Winning the global race: Britain needs social enterprises to help business rediscover its purpose October 24, 2019 What seemed like a lifetime ago, former Prime Minister David Cameron used to talk about the “global race”. When he spoke about getting fit for this race, his argument was that the state needed to shed a few pounds in order to free up businesses to drive growth. Like most politicians at the time, he [...]
The UK’s AI talent race just stepped up a gear October 24, 2019 Technology has the power to improve lives and tackle the great challenges of our time. At the University of Exeter, for example, Tim Dodwell is about to start a five-year project looking into how technology can make the aviation industry more sustainable and safer. He is one of the first five recipients of a new [...]
Let’s take a closer look at Neil Woodford’s dubious investment decisions October 23, 2019 The man with the Midas touch. That was how people saw Neil Woodford only a few short years ago. But things didn’t work out that well for King Midas in the end, and the same can be said for the former star manager, whose reputation is in tatters and whose investment empire now set to [...]
Facebook vs. democracy: Let’s get serious about disinformation October 23, 2019 On Monday, Facebook announced new measures to help combat the spread of disinformation in the looming UK General Election. Plans include working with fact checkers, tracking the origin of political ads, and doing more to take down content that breaks Facebook’s rules. Read more: The number of deepfake videos online has almost doubled While positive, [...]
Debate: Is the re-election of Justin Trudeau as Prime Minister good news for Canada? October 23, 2019 Is the re-election of Justin Trudeau as Prime Minister good news for Canada? Yes – Dr Joe Zammit-Lucia is a co-founder and trustee of Radix, the think tank for the radical centre. Both Justin Trudeau’s re-election and the fact that he will not command a majority are good news for Canada. Canada is essentially a [...]
Until Scotland’s currency puzzle is solved, independence is economically delusional October 23, 2019 The possibility of Scottish independence is back on the political agenda once again. And one question – which currency would an independent Scotland use? – that was crucial in the 2014 referendum has still not been resolved. The informal use of the pound is a very risky option. To see why, the Scottish National Party [...]
We all need a refresher course in how to disagree with civility October 23, 2019 Leavers tend to see their fellow Leavers as intelligent, open-minded and honest, and Remain voters as closed-minded, hypocritical and selfish. In return, Remainers are even less generous in their views of Leave voters. On both sides, only a minority said that they would be happy if their child married somebody from “the other side”, and [...]
Positivity is crippling your workplace and stifling creativity October 23, 2019 Look on the bright side. Keep smiling. Can do. These messages are increasingly prevalent in the workplace, to our significant detriment. And the irony of being briefed by my agent to keep this article “light-hearted” was not lost on me. I’m going to risk being serious – which is only six degrees from sounding negative [...]
Markets hold the key to climate solutions October 22, 2019 One of the odder elements of our climate debate is the unwillingness of any political party to champion the green progress Britain has made recently. After all, last year more than half of the UK’s energy came from nuclear or renewables — a remarkable achievement. Yet politicians, for once, seem strangely reticent to shout about [...]
DEBATE: Should we ban staff from work emails after office hours October 22, 2019 Is banning staff from work emails after office hours a good idea to combat the ‘always-on’ culture? YES, says Laura Giffard, founder and creative strategist of Perq Studio. Any company that buys into the idea that emails can be answered at any time is being irresponsible and exploiting their staff’s discretionary effort. It sets a [...]