Regional investment, not taxes, holds the key to bursting the London bubble August 6, 2019 For populist left-wing, typified by Jeremy Corbyn, there are few problems that can’t be solved by taxing the rich. But who exactly are they? A new report by the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) sheds some light on this much-maligned demographic. To be in the top 10 per cent of income tax payers you need [...]
Business culture has a problem with booze, beers and drinking August 5, 2019 Many of the key moments of our working lives are punctuated or fuelled by alcohol. From leaving drinks to boozy client lunches where important business conversations are had and relationships forged, drink has become an integral part of the culture of most organisations and industries – perhaps none more so than the ad industry, where [...]
How the Anglosphere philosophy will fuel the new Prime Minister’s foreign policy August 5, 2019 It is often important to look at a leader’s idols for clues as to what makes them tick. British critics of Boris Johnson, rather than dismissing him as a cut-rate Winston Churchill tribute act, would do far better looking at what it is about the great man that so impresses the current Prime Minister. The [...]
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 [...]