How to keep cool while covering for colleagues during holiday season August 16, 2019 August can be a stressful time for remainers. No, not people anxious about the prospect of a no-deal Brexit, but those left in the office during the holiday period while their colleagues are sunning and Instagramming themselves on the beach. A study by OnePoll last year found that covering for co-workers generally results in a [...]
The ASA’s puritanical ban spree is a flagrant assault on free speech August 16, 2019 When the Committees of Advertising Practice (CAP) first announced that it would ban “gender stereotypes that are likely to cause harm, or serious or widespread offence” in December 2017, I noted that crackdowns on adverts are often veiled attacks on free speech. The ads that the CAP and the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) were flagging [...]
Why you should be worried about the rise of the Bank of Mum and Dad August 16, 2019 The yearning to own one’s home is as British as a piping hot cup of tea, cricket, or a traditional roast dinner, and the UK’s rates of ownership-occupancy have traditionally been among the highest in Europe. Unlike many traditions, this desire hasn’t been dented by the complexities of modern life either. One recent survey revealed [...]
The English way hurts our chances of success August 16, 2019 Amid the usual hubbub that accompanies A Level results day – the pictures of jumping young women, the advice for those who didn’t get the grades, the celebrities reliably informing us how unimportant they are anyway – came some sobering news. Modern languages are extremely unpopular as an area of study. Just 2,864 students in England took German A [...]
You don’t have to be pale and male to have a career in money August 15, 2019 Today, hearts will be pounding, as young people across the country receive their much anticipated A-level results. Many will be taking up university places, but others will be looking to take their first steps into full-time work. Traineeships can offer school leavers the opportunity to gain paid experience that can lead them, debt-free, into full-time [...]
Boris Johnson’s ‘tough on crime’ rhetoric won’t make our streets any safer August 15, 2019 Boris Johnson’s criminal justice announcements this week are red meat for disillusioned voters. Having fallen off the radar in the past five years, people are now more concerned by crime than any issue other than Brexit – and it happened on the Tories’ watch. Bad news for the party of law and order. Ever the [...]
DEBATE: In the midst of commuter outrage over fare hikes, is rail nationalisation the answer? August 15, 2019 In the midst of commuter outrage over fare hikes, is rail nationalisation the answer? Cat Hobbs, director of We Own It, says YES. Another year, another eye-watering rail fare hike, with the annual cost of getting to work likely to rise by over £100 for many commuters. And it’s no wonder passengers are angry. We’re [...]
Does your business have a Brexit plan? Good, now it needs a Corbyn plan too August 15, 2019 In the mid-1970s, when I was a 10-year-old in love with Choppers and Sherbet Fountains, the ideological war between Thatcherism and Bennism began. Small versus big state, low versus high taxation, light versus tight regulation, and private versus public ownership. Now, 45 years later, we have a neo-Thatcherite government facing a Bennite-controlled Labour party. And [...]
The big business invasion of the co-working world is bad news for entrepreneurs August 15, 2019 In recent years, the co-working market has exploded. It has become such big business that WeWork, one of the earlier entrants to the space, is now valued at $47bn and is preparing for an initial public offering. The total number of sites and seats available is estimated to have roughly doubled each year since 2005. [...]
Government proposals to fix the NHS pension crisis still miss the mark August 14, 2019 It has been an unfortunate theme over recent years that public services have to reach crisis point before the government is stirred to take action. And here we have the mother of all crises (that is, the NHS crisis) made worse by a desperately confusing pensions system. When a tax rule is effectively stopping doctors [...]