It’s not just about avoiding another Carillion scandal, reforming public procurement can build a better Britain October 21, 2019 From the collapse of Carillion to the Brexit ferries fiasco, public procurement has had a rocky few years. But while the focus has rightly been on ensuring that such disasters don’t happen again, we must not forget that public procurement can actually be an enormous force for good. Public procurement is the act of the [...]
DEBATE: Could the BBC survive becoming a subscription service? October 21, 2019 Could the BBC survive becoming a subscription service? Nicholas Mazzei, a corporate social responsibility adviser, says YES. The BBC is a well-loved and historic British institution, but it needs to move with the times. Ending its guaranteed income and making it compete for its customers through a subscription model would drive it to become more [...]
The City’s success depends on our ability not only to compete, but to collaborate October 21, 2019 Just last week, German Chancellor Angela Merkel remarked that the UK will join the likes of China and the US in becoming an “economic competitor” of the European Union after Brexit. There is, of course, no doubt about the competitiveness of the UK’s financial services sector, nor about the fundamental strengths of London. But looking [...]
Kinks aside, the porn block was a puritanical attack on sexual expression October 18, 2019 Farewell to the porn laws, one of the worst thought-through pieces of legislation ever to have been at risk of becoming law. First cooked up in 2015 by David Cameron’s team, the “porn blocker” plan which would supposedly have prevented children from stumbling across adult content on the internet has faced repeated delays, and on [...]
Extinction Rebellion are hurting the climate cause October 18, 2019 The film of the two Extinction Rebellion protesters being pulled off the top of a Tube train in Canning Town on Thursday morning is the moment it all changed. Suddenly, London mayor Sadiq Khan and Labour’s Diane Abbott seemed to be on the wrong side of the argument. In fact, Extinction Rebellion itself seemed on [...]
MPs must unite to save Britain from no-deal October 18, 2019 Three months ago, EU leaders were adamant that, whatever the new Prime Minister claimed, the withdrawal agreement hashed out with Theresa May was not up for renegotiation. Progress over the summer was glacial, and at the start of last week, experts were still claiming that the chances of a new Brexit deal were next to [...]
Debate: Does Boris Johnson’s Brexit deal have a high chance of passing in the House of Commons? October 18, 2019 Does Boris Johnson’s Brexit deal have a high chance of passing in the House of Commons? Yes – Benedict Spence is a freelance writer If MPs have one thing in mind as “Super Saturday” rapidly approaches, it should be this: the public is watching them closely. Boris Johnson has miraculously returned from Europe with a [...]
Women are starting businesses and buying their own drones October 18, 2019 I don’t find stereotypes pegged to each generation particularly helpful. They’re usually philosophical, vague, or a bit rude. Sure, “the millennials”, my generation, tend to job-hop a bit, but the labour market is much more flexible than it used to be. And apparently we complain too much – but if our parents and grandparents had [...]
Eco-protest movement has driven everyone quite mad October 17, 2019 The exasperation was clear in the commuter’s voice as he shouted “it’s an electric train, you idiot!” at the person who had glued themselves to a DLR service heading into the City from east London. Elsewhere, morning travellers took matters into their own hands and hauled protesters down from the top of Tube trains. We’ve all [...]
A Brexit deal is within Boris’ reach October 17, 2019 Over coffee and croissants this morning, EU member states’ ambassadors in Brussels will be briefed on the current state of the Brexit negotiations. Late last night, it seemed the UK and EU were inches away from agreeing the principles of a new deal. French President Emmanuel Macron, Germany’s Angela Merkel, EU Council president Donald Tusk [...]