Saturday essay: It’s easy to hate social media, to truly make it work we need to learn to love it July 3, 2021 It’s fashionable to be irrationally critical of social media. Almost every policy relating to social media serves to restrain, rather than nurture it. The image of online platforms, amongst politicos and policymakers, is often that it is nothing more than an inflammatory cesspit of trolls and creeps who debase every conversation with racist and sexist [...]
Social mobility could be the next hot-button issue – and smart firms would be wise to act now February 10, 2021 Here’s a game for your next tedious Zoom meeting. Take a look at those attentively nodding heads and ask yourself: how many went to an ordinary school? By ordinary I don’t mean a comprehensive so exceptional that the local estate agents memorise its catchment area. I mean the rest. The average to poor ones. The [...]
Exclusive: Londoners take out 133 per cent more payday loans to cover Christmas this year December 4, 2020 Pressure on households to overspend this Christmas is increasingly making Londoners resort to payday loans to cover the costs of the festive period. Payday loans in London are set to increase by 133 per cent as households struggle to cover the costs of the holidays, according to the findings of a survey that pan-European credit [...]
UK has ‘significant’ ethnic wealth gaps, latest data suggest November 27, 2020 Wealth in the UK is divided along ethnic lines, the latest data from the Office for National Statistics suggest. White British headed households were the wealthiest ethnic group, according to data collected between 2016 and 2018. White households had a median net worth of nine times that of Black African households, the least wealthy ethnic [...]
Social responsibility belongs in the boardroom, not the marketing suite July 23, 2020 The issues that concern young people the most today — from the climate crisis and global pandemic to new conversations on race and privilege — are ones that also belong in the boardroom. Our world is changing fast, and so too are society’s expectations of corporate Britain — not just when it comes to the [...]
The sweetest thing: Ben & Jerry’s CEO on why businesses need a higher purpose January 13, 2020 What is the purpose of business? Should companies focus purely on selling their products and making money for their shareholders, or do they have a responsibility to give something back to the planet and try to do good? It’s a pertinent question, and one that has become increasingly relevant over the last decade. Nor is [...]
For richer or for poorer? The economic case for marriage is worth remembering December 4, 2019 An important piece of social news emerged last week. According to the Office for National Statistics, the divorce rate in 2018 fell to its lowest level for nearly 50 years. The overall trend is clear and well-established. The divorce rate rose steadily from the late 1950s, with sharp rises immediately following the Divorce Act of [...]
It’s International Day of Persons with Disabilities, and we need more inclusion in society December 3, 2019 As I type, it is impossible not to be reminded that my ability to do so — as someone who is registered blind — is because of the typewriter’s role as a 200-year-old example of disability inclusion. Early iterations of what led to perhaps the most ubiquitously used invention in the world — the keyboard [...]
No, your CEO can’t come paint our office: The 4 golden rules for CSR December 2, 2019 Two years ago, I launched Beam, a tech-for-good startup that crowdfunds employment training for homeless people and supports them into stable, paid work. Ever since we started to gain visibility, a number of brands have approached us with different propositions for demonstrating their corporate social responsibility (CSR) agendas. To paint a picture of what these approaches [...]
It’s time for aspiration and ability – not birth and background – to dictate progress July 8, 2019 In the UK, our sense of fair play is a source of national pride. We like to think that if you study hard at school and work hard in employment, opportunities are there for the taking. We are, however, increasingly finding evidence to the contrary. Throughout the country, we see those at the top being [...]