This infuriating new EU rule has everyone flipping their lid

A new EU directive banning fully detachable lids on plastic bottles has angered soft drink consumers everywhere, says an orange-juice soaked Steve Allen

I sit here furious, looking like I’m lactating Sunny Delight. My white shirt, clean on today, has a yellow stain down the front from a bottle of orange juice. EU Directive 2019/90 has ruined my day.

The offending drip came from the tethered lid. Some orange juice had stowed away in there and when I tipped the bottle back for a swig it took the chance to attack.

In the old days we could fully remove the lid before drinking but now plastic bottle lids are attached by a little bit of plastic because – apparently – we’re idiots who don’t know how to use bottles any more.

The intention of EU Directive 2019/90 is to increase recycling rates. Some people didn’t know that the plastic lids were recyclable along with the plastic bottle even though they were both clearly plastic. Now we have bottles where you can’t remove the lids and I am sending a size 16 neck shirt to landfill.

The Coca-Cola company first rolled out attached lids in 2022. They now have tethered lids on brands including Smartwater, Oasis, Fanta and Dr Pepper. 

It’s the greatest assault on ergonomic design since the paper straw – the bottle version of having your shoelaces tied together. You open the bottle, excited to quench your thirst, only to fumble the execution as you pulled the lid and the bottle came with it.

Even the Mesopotamians, who invented the first bottles around 1500 BC, knew the lids should be removable. This latest update means you either have to have your nose squished by the lid, your chin cupped, or you hold it out to the side and dribble some down you.

It’s not just Coca-Cola doing it now. This month the EU are banning detachable lids on bottles 3l or under. The UK is technically exempt, which would have been a Brexit benefit, if it weren’t for economies of scale meaning we’ll get the mass produced bottles too.

Will this vastly reduce the amount of plastic going to landfill? It’s unclear.

Recycle Now estimates that an average of 35.8m plastic bottles are used each day in the UK but only 19.8m are recycled. However not all of those were recycled without lids and it’s only a few grams of plastic being saved from landfill by this scheme.

Research commissioned by the industry body Unesda Soft Drinks Europe Found that tethered caps could cause 50,000 to 200,000 tons of additional plastic to be used.

While the benefits are unclear, what’s not is the rage the change has caused consumers, with many taking to social media to vent their frustration. One soft drink enthusiast wrote on Twitter that: ‘Tethered caps are the worst thing to happen to humanity since the removal of the headphone jack.’

It could prove more effective than the sugar tax in tackling obesity, since everyone will end up with more fizzy drinks down their fronts than in their stomachs. Personally I’m hoping it’s a secret plan to make the bottles so annoying to drink out of that everyone remembers to recycle those caps once the classic design returns. But if it is a conspiracy, the EU’s keeping a lid on it.

Steve Allen is broadcaster and comedian as seen on The Mash Report and the Steve N Allen (Almost) Daily podcast

New government must feel the need for speed

Labour have stormed out of the gates with new policy announcements, but in their first 100 days, they must deliver quickly too, says Joe Hill

The investor Paul Graham wrote that, “the startups that do things slowly don’t do them any better. Just slower”. The same is true of governments.

Four days after the General Election, and Labour have stormed out of the gate with new policy announcements – economic co-operation with Europe, reoffending and the prison population plus canning the Rwanda scheme to name a few. Speculation continues about the other announcements that will feature in their first 100 days in office – from new legislation to support workers’ rights to issuing new guidance to councils to review their green belt land.

They are copying the playbook of many successful governments, who realised that speed really matters at the start. It was just five days after New Labour’s 1997 landslide win that they announced the independence of the Bank of England. In 2019 the new Conservative Government delivered their promise to leave the EU within three weeks of being elected.

Labour should channel this attitude to the speed of announcements in their first few days, into the speed of delivery everyday. Because while the big announcements get headlines, it’s the little things that add up over time. Turning around the ship of the state may be slow but it’s the thousands of barnacles on the hull that make it slower.

The government has a chronic public service productivity problem, which is still lower today than it was in 1997. When we measure productivity in the state, we tend to look at the ratio between technical ‘inputs’ and ‘outputs’ but forget that speed is usually the crucial factor in improving that ratio.

The growth in NHS waiting lists means the average person waits longer for treatment – driving up the risk of conditions deteriorating and needing even more intensive care. Members of the public who are waiting for justice have to wait longer – before the pandemic 40-50 per cent of crown court cases were concluded within three months, which had dropped to a historic low of 27.8 per cent by 2022. 

The Grenfell Inquiry’s final report has yet to be published, eight years on from the tragedy. The Lower Thames Crossing, a 2.4m stretch of tunnel which started planning in 2009, won’t see spades in the ground until at least 2026. People born the year it began will be able to vote before it has been completed.

If the next government wants public services to be better, it needs to focus on making them faster. Ministers should be laser-focused on making it quicker to get planning permission, procure from businesses, undergo security vetting, hire and fire officials, and complete every bit of paperwork filled out in a frontline service. Or better yet, dispense with some altogether. 

To do this, they will need to curtail the impact of judicial review on public policy, which creates opportunities for pressure groups to take them to court and delay changes. Much of the bureaucracy and admin in public services exists so public servants can ‘show their working’ if a judge ever asks – a potential risk which comes with the certain cost of worse services to the public.

Critics will cry that any attempt to speed up the business of the state amounts to a rush job. But it’s false to assume that working quickly means doing the work worse. Have any public services improved in quality as they have become slower? Most have deteriorated instead. For better public services, the government should focus on making them faster.

Joe Hill is policy director at Reform

This shallow but broad landslide must not hold back Starmer’s ambitions

Make no mistake: it was a historic night for the Labour party, a triumph for the campaign strategists behind the party’s ‘efficient’ campaign, and a fine political achievement for Keir Starmer, who many still think isn’t a natural politician.

The big question this morning is whether this shallow but broad landslide – with a vote share lower than that of Blair or Corbyn going to Starmer – gives the new Prime Minister as strong a hand as he wanted.

When Starmer sat down with City A.M. at the end of last year, he told us he was willing to be “unpopular.” 

The context then was planning reform. Would he really be willing to take the political hit that comes with building? With telling some local communities that they’re getting new homes and a bypass whether they want it or not? 

He assured us then that he would. Just as he has similarly made the case on NHS and public sector reform.

There has, thus, been an argument that the very technocratic vision for government that Keir Starmer has would be most effective – indeed only effective – with a stonking majority. ‘Fixing Britain’ requires annoying people. Planning frustrates local MPs; public sector reform angers the unions. The logic ran that a strong majority gives him the mandate to do just that.

In parliamentary terms, that is his. His party is the House of Commons. 

In the nation, the picture is more complicated. The lack of a genuine popular mandate will embolden critics; MPs will be more nervous than they might otherwise have been, looking at majorities that will feel distinctly insecure. The next election starts today, and MPs will already be assessing how they hold on next time, particularly in seats that are neither tribally nor historically Labour. The spectre of Reform will spook those in more anti-immigration areas and it is impossible to believe 

David Cameron was once asked why he wanted to become Prime Minister. His answer – “I thought I’d be rather good at it” – became a byword for Etonian arrogance.

Listening to Keir Starmer, one suspects that for very different reasons he thinks the same of himself. 

In recent years if you asked him why he wanted the job at No10, he talked of his past: what he sees as a successful legal and public sector career, a record as he sees it of consistent performance. 

Now, though, the job is as much about herding a large, diverse, and nervous party as it is organisational change and delivery. 

To deliver the change Britain needs – on housing, infrastructure, on a step change in productivity – he will need to prove his political talents once again.

Happy 30th birthday Amazon, so what’s next?

Amazon has been successfully innovating for three decades, but what’s worked so far may not suffice for the next stage, says Julian Skelly

This week, Amazon celebrates its 30th birthday. From humble beginnings as an online bookstore, it’s evolved into a global brand, reshaping industries and redefining how we shop, work, and live.

In a world where human life expectancy is increasing, the average lifespan of companies has dramatically decreased from 67 years in 1929 to a mere 15 years today, according to Yale University.

Reaching the 30-year milestone is no small feat for Amazon.

Traditionally, disruptors challenge established norms and test strategies, products, and services against the existing market. Along with Amazon, newer players like Chinese e-commerce giants Shein and Temu share this creative spirit.

These companies challenge the status quo by continuously innovating, forcing the market to adapt to their new business methods. For instance, Shein, a leader in the fast-fashion space, is expanding into furniture, electronics, and pet care, introducing up to 10,000 new items on its website daily. With the e-commerce market becoming increasingly saturated with major players, can Amazon continue to innovate and maintain its position as a leader in the space, and what strategies will it use to sustain its success?

Back in 1994, Jeff Bezos had a vision that the internet would revolutionise how we buy and read books. With determination and a garage in Bellevue, Washington, he created an online bookstore that would surpass traditional brick-and-mortar stores by fundamentally reshaping consumer behaviour and the retail industry worldwide. Early on, Amazon declared itself “Earth’s Biggest Bookstore”, competing with established retailers like Barnes & Noble.

By focusing on customer needs, developing unique propositions, and seizing new opportunities, Bezos built a company that leads in e-commerce as the high street declines. But after three decades, the energy and fearlessness of youth are tempered by wisdom and experience. It must navigate this stage carefully to avoid the decline that many companies face.

Harvard Business Review identified unique characteristics that businesses that thrive for decades seem to share. These organisations take a long-term view, focusing less on profit and more on shaping society. They share expertise and create opportunities for innovation, prioritising getting better over getting bigger. Retaining a stable core while nurturing a disruptive edge keeps them ahead of the competition. Amazon scores well on some of these measures but not all.

The retailer’s corporate culture of relentless ambition and secrecy has propelled it to the top. Beyond its core e-commerce business, it has expanded into cloud computing and nurtured the disruptive Amazon Web Services (AWS), creating a whole new cloud-computing vertical. Now the preferred platform for businesses of all sizes, AWS powers many popular websites and services, cementing Amazon’s dominance in both digital and physical spaces.

However, what has brought it success so far might not suffice for the next stage. As the market catches up, Amazon needs to innovate faster by breaking its code of secrecy and inviting new thinking into its teams. It will ensure longevity by bringing diverse skills together to tackle the next challenge in the quest for convenience and low pricing.

As Amazon blows out its 30 candles, the question on everyone’s mind is: what’s next? 

It’s clear the e-commerce giant has its sights set on even bigger things. It’s already revolutionised shopping with its Prime membership, offering lightning-fast shipping and a plethora of perks. But it’s not stopping there. Amazon is venturing into new territories like healthcare, aiming to disrupt yet another industry.

Quality, the drive for improvement and truly understanding the customer have always been a part of Amazon’s DNA. If it continues to excel in this area, improvements in customer experience, pricing, and profits will follow. By executing this well, it may find the secret to Eternal Youth, reinventing itself to serve the needs of the next generation of customers who want to shop at the Everything Store.

Julian Skelly is managing partner at Publicis Sapient 

Nicola Sturgeon: Election “grimmer” than expected for bruised SNP

Thursday is “not a good night for the SNP”, Nicola Sturgeon has said as the exit poll suggests the party could drop to as few as 10 seats.

The BBC/ITV/Sky survey was published as polls closed at 10pm, predicting a 170 seat majority for Labour across the UK.

Sir Keir Starmer’s party’s success appears to have extended north of the border, with the SNP losing 38 seats compared with the 2019 election.

Speaking on ITV, the ex-SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon reacted minutes after the exit poll suggested her party could lose 38 seats compared to the 2019 election.

“This is not a good night for the SNP on these numbers,” she said.

“I think there will be a question about whether there was enough in the campaign to give out, effectively, a USP to the SNP in an election that was about getting the Tories out and replacing them with Labour.”

Sturgeon added: “This is at the grimmer end of the expectations for the SNP if the exit poll is right and, from what I’ve said earlier on, I expect it will be.

“This is seismic for Labour. There’s no getting away from that, it’s a massive achievement for Keir Starmer.

“I think it will be interesting as the night progresses to see the extent this is driven by the Tory collapse as opposed to a Labour surge.”

The first result in Scotland is expected to be Rutherglen, which could declare at 1am.

Speaking on ITV, the former Scottish first minister said she believed the results of the exit poll would turn out to be “broadly right”.

The SNP’s campaign centred around calls for talks on another independence referendum if the party won a majority of seats at the election.

But despite the exit poll result, Deputy First Minister Kate Forbes told the BBC: “I would strongly caution anybody against dismissing the robust, resilient and significant number of people in this country that support independence and the next Labour government will have to contend with that, we’ll have to listen to Scottish voters because even over the last few months – which have been difficult – that support for independence has remained strong.”

But she added the party would need to “listen to the voices of voters”.

The SNP would also “set out our agenda to regain and rebuild the trust of the voters across Scotland”, she said.

While the party’s campaign chief, Stewart Hosie, described the poll as “stark” but insisted it was “just an exit poll”.

“In the next few hours, we’ll see how accurate or otherwise it is,” he told the PA news agency.

Asked what such a result could mean for the SNP, Mr Hosie said he was not concerned.

“In 2005, I think we were down to five or six MPs and we went on to win the Holyrood election in 2007,” he said.

“In 2010, I think we returned six and went on to win a majority in Holyrood in 2011.

“So I’m not worried about what this means for the SNP, but clearly if this result or something like it comes to pass, it tells us that the overriding motivation for almost everybody in this election was simply to get the Tories out and people appear to have decided that a vote for Labour is the way to do that.”

Former first minister and Alba Party leader Alex Salmond said the SNP’s potential collapse was “not because of independence”.

“How could it be? The SNP did not even campaign on it,” he said.

“In reality, the support for independence is strong. It is the SNP who are weak. The independence case must now find new vehicles to move forward.”

Press Association

Arise Sir Oliver: Dowden given knighthood and Grayling to the Lords

Oliver Dowden, the deputy prime minister and former Tory party chair, had a knighthood confirmed just half an hour before the polls closed this evening.

Oliver Dowden will become a Sir alongside Julian Smith and Ben Wallace, the former defence secretary. They have all received the Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath honour.

Scottish secretary Alastair Jack has also been given a knighthood.

Therese Coffey, the long-time Cabinet minister, has been made a Dame.

Amongst the ‘dissolution peerages’ were places in the House of Lords for Sir Graham Brady, the longtime Tory grandee, Chris Grayling, and former Prime Minister Theresa May.

Liam Booth-Smith, Rishi Sunak’s chief of staff, has also been given a seat in the House of Lords.

Peerages were also given to Labour figures Dame Margaret Hodge and Harriet Harman, as well as Dame Margaret Beckett.

The general election is being held on July 4 and polls anticipate a significant Labour victory.

Polls opened nationwide on Thursday, July 4, at 7 a.m. and will close at 10 p.m.

At 10pm, a final exit poll will be released, which should give a strong indication of how the country has voted.

The first actual results of the General Election are not due for more than an hour later, with the bulk expected to be announced in the early hours of Friday, July 5.

Five of the best good boys (and girls) at polling stations

Elections are festivals of democracy but no matter their objections to mandatory leads, grass-walking policies or anti-swimming laws, dogs of Britain are in many ways excluded.

That does not stop them however providing much of the finest entertainment on election day – with dogs unable to enter into polling stations, they often wait outside.

Here’s our pick of some of the best boys and girls on today’s election trail.

A very good labrador waits patiently at Ingleby Cross in North Yorkshire.

Some candidates dragged their unwilling pooches to the polls, too.

Labour candidate for Cardiff North Anna McMorrin’s dog Cadi was smiling for the cameras. Give that good boy (or girl) a boneo.

Current polling suggests the Conservative party could lose to a degree not seen in almost 200 years – or more than 1400 dog years.

Retriever pup Tui was nonplussed by the significance of the day, however, but enjoyed the early morning sunshine in south London.

Meanwhile this Westie waited patiently for polls to open in Great Ayton.

We’ll be covering the election all night on our City A.M. live blog. Where you’ll find out the results at the same time as this red setter in London, as well as the guy in the bear suit.

LONDON, ENGLAND – JULY 04: A dog looks towards a protestor in a bear suit as he stands outside a polling station on July 04, 2024 in London, England. Voters in 650 constituencies across the UK are electing members of Parliament to the House of Commons via the first-past-the-post system. Rishi Sunak announced the election on May 22, 2024. The last general election that took place in July was in 1945, following the Second World War, which resulted in a landslide victory for Clement Attlee’s Labour Party. (Photo by Leon Neal/Getty Images)

Puppy politics: How does your dog vote?

You may know how you’re voting, but what about your polling station-bound dog? Here’s our guide to pet pawlitics

Cockapoo

Bichon frise

XL Bully

Corgi

Dalmation

Shiba Inu

Greyhound

Pomeranian

Labrador Retriever

Will it Work: The best and worst policies of the 2024 election campaign

It’s an election year. Politicians are giving us a barrage of policies. But we often forget to ask the most important question: will they actually work? In this column Sam Fowles take policies on their own terms and asks whether they solve the problem they’re supposed to solve.

Happy Election Eve! For the past six weeks politicians have tried to convince us that they hold the answer to the country’s woes. Now it’s decision time. To celebrate, here are “Will it Work’s” best and worst policies of the 2024 campaign. 

Most likely to work: Labour’s plan to reconceptualise the high street

Regular readers will know this column gives each policy a mark out of 20 (based on electoral appeal, value for money, effectiveness, and originality). Labour’s plan was our top scorer, with (a very creditable) 15. The strength of the policy lies in its clear-eyed acceptance of change. Rather than trying to turn back the clock to a time when retail was exclusively conducted on the high street, Labour plans to empower local people to purchase empty shops and re-fit them for community projects. If properly executed, it could restore the high street as an essential public and community space while allowing people to keep the price and convenience benefits of shopping online. It addresses both the economic problem (the decline of the high street) and the social problem (erosion of community space). 

Least likely to work: National Service

The Conservatives and Reform battle it out for Will it Work’s lowest marks (much like in the national polls…). Reform’s plan to “cut out waste” doesn’t identify what it will cut. This, alone, would be enough to leave most economists rolling their eyes. Reform, however, decided to pair it with a plan to immediately stop paying interest on Bank of England reserve accounts. These provide the main day-to-day liquidity to the financial system, so the ensuing withdrawal of funds would likely cause a liquidity crisis. The plan got an (embarrassing) 3/20. 

But Farage and co were pipped to the post by Rishi Sunak’s Conservatives The government’s own view of its “National Service” plan (swiftly hidden from the public once the policy was announced) was that it will “damage morale, recruitment and retention.” The Navy’s ex-chief of staff was more succinct. He called the plan “bonkers”. 

If the plan is supposed to help “social cohesion” (Sunak’s other justification), then it will be the first time in history that calling kids feckless and making them do forced labour has ever endeared them to the government. It wins “worst policy” with a pitiable score of 2/20. 

Honourable mention: Lib Dem plan to reduce child poverty

This was a “snap” election, so we’ve had little time to scrutinise all the parties’ policies. Many deserved more attention, but we didn’t have space to put them in this column. Chief amongst these must be the Lib Dem plan to tackle child poverty. 

Child poverty (declining steadily 1996-2010) is once again increasing. Today, 4.3m kids live in poverty. This must rank amongst the most significant of policy failures of recent years. It’s disappointing that this has been almost entirely absent from the general election debate. The Lib Dems, at least, have proposed a plan. The package of measures includes extending free school meals to all children, tripling the early years pupil premium, scrapping the “two child benefit cap”, providing specialist mental health support in every school and appointing a cabinet minister for children. Policy Engine, an independent service which calculates the impacts of policies, concludes the Lib Dem plans could reduce child poverty by up to 24.5 per cent (Labour’s plans are predicted to have a 1.3 per cent impact while the Conservatives are predicted to increase child poverty by up to 3.4 per cent). Children can’t vote in this election but will probably be most impacted by its outcome. I hope that, regardless of who ends up in power, their policies to help kids in poverty will work.

This government is out of ideas, out of energy, and deserves to be out of office

Starmer or Sunak: City A.M. delivers its verdict on the 2024 General Election

Much has recently been made of whether Keir Starmer works after 6pm. For the record, he does. But as smart City bosses know, it’s not when you work, or how much, but how effectively you do so.

The government, for instance, has been grafting for some fourteen years. For large chunks of the latter half of that period, whether up with the lark or burning the midnight oil, they have produced little of note from their toil. 

In truth, this version of the Conservative party was doomed when, rather than casting off the Liz Truss budget or moving on from the Brexit wars, Rishi Sunak elected not to serve his country but to keep his party together.

Since Sunak took office, the government has stood for almost nothing; it has shown little vision, little idea of what Britain it wanted to be build, and those chinks of light that were offered were directly contradicted by the government’s actions. It is all very well saying you’re building a low-tax economy; doing it whilst cranking the tax burden up to a seventy-year high is another thing altogether. Likewise it’s no good promising to build the houses this country desperately needs having capitulated to Nimby backbenchers on mandatory targets.

We believe that somewhere in Rishi Sunak is a man who gets the markets and instinctively understands the high-tech, high-investment economy that Britain can have, and that government must enable. However, over and over again, he has failed to articulate it; he has pandered to his party’s worst instincts on immigration, on personality politics, indulging in some of the most childish political campaigning we’ve seen in a generation and becoming carried away by the fantasy politics of Rwanda deportations and an £8.3bn pothole fund. The party’s ‘big offer’ is to continue doing the things it has either been doing or trying (and failing) to do, and hoping for a different result. With years of mismanagement in the rear-view mirror, that is an unappealing prospect.

City A.M. hopes that what emerges from the inevitable battle for the soul of the Conservatives is a party once again committed to freedom, choice and opportunity. Recent political chaos has obscured the essential truth that free markets are a force for good and an engine for prosperity – and Britain will need politicians capable of articulating that message to a sceptical public.

But for now, it is hard to conclude anything other than this: this government is out of energy, out of ideas, and should, therefore, be out of office. 

Does this mean a full-throated endorsement of Keir Starmer’s Labour? That is, unfortunately, beyond us.

The party’s ‘big offer’ is to continue doing the things it has either been doing or trying (and failing) to do, and hoping for a different result

As Starmer has said to us in the past, almost everything is easier in opposition than in government. Pro-business rhetoric has not been matched thus far by concrete policies and more specifically, concrete promises of what won’t happen. We remain spooked by the possibility of changes to capital gains taxation, effectively a levy on entrepreneurship. Whilst Starmer’s commitment to get Britain building is welcome, we are still concerned that others in the party may shake from their belief when they are constituency MPs, and we too know too little about whether – if growth proves more difficult to achieve than Rachel Reeves et al hope – the party’s historic instinct to lean on the public sector and a larger state has been controlled.  

What you do with your vote is your business. We aren’t arrogant enough to tell you what to do with it. 

But should the polls come to fruition, we hope Starmer and Reeves can fulfil their ambitions for growth. Britain is stagnant; it has been for many years. A lack of political will has stopped the country from addressing the fundamental issues at play, from planning reform to infrastructure investment. And should he become Prime Minister, we are hopeful – optimistic, even, we will be surprised to the upside.

Above all: he is a self-evidently decent man, a grown-up, almost a technocrat but more than that, too. For all his public sector experience, the suspicion is he understands the role of business and indeed of London and the City. He has shown himself fitting of the office to which he aspires and his party has campaigned, with some exceptions, in a similar vein. Now he must deliver on his promise.