We must not get stuck in an EU thicket January 22, 2020 Boris Johnson’s victory in the General Election means Britain will now, finally, after three years of dithering and obstruction, be free to set out on its own path of trade-energised growth and prosperity. Rather surprisingly, the UK’s political classes and business seem shocked that the UK will not be aligning to European regulations. They overlook [...]
Davos Diary: Day 3 January 22, 2020 A late night last night at Davos, as I was invited to four events and wanted to attend them all! I finished the evening with my old friend Anthony Scaramucci, always a tonic for even the most fatigued mind, and when I eventually found my way to bed it was with a sense of a [...]
Can the UK deal with both Brussels and DC? January 22, 2020 To take Donald Trump literally, but not seriously, is a mistake that many have made since he transitioned from waning reality TV star to political insurgent and leader of the free world. It is true that many of his chosen and oft-quoted facts are at best disputable, and his tweeted assaults on the English language [...]
HS2: Right project, wrong pitch to the public January 22, 2020 HS2 will become a case study in the importance of having your corporate communications in order. Since the beginning, protestors have successfully framed the project as being about shaving 10 minutes of a journey between Birmingham and London, and this narrative has cut through to the media, members of the public, and even politicians. While [...]
Our way, not the Huawei — for the sake of national security January 22, 2020 Boris Johnson might have been forgiven for thinking that the biggest dilemma he inherited from Theresa May would be how to resolve Brexit. But a second straggler from the May era has reared its head to disrupt the post-election serenity. How the Prime Minister chooses to deal with it may have long-term effects as important [...]
What lessons have we learned from a decade in cyber security? January 22, 2020 A colleague recently asked me what I thought had changed in cyber security over the last 10 years. We agreed that it had certainly been a time of momentous change. In 2012, there was the Shamoon attacks in the Gulf region. In one stroke, 35,000 computers were wiped and disabled within a matter of hours. [...]
DEBATE: Is the Bank of England out of ammunition for the next recession? January 22, 2020 Is the Bank of England out of ammunition for the next recession? Jumana Saleheen, chief economist at commodities consultant CRU Group, says YES. Lessons from history: central banks need to cut interest rates by about five percentage points in a recession. So if rates were six per cent, they would need to drop to one [...]
From A&E waiting times to the Windrush scandal, beware bureaucratic targets January 22, 2020 Last week, health secretary Matt Hancock signalled an important change of strategy. Accident and Emergency Departments have a target that 95 per cent of patients should be admitted, transferred or discharged within four hours. Hancock suggested that the target will be scrapped. Instead, wait times will be determined by clinical need. Cue predictable hyperbolic outrage. [...]
Davos Diary: Day 2 January 21, 2020 Today we hit the ground running at the World Economic Forum. It’s been a big day, with speeches by Greta Thunberg and President Trump, which is, as you would expect, the whole spectrum of opinion when it comes to climate change, sustainability and environmental concerns. They couldn’t be any more different, of course: Ms Thunberg [...]
The UK should be confident in its business future January 21, 2020 With the UK just days away from leaving the EU, one might think it would be a major talking point at the World Economic Forum in Davos. However — and perhaps refreshingly — conversations are largely focused on other geopolitical issues, those fundamental to our future global society, like inequality, societal divisions, and the climate [...]