If the PM wants to make mass testing work – there must be national health passes February 22, 2021 Two things can be true at once: the roll out of vaccinations is by far the most promising development in the pandemic, and the future is still very uncertain. The Prime Minister’s new roadmap announcement this evening will likely leave many questions unanswered. Even when businesses are allowed to reopen, they face an uphill battle [...]
Creative, civic and commercial organisations must work together for a cultural resurgence in London February 22, 2021 The COVID-19 pandemic has hit all parts of our country but sadly, the situation facing the City’s and London’s creative sector is nothing short of a cultural catastrophe. These two words paint a simple and bleak picture but, if we work together, I fully believe that we can spark a cultural resurgence. Prior to the [...]
Opinion: We need to stop calling it ‘NHS’ Test and Trace February 21, 2021 Who runs NHS Test and Trace? “Surely the NHS?”, you might say. Not according to NHS England’s boss, Sir Simon Stevens. When quizzed by the Health and Science Committee last month, Stevens said: “I can’t comment specifically on Test and Trace because that is run by the Department of Health and Social Care rather than [...]
Businesses need to teach their staff how to have better small talk and ditch weather chat February 20, 2021 Next week, I’ll be delivering the UK’s first university module in navigating small talk and networking at BPP University Law School. A university class on small talk? Do students really need to learn this, can it be taught, I hear you ask? Or perhaps you are shuddering at the idea of having small talk at [...]
You Sex-AI thing – why relationships could be next to go digital February 20, 2021 It is fair to suggest that the art of dating and formulating new relationships has undergone a paradigm shift over the past year. The notion of digitised matchmaking is nothing new of course, but that stage of the journey is traditionally followed by face-to-face interactions and experiences to complete the process. However, with COVID-19 expediting [...]
Firms who have weathered the Covid-19 storm should get back in touch with the green agenda February 19, 2021 In recent years, sustainability has moved on from a corporate buzzword to become a measurable component of any business that wants to be successful in the 21st century. The Triple Bottom Line—Profit, People and Planet—has evolved from a 1994 call to action by John Elkington, founder of the British consultancy SustainAbility, to a solid business [...]
Giving students free breakfast isn’t just right – it’s the smart to do February 19, 2021 The Four Horsemen of the Education Apocalypse are galloping towards our children. Lost learning, a mental health crisis, safeguarding hazards and, now, a potential loss in lifetime earnings of £40,000, according to some studies. The National Foundation for Education Research estimates that Year 2 pupils are already two months behind where they should be in [...]
Screenshot: Will Facebook regret going nuclear over Australian news? February 19, 2021 This week **Media Moment of the Week: A jumbo jab mix-up **Will Facebook regret going nuclear in Australia? **Arm’s getting chippy Media Moment of the Week: A jumbo jab mix-up When Liam Thorp received a text inviting him for his first Covid jab he was confused, given the healthy 32-year-old is pretty low down the [...]
Slave to the algo: facial recognition and fraud in a Covid-19 world February 19, 2021 “There will come a time when it isn’t, ‘they’re spying on me through my phone’ anymore. Eventually, it will be, ‘my phone is spying on me’.” American author, Philip K. Dick, warned us about the rapid advancement of technology. Incredibly, this warning was given long before his death in 1982, when mobile phones were the [...]
Australian Facebook ban: A political gamble gone terribly wrong February 19, 2021 This week, Google and Facebook took two different approaches toward Australian policy changes that would force the tech giants to pay for linked news content on their platforms. Google announced a long-term deal with News Corp, Rupert Murdoch’s media empire. Facebook, meanwhile, called the Australian government’s bluff and abruptly blocked Australian users from sharing or [...]