British expertise can unlock investment opportunities across the world August 5, 2019 Stood in a power plant in Lagos, Nigeria, I heard how UK aid has helped supply electricity to 300,000 people. It is powering street lights, schools, hospitals. It is critical to Nigerians receiving healthcare, an education, accessing jobs, and lifting themselves out of poverty. Last week, I travelled to Nigeria in my new role as [...]
DEBATE: Should we be worried about police use of facial recognition technology? August 5, 2019 Should we be worried about police use of facial recognition technology? Silkie Carlo, director of privacy and civil liberties campaign group Big Brother Watch, says YES. A society where we’re watched, tracked, and identified by facial recognition cameras was once the stuff of dystopian fiction – and for good reason. In a free society, citizens [...]
The Brexit clock is ticking down again, and City businesses are crying out for certainty August 5, 2019 With the excitement of a new Prime Minister and so many changing faces across government, it is easy to overlook that we are now less than three months away from the next Brexit cliff edge. In other words, the risk of a no-deal Brexit is drawing dangerously close. And businesses need to prepare for that. [...]
A truly radical and pragmatic Prime Minister would let parliament get a cat August 2, 2019 Parliament is infested with vermin. According to an internal report seen by the MailOnline, the Westminster war on mice is being lost, despite £111,498 spent on pest control last year. As political conundrums go, this one has an obvious solution: allow cats on the parliamentary estate. Lots of them. Practical, inexpensive, and ruthlessly effective, this [...]
Artificial intelligence could solve Britain’s productivity puzzle August 2, 2019 At a time of technological innovation and low unemployment, why is UK productivity close to 16 per cent behind other advanced economies in the world? Experts disagree on the causes of the UK’s “productivity puzzle” but they, the government, and technology companies like ours agree that artificial intelligence (AI) will form a crucial part of [...]
DEBATE: Is it fair to consider ITV’s Love Island the biggest advertising opportunity of 2019? August 2, 2019 Is it fair to consider ITV’s Love Island the biggest advertising opportunity of 2019? Dave Lawrence, planning partner at creative agency Brave, says YES. Whether the show was the “biggest advertising opportunity” depends on what that brand was trying to achieve. While the women’s World Cup earlier this year, for example, had a much larger [...]
Populism is back, and the Democratic candidates are veering left August 2, 2019 The Democratic primary is heating up – and some of the policy proposals are as red as fire. This week, 10 hopefuls took to the stage in Detroit, for the second debate leading up to the 2020 presidential election. And what we saw was an extreme ebbing and flowing of liberalism and socialism, raising serious [...]
With Boris onside, we can boost connectivity across the country August 2, 2019 The successful economies of the future will be those that effectively seize the potential of digital technology. It is particularly important that we in the UK take heed of this message, as businesses face ongoing uncertainty in the approach to the government’s Halloween Brexit deadline. So what progress is being made to realise this potential? [...]
The City is a meritocracy, but that only works if everyone’s given a go August 2, 2019 Sajid Javid has been culture secretary, business secretary, home secretary and now chancellor. In all that time I’ve only ever heard him give one great speech. It was, as luck would have it, at the 2015 City A.M. Awards. In Westminster and on matters of policy and politics, Javid’s delivery is invariably uninspiring – even [...]
Email belongs in the trash, not your inbox August 1, 2019 Email has become a ubiquitous form of communication since it was invented in 1972. Its ability to connect people and facilitate digital conversations has been an innovation like no other. However, almost 50 years since its inception, electronic mail is no longer fit for purpose as the main communication tool in today’s enterprise. A combination [...]