Covid-19 threatens to set UK data protection back a generation August 14, 2020 There’s another crisis brewing. Millions of businesses across the UK have quickly adapted to the Covid-19 environment. While some companies have adopted technology to handle customer data collection, many have turned to more tried-and-tested track and trace systems — namely, good old-fashioned pen and paper. The hospitality industry, and especially pubs and bars, have had [...]
Getting young people back to school in September is critical to their health August 14, 2020 Being at school is good for health. Even now, in the middle of a pandemic, schools can be important for wellbeing by keeping a sense of normality. Yet the parents, students and teachers weighing up the risks on how safe classrooms will be for young people in September might not be aware of the strong [...]
The cold blast of popular opinion: ice cream maker Ben & Jerry’s takes on the home secretary August 13, 2020 It was a young political journalist who summed up one of the oddest political storms of the summer so far when she tweeted on Wednesday: “Who had ‘MP argues with ice cream company’ on their 2020 bingo card?” In case you missed it, the story in brief: Priti Patel, the home secretary, has been making [...]
Our university sector was broken long before Covid-19 August 13, 2020 UK higher education has reached a dead end. In the short term, the Covid-19 pandemic has created a huge hole in the current income of institutions, amounting to several billion pounds. In the longer term, Covid will probably result in a sustained decline in several sources of university income, above all fees from overseas students. [...]
We cannot let workers’ rights evaporate just because we’re working from home August 13, 2020 Are we working from home, or sleeping at the office? It’s a question that captures the love-hate relationship many workers (and, indeed, employers) have with remote working. This relationship has only become more strained as the pandemic has forced thousands of us to reconfigure our homes into makeshift offices with dining tables doubling up as [...]
With five months to prepare, the A-level results fiasco is a scandal of the government’s own making August 12, 2020 A-level results day is always fraught with drama. Whether its moral panic of grade inflation, handwringing about the relative value of a university degree, or outrage over news stories being illustrated by delighted blonde girls jumping into the air with joy, results day “scandal” it’s a staple of the August news calendar. This year is [...]
Shakespeare: Zara’s customers return as consumers regain confidence August 12, 2020 The real estate arm of high street fashion retailer Zara, Pontegadea, was this week accused of “bullying tactics” to deny rent reduction requests from other high street stores in the UK. An anonymous retail chain reported that Zara’s investment company has tried to add an extra year to one retail chain’s lease for every month [...]
Brand Veep: Kamala Harris could be exactly what Biden needs to secure the White House August 12, 2020 Joe Biden has pulled away from Donald Trump and is now the favourite to win the US presidential election in November, leading nationally by around eight percentage points in most polls. While we are still almost three months away from polling day in possibly the most unpredictable of election years (and we should all remember [...]
An obesity strategy that stigmatises patients won’t work August 12, 2020 At the end of last month, the government revealed an array of measures as part of its new obesity strategy to “protect against coronavirus and safeguard the NHS”. Unveiling a 12-week plan to get the nation fit and healthy, the Prime Minister spoke openly about his own brush with death, and the part his excess [...]
Make green the new normal of financial services August 12, 2020 On the 26 March, the UK was bedding in to the first week of a “new normal”. Lockdown had just begun and we were all adjusting to a completely different way of interacting with our colleagues, friends and family. On the same day, $26 trillion was wiped off the value of global equity markets, as [...]