Why are vulnerable working-age adults like me at the back of the vaccine queue? November 12, 2020 The last few days have been filled with the exciting news of one — at least — vaccine being made available in as little as a few weeks. After almost nine months in the grips of a pandemic, it is the news that the UK population has been desperately waiting to hear. Yet, while the [...]
Could ditching the office make us all poorer? November 12, 2020 While we have in many ways adjusted to life in a pandemic, the profoundly disorientating changes we’ve seen since the initial nationwide lockdown are stark. The “death of the office” narrative has persisted through the easing and then reimposing of lockdown restrictions, and while no one can predict exactly how this will play out, it [...]
Government’s digital strategy cannot be a missed opportunity November 12, 2020 Why is there no British tech titan on the scale of Google, Apple or Amazon? This is a question that has exercised the minds of those in and outside of government for some time. Many have concluded that more needs to do done if the UK is ever going to create a $1 trillion home [...]
Editorial: Those who profit in Hong Kong must speak up in its defence November 11, 2020 US President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s four freedoms, which he promised Americans in the face of economic strife and growing authoritarianism abroad, are freedoms that this newspaper is more than happy to sign up for. Freedom of speech, freedom of worship, freedom from want, and freedom from fear? Well, they work for us. In London – [...]
The government’s National Security and Investment Bill could close the door on Global Britain November 11, 2020 As the twin spectres of Brexit and Covid-19 continue to dominate the headlines, you could be forgiven for not having the government’s planned National Security and Investment Bill on your radar. But the Bill is set to radically overhaul the UK’s approach to foreign investment at a time of significant economic uncertainty. While its exact [...]
DEBATE: Should NHS staff be given a pay rise? November 11, 2020 Anthony Johnson, a nurse and an organiser with Nurses United, says YES. The Covid crisis has shown like never before just how central the NHS is to everyone’s wellbeing and safety. From our cleaners to our GPs, the entire team is essential. And if we don’t pay people fairly, they will be forced to find [...]
Leaders in Lockdown: Eyes on the road ahead, there’s no going back November 11, 2020 The hope this week of a Covid-19 vaccine has already got people talking of “going back to normal” — perhaps even by spring. But there will be no going back for British business. The events of the last eight months have changed things forever. In March, as Covid spread from mainland Europe to the City [...]
What next for one-term President Donald Trump? November 11, 2020 There perhaps nothing that will hurt Donald Trump more than being a one-term wonder. Politics is a cruel game, there is no second place, and falling short is both brutal and public. For a man with an ego that the world has come to know, the last six weeks as a caretaker President will rankle. [...]
The public are not to blame for the second lockdown November 11, 2020 Justice secretary Robert Buckland last week blamed the public for England’s new lockdown. In particular, the fault was with people failing to self-isolate properly. Of course, in a purely technical sense Buckland is right. The virus spreads by contact with an infected person. If people do not self-isolate, Covid-19 will continue to percolate across the [...]
Five ways the travel industry can save itself November 11, 2020 Covid-19 has absolutely hammered the travel industry. The UN World Tourism Organisation predicts a fall in international travel spending of $910bn–1.2 trillion this year, and that arrivals will tumble by up to 80 per cent. This constitutes an extinction level threat for many businesses in the industry, and has prompted an array of existential reflections, [...]