DEBATE: Have the Labour splitters helped the Conservative party? February 19, 2019 Have the Labour splitters helped the Conservative party? Lauren McEvatt, managing director at Morpeth Consulting, says YES. After the next election, the UK government will either be run by the Labour party or the Tory party. That’s the reality of the electoral system. The seven Labour splitters have denounced the modern Labour party as bullies, [...]
Want a more future-focused government? Climate action is just the start February 19, 2019 The reaction was predictable. Last week’s Climate Strike by schoolchildren was met with an inane debate about whether or not the pupils were right to “play truant”. This dialogue of the deaf was a missed opportunity. Politicians should take seriously the protesters’ demand that they “recognise that young people have the biggest stake in our [...]
The secret to saving the high street? Fewer shops February 19, 2019 Rarely does a day pass without another report about the high street’s seemingly never-ending struggles. However, the tendency to focus purely on the ups and downs of retailers masks a more nuanced picture about what is happening in city and town centres. To properly understand its problems – and, more importantly, come up with some [...]
Facebook has gambled away the right to regulate its own bad behaviour February 19, 2019 All credit must go to Damian Collins MP and his colleagues at the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) Select Committee. Their report on fake news, published yesterday, does not pull its punches. Even a cursory read of the text reveals the extent to which Facebook has been operating irresponsibly. As the report makes clear, [...]
A real Labour split won’t guarantee a surge in sterling February 19, 2019 Investors who are predicting a sterling rally if there if a full-blown split in the UK’s opposition party are likely to be sorely mistaken. The Labour party has leaned increasingly to the left since Jeremy Corbyn took the reins in 2015. Many currency experts have warned about his policies, saying that they fear a Labour [...]
Opinion: Why Michael Gove’s plan to force housebuilders to leave green spaces better than they found them is a good idea February 18, 2019 Last December, Michael Gove announced proposals to enforce biodiversity net gain at new housing schemes. This would essentially require natural environments to be left in a better state than they were found by developers. The consultation on the plans closed on Sunday and I hope it will produce a host of positive outcomes. The environmental [...]
Sam Torrance: JB Holmes’s Genesis Open win highlighted the need for slow play rules to be enforced February 18, 2019 American JB Holmes overcame difficult conditions in California to beat Justin Thomas by one shot and win the Genesis Open on Sunday. Many players struggled with wind gusting up to 30mph, but Holmes drives the ball low with a strong grip and club face position, meaning he’s less effected by the breeze than most. He [...]
Twitter is great, just don’t make an Elon Musk-sized mistake February 18, 2019 Despite a staggering $20m personal fine from the US finance watchdog the SEC and the loss of his chairmanship at Tesla for an errant tweet, we learned last week that Elon Musk’s 280-character updates have won the approval of Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey, aka @Jack. “He’s focused on solving existential problems and sharing his thinking [...]
It’s search and rescue time for the future of marketing February 18, 2019 Search marketing is all about making your brand easy to find on the internet. It accounts for half of all UK digital ad spend, and is worth over £3.1bn. Given all that, you’d expect that marketing degrees would devote some course time to this subject. However, it’s pretty shocking that none of the UK’s top [...]
The ECB has been keeping zombie banks alive February 18, 2019 A decade after the outbreak of the global financial crisis, banks in the euro area have still not recovered. The Eurozone financial stock index is 65 per cent below the pre-crisis peak, whereas the US S&P financial index has come close to the pre-crisis level. The varying fates of financial institutions is due to the [...]