Tech leaders must adapt or risk obsolescence February 20, 2020 While it may not always have felt it, the tech sector has had a relatively easy path to growth over the last three decades. The fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 ushered in a “peace dividend” which released swathes of public money that would otherwise have gone into national defence. Much of this spare [...]
They’re not just phones, they hold our entire lives together February 20, 2020 This month, we are marking the eighteenth year of O2. The world of 2002 feels like a very long time ago — and over the past 18 years, the mobile industry has been at the heart of some seismic changes in the way we live our lives. An eighteenth birthday is an important milestone, sparking [...]
DEBATE: Should business be concerned about the planned immigration curbs on low-skilled workers? February 20, 2020 Should business be concerned about the planned immigration curbs on low-skilled workers? Kate Nicholls, chief executive of UKHospitality, says YES. The proposals announced yesterday are overly restrictive and will halt business growth in huge swathes of the economy. They also give very little time for business to adjust and adapt, as the government has said [...]
The government is taking a gamble with its immigration reform February 20, 2020 The Brexit pennies just keep on dropping. First there was a mixture of genuine and feigned shock when the government announced it would not align itself with EU regulations. Now, the publication of a new immigration strategy has some people up in arms at the prospect of reform. But with the UK leaving the EU [...]
Dominic Cummings’ war on conventions is just getting going February 19, 2020 Much is being made of Dominic Cummings’ supposed overreach this week. His attack on the BBC proved so brutal that even Auntie-sceptic John Whittingdale blanched, while one of Number 10’s newly-hired “weirdos and misfits” had voiced his support for marital rape and sympathy for eugenics in online forums. Andrew Sabinsky’s Downing Street career lasted just [...]
Football focus helps bring in young customers for Gillette February 19, 2020 Following Gillette’s exploration of toxic masculinity in its successful — if controversial — advert that aired in January last year titled The Best a Man Can Be, the shaving brand has launched a new campaign entitled Made of What Matters. This time around, the brand’s advert, featuring Manchester City and England footballer Raheem Sterling, looks [...]
HSBC’s drastic reforms still leave the big questions unanswered February 19, 2020 Noel Quinn may only be an interim chief executive at HSBC but there’s nothing temporary about the sweeping changes he announced yesterday. The dramatic reduction in headcount goes further than the 10,000 figure he floated in October last year, when he said “there is scope throughout the bank to clarify and simplify roles.” Now we [...]
DEBATE: Should we be concerned about rumours of potential Chinese involvement with HS2? February 19, 2020 Should we be concerned about rumours of potential Chinese involvement with building HS2? Sophia Gaston, director of the British Foreign Policy Group, says YES. The government’s decision to permit Huawei to be involved in building our 5G network has exposed the acute lack of an overarching strategy around Britain’s engagement with China. No doubt, this [...]
Free speech risks being sacrificed on the altar of offence culture February 19, 2020 Harry Miller never considered that he might be national news-worthy. A former police officer turned businessman, during late 2018 he posted a series of tweets which questioned the biological sex of transgender individuals. One of his musings stated “I was assigned mammal at birth, but my orientation is fish. Don’t mis-species me.” What should have [...]
Time for the Treasury to get with the programme — Britain can afford to spend February 19, 2020 In the days of the old Soviet Union, so-called Kremlinologists would pore over every utterance of the Politburo, every sentence in Pravda, to try to work out what was really going on. Sajid Javid’s defenestration from the Treasury has led to an upsurge in similar types of intellectual effort here. What was it really all [...]