Democrats are risking a Corbynesque mistake February 6, 2020 Tuesday morning’s New York Post headline — “Duh Moines,” after the capital of Iowa, Des Moines — neatly summed up the reaction of most of the watching world to the much-hyped start of the US presidential election. A new voting app turned the first Democrat primary (where potential presidential candidates are ranked) into an utter [...]
Government flies into trouble with targets February 5, 2020 One can understand why a man whose job it is to promote and run an airport may be of the view that flying is, on balance, quite a good idea. For much of the time that Heathrow has been in business, its bosses have largely had their licence to operate pretty much nailed on — [...]
Johnson’s Huawei gamble is exactly that January 29, 2020 So, they’re in. After all the hullaballoo of recent weeks, the actual announcement that Huawei will be granted access to the UK’s 5G infrastructure was something of a damp squib, slipped out in a press release that didn’t even dare mention the name of the Chinese company. This is Boris Johnson’s first major decision, and [...]
Management gurus drop the ball this time January 28, 2020 England’s cricketers haven’t made a recent habit of winning Test matches abroad, so the 3-1 series victory over South Africa is cause for celebration – not least due to the arrival on the international scene of Ollie Pope and a sign that we might just have found a pair of openers who can keep us [...]
No cricket chat? Management gurus dropped the ball this time January 28, 2020 England’s cricketers haven’t made a habit of winning Test matches abroad recently, so the 3-1 series victory over South Africa is cause for celebration — not least due to the arrival on the international scene of Ollie Pope and a sign that we might have found openers who can keep us in a game beyond [...]
Businesses need to be heard on immigration January 24, 2020 Over the last few years, the Home Office has managed to preside over the Windrush debacle, been forced to apologise for a heavy-handed refusal to issue visas because of minor administrative errors, and admitted that it has no idea of how many customs agents it has. It is, in short, a department in which things [...]
Boris bounce must be given the right boost January 23, 2020 The weather may be turning for the worse, but it appears that the economy has some sunlit uplands in its sights. Day after day seems to bring a new survey which suggests that business leaders, households and analysts are feeling a little chirpier about 2020. Today the CBI and Atheneum join a growing chorus of [...]
Can the UK deal with both Brussels and DC? January 22, 2020 To take Donald Trump literally, but not seriously, is a mistake that many have made since he transitioned from waning reality TV star to political insurgent and leader of the free world. It is true that many of his chosen and oft-quoted facts are at best disputable, and his tweeted assaults on the English language [...]
Business needs weirdos and wild cards, too January 9, 2020 We need some true wild cards… super-talented weirdos.” That was the verdict of new Number Ten brain-in-chief, and occasional chief of staff, Dominic Cummings last week on who he wished to hire to transform the British state. His argument – in a blog that is best described as forthright – is that there are some [...]
Labour’s problem is the message, not London accents December 18, 2019 “There is no choice between being principled and unelectable, and electable and unprincipled. We have tortured ourselves with this foolishness for too long,” said Tony Blair, in his 1994 speech to Labour Conference, his first as leader. “If the world changes and we do not, we become of no use to the world. Our principles [...]
