Time for an energy revolution? Creating opportunity after a crisis July 16, 2020 The Covid-19 pandemic is a tragic event we hopefully will not see again in our lifetime. The human destruction and the strain on global healthcare systems have been devastating. There are no winners from this crisis. Still, it was Winston Churchill who said “never let a good crisis go to waste”. That certainly rings true [...]
No more posturing — impact matters more than dogma in the fight against climate change July 15, 2020 “As the number of products that claim to be linked to firms’ sustainability performance increases, we need to be careful to ensure that investors do not end up buying products that are marketed as sustainable when in reality they are not”. That’s the view of Steven Maijoor, chair of the European Securities and Markets Authority. [...]
Knowing V, Knowing U: The shape of the recession July 15, 2020 On Tuesday, the Office for National Statistics released data on UK GDP for the month of May. It showed that the economy had recovered by just 1.8 per cent in May, following a sharp contraction of 20.4 per cent in April. Many commentators and economists voiced their disappointment at these figures, and ruled out the [...]
The Huawei ‘U-turn’ isn’t enough to keep Britain safe July 15, 2020 Yesterday, the UK government announced the results of its long-awaited review into Huawei’s role in our country’s 5G system. Following months of speculation and increasingly public and political concern about the influence of China, the new plan revises the January 2020 decision giving the Chinese telecoms giant a 35 per cent stake in Britain’s network [...]
DEBATE: With the economy under such strain, should new fintech regulation be paused? July 15, 2020 With the economy under such strain, should new fintech regulation be paused? Elisabeth Kohlbach, co-founder and chief executive at Skwire, says YES. The UK’s fintech scene is one of the most vibrant and well-regulated in Europe. And in extraordinary times, this UK success story needs to be nurtured, not subject to more red tape. The [...]
Office clusters are as crucial to productivity as they ever were July 15, 2020 The Prime Minister is now demanding that offices reopen to revive economic activity in the centres of towns and cities. But there is not much sign of a return to work. The preferences of the workforce are an important factor in the very slow pace of return. Fears expressed about the safety of public transport [...]
The future of the Covid generation rests on putting skills first July 15, 2020 Throughout my career, the skills crisis has never felt more acute than it does now — and nor has the momentum to address the challenge been greater. We are reminded today, UN World Youth Skills Day, that while the pandemic has amplified the problem, it is not the cause. Even before Covid-19 took its grip [...]
DEBATE: Is there any point in members of the wealthy elite calling for higher taxes in response to Covid-19? July 14, 2020 In light of this week’s Millionaires for Humanity letter, is there any point in members of the wealthy elite calling for higher taxes in response to Covid-19? Gary Stevenson, inequality economist and trader, says YES. On Monday, 83 millionaires — myself included — signed an open letter calling on governments to raise taxes on people [...]
Businesses must find their purpose, or risk becoming the next corporate scandal July 14, 2020 In the midst of a pandemic, the corporate scandals keep coming. The most recent is Boohoo, a previously admired brand in the fashion industry that has been accused of sourcing clothes from a Leicester factory where workers were paid as little as £3.50 an hour. For many in the fashion industry, the darker side of [...]
Lockdown London: A tale of two cities July 14, 2020 On Sunday evening, a friend and I had a game of tennis in a small unremarkable suburban local park. Surrounded by terraced houses, it is the kind of park of which there are 3,000 dotted across the capital. Too hilly for a game of football but with a couple of rarely used tennis courts for [...]