Mushrooms could be a magic cure for depression, if our draconian drug regulations weren’t stuck in the past August 4, 2020 It should come as no surprise that months of lockdown and social isolation has impacted our mental health. Medical professionals are predicting a “tsunami” of mental illnesses relating Covid-19, while earlier this month, The Lancet published a study showing that young people and women’s mental health has been hit particularly hard during the pandemic. What’s [...]
Going back is not an option — so let’s go forwards to work August 3, 2020 For decades, working culture has been stuck in a rut. We have been at the mercy of inflexible antiquated systems, processes and policies which serve a few and don’t include everyone. So if lockdown has brought us one thing, it’s the opportunity to fix it. Excitingly, we are finally seeing conversations about who and what [...]
The duelling narratives that will define November’s US presidential election August 3, 2020 There is a theory behind every presidential campaign, a basic narrative as to why the specific presidential aspirant and the specific moment are met, why the candidate is uniquely gifted to help the country through its present moment of peril. Of course, more often than not, this amounts to nonsense. For every Franklin Roosevelt or [...]
Ethical capitalism can rebuild the world for the better August 3, 2020 The time has come for ethical capitalism — not as an optional extra, but as something that is critically important for consumer trust in business to flourish in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic. The public is brassed off with businesses not paying their dues to society, and their voices are getting louder. They are [...]
DEBATE: Is Rishi Sunak’s digital tax a good idea to save the high street? August 3, 2020 Is Rishi Sunak’s digital tax a good idea to save the high street? Jordan Shlosberg, co-founder of proSapient, says YES. High street retail is not fundamentally unprofitable, but is disadvantaged compared to online retail through higher taxes and overpriced leases. Through shifting the national tax burden from physical to online retail, the government can support [...]
London’s legal sector continues to lead the world August 3, 2020 Socially-distanced juries, virtual trials, and a mass shift to remote working — these are just some of the radical steps that have been taken to allow justice to be served during lockdown. Almost every part of our economy has had to adapt to Covid-19 and the legal system is no different. One constant throughout these [...]
DEBATE: With Alistair Darling standing down from the House of Lords, is it time to consider term limits for peers? July 31, 2020 With Alistair Darling standing down from the House of Lords, is it time to consider term limits for peers? John O’Connell, chief executive of the TaxPayers’ Alliance, says YES. The House of Lords needs to be reformed. It is too big, too opaque, and too expensive. With Alistair Darling deciding to stand down from the [...]
Pay no attention to the EU negotiator behind the curtain July 31, 2020 In the film the Wizard of Oz, the heroine, on finally arriving in the presence of the unseen Wizard, hears his booming voice telling her to go away and come back another time. When her dog Toto pulls back the curtain in the grand room to reveal a small, old man operating the levers of [...]
This pandemic has not spared our children — we face a youth mental health catastrophe July 31, 2020 The coronavirus crisis has changed us all. Whether through bereavement, job losses, isolation, or drastic changes to work and schooling, 2020 has radically altered the world as we know it. We are yet to know how long we will have to live with Covid-19 — the government oscillates between telling us things will be back [...]
A data arms race has begun — it’s not a game, it’s a national security imperative July 31, 2020 Data privacy is a human right. It is also a matter of national — and international — security. If the “new Cold War” is upon us, as has been claimed on City A.M., it will be fought with information. However, the west seems less serious about the “data arms race” than China and Russia, leaving [...]