California dreaming: A plan to phase out petrol and diesel cars that might actually work July 23, 2020 Transport is now the UK’s biggest source of climate-warming greenhouse gases. While other sectors slash their carbon footprint, our cars alone continue to produce 15 per cent of annual emissions — and the figure is still rising. To tackle this, earlier this year the government announced plans to bring forward a ban on new petrol [...]
DEBATE: Will long-term remote working jeopardise London’s status as a global financial centre? July 23, 2020 Will long-term remote working jeopardise London’s status as a global financial centre? Giles Fuchs, chief executive of Office Space in Town, says YES. An enduring shift towards remote working and away from the office in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic would spell disaster for London’s status as a global financial hub. Home to 1.1m [...]
Build, build, build needs the right foundations July 22, 2020 If you’re a British Prime Minister, betting your premiership on infrastructure delivery is what Sir Humphrey might call a “brave” move. Recent history suggests that this country is, frankly, terrible at infrastructure. Barring a few beacons which shine very bright – the 2012 Olympics, the new Thames Gateway port, the second Severn river crossing – [...]
Career versus motherhood: When workplaces don’t support women, the result is a fertility crisis July 22, 2020 You’d think that a global crash in fertility rates, which will see the world’s population fall dramatically by the end of the century, might be music to the ears of any sustainability professional. Lower populations, after all, equal lower environmental impacts. Yet dig a bit deeper into the research published last week by University of [...]
DEBATE: Will the ban on Huawei technology benefit the UK in the long run? July 22, 2020 Will the ban on Huawei technology benefit the UK in the long run? John Longworth, director general of the Centre for Brexit Policy and chairman of the Independent Business Network, says YES. China represents a tiny percentage of UK exports and we are able, in the nick of time, to escape dependence on investment by [...]
Britain deserves a New Deal — with platform workers and digital rights front and centre July 22, 2020 Crises tend to reshape and transform how we work — and Covid-19 is no different. From the extraordinary rise in home working and the reorganisation of physically distanced workplaces, to the sharp rise in unemployment and the existential threat now facing many sectors, the consequences to life and work will long outlast the pandemic itself. [...]
Why you should read the small print on alarmist Covid-19 death projections July 22, 2020 Another day, another lurid, headline-grabbing number of deaths to expect from Covid-19. This time, it was a study from the Academy of Medical Sciences. A second wave, we were warned, could kill 120,000 this winter in hospitals alone. To be fair, this study was a projection rather than a forecast. A forecast is what is [...]
Social licence: How financial markets can switch focus and help solve humanity’s greatest challenges July 21, 2020 If there was ever any question as to whether we value human life more than money, the coronavirus pandemic has surely answered it. The protection of ordinary people, in this country and indeed in almost every country in the world, has come at an extraordinary economic cost. Yet only a minority of people have dared [...]
Hydrogen holds the keys to unlocking a zero carbon future July 21, 2020 Today, we should have been celebrating the opening ceremony of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. Following their postponement to 2021, the Games will make history for being the first Olympiad to take place outside of the four year cycle since the modern Olympics began in Athens in 1896. They will also make history for another [...]
DEBATE: With one in three of us wanting to keep working from home, is it too soon to urge Londoners back to the office? July 21, 2020 With one in three of us wanting to keep working from home, is it too soon to urge Londoners back to the office? Ben Kelly, a commentator for Reaction, says YES. For months we were told to stay at home and hide from the deadly virus. Unfortunately — for the government and our economy — [...]