Are the televised election debates a waste of time in their current format? December 11, 2019 Are the televised election debates a waste of time in their current format? Stuart Thomson, head of public affairs at BDB Pitmans, says YES. Despite everyone’s hopes, the televised leadership debates have been a complete damp squib. They have been a waste of everyone’s time, revealing little that we didn’t already know and failing to [...]
Britain needs a ‘national’ health service, not a ‘nationalised’ one December 11, 2019 Throughout this election campaign, the Labour party has returned time and time again to the issue of NHS “privatisation”. This won’t have come as a surprise to anyone. Indeed, it is now standard fare during elections for the argument to be put that the government of the day is pursuing “backdoor” or “creeping” privatisation. But [...]
Pension reform is political dynamite, but Macron’s attempt should be commended December 11, 2019 It would take a heart of stone not to be amused by Emmanuel Macron’s current predicament. The French President is trying to position himself as the leader of Europe. But at the same time, the streets of the major cities in France are, quite literally, ablaze. France’s public services are crippled by the biggest strike [...]
From Woodford to the leasehold scandal, here are the big personal finance stories of 2019 December 11, 2019 December is usually the season to be jolly and reflect on the past year — though perhaps it doesn’t feel that way as we head to the polls tomorrow. Nonetheless, as the year comes to a close, let’s look at the big personal finance stories of 2019, which may give us some clues about what’s [...]
How Iceland found the perfect Christmas campaign formula December 11, 2019 Twas the month before Christmas (in 2018), and the festive cheer was seemingly “cancelled” for British frozen food giant Iceland. “We’re absolutely gutted,” a defeated Richard Walker, Iceland’s managing director, told the BBC. “We wanted to share this message far and wide.” Well, for Richard, Christmas miracles are very much real. This particular miracle began when [...]
The parenthood penalty facing working mums and dads needs to be fixed December 10, 2019 Earlier this year, journalist Emma Duncan asked why we work so hard to avoid our children. Will future generations look back and wonder why parents fought tooth and nail for time in the office? If today’s battles result in a childcare sector that offers real choice at a lower cost, and a society where having [...]
Eight reasons the Tories are a safer bet than Labour this election December 10, 2019 This election will define our country. Either Britain will continue to be a liberal open democracy continuing what frankly has been a very successful recovery from a global crisis – or the UK will slip towards a highly centralised command and control model that has failed the world over. My last article outlined just what [...]
Whoever wins this election, our politics will remain in flux December 10, 2019 Nothing except an election lost can be half so melancholy as an election won. That’s what the Duke of Wellington might have said after he swapped the battlefield for politics. Come Friday morning, each of the major parties will be reckoning with the result — and may find pain in victory as well as defeat. [...]
The Beeb needs reform December 10, 2019 In an unconventional move for a frontline politician at election time, Boris Johnson yesterday offered an honest and reasonably clear answer to a question. Asked what he thought of the BBC licence fee he said — whilst muttering something about not concocting policy on the hoof —that it seemed rather outdated. Well, he’s right. Some [...]
This country has not had enough of experts December 10, 2019 Michael Gove famously said that the “people in this country have had enough of experts”. Of course, that’s not the full story — at the time, Gove was specifically targeting experts who, he claimed, kept getting things wrong. But regardless, the “had enough of experts” quote went viral, and came to be viewed as something [...]