Editorial: A week that offers good news for the capital November 10, 2020 It’s hardly a 200 watt halogen bulb, but word of a potential vaccine does at least provide a flicker of light at the end of this interminable 2020 tunnel. After a year of unrelentingly negative headlines, it counted as unalloyed good news. Not just for our fight against the virus, but for the capital too. [...]
Joe Biden can end the misery wrought across the world by the Global Gag Rule November 10, 2020 While the world continues to process Donald Trump’s loss of the US presidency after a single term, something else will likely be thrown out of the White House with him when he leaves office: the so-called “Global Gag Rule”. The Mexico City policy, originally implemented by Ronald Reagan’s administration in 1984, prohibits non-governmental organisations which provide, [...]
Cronyism and incompetence: The government is undermining trust in the private sector November 10, 2020 It should surprise no one that a Conservative government turns to the private sector for the efficient delivery of services. Private enterprise is agile, responsive, innovative and provides good value for money (or at least, it can do), and public money should always be spent in the most effective way possible. This is the ideology [...]
Our Covid-hit young deserve a new social contract from older generations November 10, 2020 Covid-19 demands immediate action. It also demands a major reconsideration of policies to create a new social contract between the generations. We are all aware that the elderly have a higher risk of death from coronavirus than other age groups. We are also aware that protecting them by locking down the economy has had a [...]
Averting a dental disaster: Don’t let the pandemic take our smiles November 10, 2020 The first lockdown had a crippling effect on dentists, with two thirds of the practices I work with experiencing financial difficulty, and many even considering shutting down altogether. There was almost no clear guidance while dentists were closed — for practitioners or for patients — and confusion abounded. And thanks to gaps in the financial [...]
DEBATE: Will Black Friday save the retail industry? November 10, 2020 Will Black Friday save the retail industry? Kam Phullar, lead strategist at Feed Agency, says YES. Occuring during England’s second lockdown, this Black Friday will be an online-only affair. But if brands get it right, 2020 could be the biggest online Black Friday yet, and a step towards saving the retail industry in the long [...]
Editorial: London’s thriving future depends on giving today’s youngsters a chance November 9, 2020 This miserable year has hit all of us in different ways. The elderly have, of course, suffered most from a virus that seems to have it in for them. But the young generations are those that have been hit hardest economically. That’s not a wild surprise – many work in hospitality, retail, and other sectors [...]
Joe Biden must not let anti-capitalist climate zealots capture his presidency November 9, 2020 As the world prepares for the coming Biden administration, a fundamental question looms both for Americans and for the wider world: which Joe Biden will govern as President? He has long defined himself as a moderate, a centrist, a bipartisan consensus-finder — but recently his Democratic Party has moved significantly to the left, and in [...]
Building back a greener City — and a greener world November 9, 2020 It is essential, even as we readjust to lockdown over the next few weeks, to not lose sight of another of humanity’s great challenges: tackling climate change. As one of the world’s foremost financial centres, London has a huge role to play in supporting the development of a more sustainable global society, and is well-placed [...]
The government must stop treating us like a nation of prospective criminals November 9, 2020 Despite the Prime Minister previously cautioning the “misery” that a second national lockdown would invariably cause, last week MPs voted for the imposition of new restrictions. A difficult period looms. The new measures criminalise family meetings, deny individuals the freedom of assembly, prevent religious ceremonies from taking place, and give the police the power to [...]