Deliveroo IPO: Is the gig economy empire crumbling? March 31, 2021 This morning, a courier came to drop off a package. He was almost back inside his van before I could open the door. Last week, another showed me a 10 second timer on his performance device – the time he said he was allocated to ‘drop off’. Neither of these were probably classified as ‘workers’, [...]
Hong Kong’s democratic dreams have been trashed by Chinese power grab – the UK must use Magnitsky sanctions March 31, 2021 The Chinese government’s actions in Hong Kong are a textbook case study of an authoritarian power-grab. Redefine national security. Exercise emergency powers in the name of national security and use these powers to take total control. Lock up the opposition. Rig the elections. Rewrite the constitution. The details of Beijing’s electoral reforms for Hong Kong [...]
Government scientists must be transparent about flawed Covid models March 31, 2021 The strength of the economic recovery as Britain emerges from lockdown is a hotly contested subject among economists. Some believe there will be a massive surge in demand as consumers celebrate their freedom, others argue it will take time to claw back confidence. Economic forecasts are subject to the same faults as any projections, as [...]
Controversial tax changes will pile burden onto businesses and leave contractors worse off March 31, 2021 Next Tuesday, long-delayed changes to a controversial tax rule will come into force and pile on an additional burden on companies already reeling from the effects of the pandemic. The rule, known as IR35, was originally designed to limit tax avoidance but it has caused dismay for employers and contractors alike. Before now, it has [...]
Race Commissioner: Ethnic pay reporting won’t help minorities March 31, 2021 Did you know that almost all big minority groups outperform White British people in school? That there is a higher proportion of ethnic minority people in the top social class than White British people? And that Black Caribbean women earn on average more than White British women (and Black African women about the same)? Last [...]
To solve the plastic conundrum, we have to make it a problem for finance March 30, 2021 Plastic is the much-maligned detritus of modern living. It is the broken toy, the used carrier bag and the surgical face mask polluting our streets, streams and oceans, which countless recycling schemes and beach cleans have failed to tackle. With the right backing, plastic can become a force for good as a valuable re-usable commodity. [...]
DEBATE: Should international travel be reopened this summer? March 30, 2021 Gabriel Scally, President of Epidemiology & Public Health at the Royal Society of Medicine and member of Independent Sage, says No The NHS delivered vaccination programme has been a game-changer for COVID-19. We might completely suppress the virus across the UK. If that happens, we can get back to a much more normal life and [...]
Future pandemics? Stress tests and preparedness plans must be core part of businesses’ strategy March 30, 2021 No one in the business world saw Covid-19 coming. There had, of course, been warnings about pandemics. Some businesses were better prepared than others, but very few imagined it would really happen or what it would be like in practice. But now we do know and we have seen the impact on people’s health, on the economy [...]
COP26: Good fortune and lofty statements won’t tackle climate change, but business can March 30, 2021 It is the lines of the hapless but heroic Ted Hastings, in Line of Duty, which so often steal the show. Hastings’ common refrain “now we’re sucking diesel” should set the scene for COP 26, the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference in Glasgow this year. Taken literally, it is an outcome we badly need [...]
We should have scrapped BAME long ago, it’s meaningless and formalises otherness March 29, 2021 Scrap BAME as a term for minority communities, Boris Johnson will be told this week by the racial disparities commission. You can see why it was an attractive proposition for ministers and corporates: it’s an umbrella, a catch-all term for people who are not white. It sidesteps trying to navigate racially charged language which could [...]