her party’s commitment to a second independence vote remain undimmed, but they know Scots are wary of rushing into another campaign [...]
Democracy is full of powerful symbolism, but is it still functional in modern Britain? June 24, 2021 “Democracy is the worst form of government except for all those other forms that have been tried,” Winston Churchill famously said. While any reasonable democrat is willing to concede democracy is imperfect, few are willing to accept change is necessary. The idea of democracy is often lost in bold, symbolic rhetoric. It is, after all, [...]
Banks need to stand up for human rights abuses in Hong Kong and hit China where it hurts – their wallet June 24, 2021 Since the introduction of the National Security Law last year, Hong Kong has seen a shift in its population. Specifically, that its citizens are leaving. Hong Kongers in their droves are taking stock of this new draconian normal and choosing to say no to further human rights abuses. More than 34,000 have fled to the [...]
Older workers planning to work from home permanently are selfishly risking the development of young people June 23, 2021 My Twitter timeline has been overrun with people arguing about whether they are for or against a return to the office. The ones shouting the loudest is normally to be the anti-office group. They are typically older, more well-established in their careers and keen to share how pleased they are to have finally ditched the [...]
Channel 4 privatisation risks pulling the plug on UK production June 23, 2021 When Thatcher’s government set up Channel 4 back in 1982 as the boisterous youth-focused challenger to the BBC behemoth, it was a radical shake-up of Britain’s fusty broadcasting landscape. Now, almost four decades later, that same landscape is unrecognisable, its skyline dominated by the giants of the internet and streaming age. It’s in this context [...]
Weigh-ins for kids will be a gift for school bullies and will fail to tackle obesity June 23, 2021 The return of school weigh-ins will from September reminds us of a problem we as a nation know we have: British children are amongst the most obese in Western Europe. Months of lockdowns and homeschooling have only made things worse. Forcing children to be fat shamed in front of their peers is the last thing [...]
London will be diminished if the Government’s Fortress Britain approach lasts much longer June 23, 2021 The sights and sounds of London’s gradual return to normality are tonic for the soul. There are the obvious signs: the march of City workers across London Bridge in the morning, queues at Pret at lunchtime, a packed Greek Street in the evening. And there are the less obvious, like spotting tourists plotting their journey [...]
Rishi Sunak vs Boris Johnson: to spend or not to spend? June 23, 2021 Rishi Sunak has directed his energy into recasting the Treasury back to its traditional role – the guardian of the public finances. The Chancellor notched up a substantial victory after education recovery tsar, Kevan Collins, resigned earlier this month, after his demand for £15 billion for catch-up programmes in schools was beaten down to a [...]