Bring on the post-Brexit vertical farming revolution October 22, 2020 As the UK and the EU stretch out yet another week of “will they or won’t they?” over a trade deal, like a painfully unromantic episode of Neighbours (no jokes about Australian models, please), businesses are not only trying to plan for what happens in January, but also questioning how much we should rely on [...]
CANZUK is a cause in need of a champion — enter Jacinda Ardern October 22, 2020 This past weekend’s sweeping victory for New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern brought her Labour Party its largest majority in five decades. Unusually for New Zealand politics, this could mean that Ardern oversees a government without any coalition partners. Yet she appears keen to consider a coalition government nonetheless. It is to that spirit of [...]
DEBATE: Is there any point trying to find love in lockdown? October 21, 2020 Is there any point trying to find love in lockdown? JOIN THE DEBATE. Emma Sayle, founder and chief executive of social network Killing Kittens, says YES. When lockdown started, traffic to the Killing Kittens website went up 300 per cent. We had 150 per cent more photo uploads and 425 per cent more messages — [...]
End the war on pubs — hospitality isn’t to blame for the Covid crisis October 21, 2020 2020 should have been a year of cheering on our teams in the European football finals and Olympics from pubs and bars across the land, bolstered by meals out in beer gardens throughout a typically blistering British summer. Instead, thanks to Covid-19, this year will be remembered for social distancing, job losses, and uncertainty. After [...]
The government must take back control of the Covid narrative October 21, 2020 The word “narrative” is usually seen as being a posh way of saying “story”. But the idea of narratives is one which is gaining traction in economics. Last year, for example, Nobel laureate Robert Shiller of Yale published a book entitled “Narrative Economics”. He argued that it is the perception of events and the stories [...]
Help retail workers weather the mental health storm October 21, 2020 You’re having “one of those days” — you know, the kind we all seem to be having with increasing regularity. But you’ve got to pop to the shops to pick up some essentials. Parking is a nightmare, and to cap it all, it’s raining. You’re anxious about all sorts of things and quite frankly, you’re [...]
Whatever your skin colour, you deserve the opportunity to make it as an entrepreneur October 20, 2020 There are some statistics that make you stop in your tracks. This should be one. Despite investing more time and more money into starting a business and having higher levels of education, black entrepreneurs have consistently worse outcomes than their white counterparts. Whether you look at turnover, profit, or meeting their business aspirations, black entrepreneurs [...]
The Banking Dilemma: Do we really want Big Tech to control our financial data? October 20, 2020 “If something is a tool, it is genuinely just sitting there, waiting patiently. If something is not a tool it’s demanding things from you… seducing… manipulating; it wants things from you.” This damning indictment of social media platforms is one of many from industry insiders featured in the latest must-watch Netflix documentary, The Social Dilemma. [...]
Calls for a circuit breaker are out of date, misguided, and not grounded in science October 20, 2020 The politicians supporting a circuit breaker lockdown, like the one due to come into effect in Wales on Friday, say they are “following the science”. They appear to be referring to a Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE) document dated 21 September. If so, it’s science, Jim, but not as hard as we know it. [...]
From Wigan Warrior to eco-warrior: Let’s make the future electric October 20, 2020 I remember the moment my future went electric. No, it wasn’t as I was sprinting 90m for a try in the 1994 Challenge Cup Final against Leeds. It was when I first took my wife’s second-hand BMW i3 for a drive a couple of years ago. We had bought an electric motor as our second [...]