Britain and Ukraine are tied together by our independent tech industries March 1, 2022 AS RUSSIA launched an illegal war of aggression in eastern Europe, Ukraine may still feel quite far away from the UK, even though it is in Europe. Cities like Mariupol and Kharkiv are foreign to most Britons. Crimea is best known to most from a 200 year old poem. When Vladimir Putin talks of Ukraine [...]
Broken games: China is sport-washing its abuse with the Olympics December 20, 2021 Who doesn’t love the Olympics and Paralympics – the races, the stars, the sweat and tears, the achievements and disappointments. It’s human drama at its best. When Usain Bolt races, it feels like time stands still. When Hannah Cockroft – the wheelchair racing star known as “Hurricane Hannah” – zips around the track, it makes [...]
Hongkongers will enrich the UK – and we must make their transition as smooth as possible February 12, 2021 Today is Chinese New Year, marking the beginning of the Year of the Metal Ox. This particular year, the theme of new beginnings will resonate strongly with thousands – as the UK Government’s decision to allow Hong Kong residents to come to the UK looks set to create fresh starts for upwards of 300,000 people, if not more. This is by no means [...]
Biden’s plans for digital government set an example the UK and Europe must be willing to follow January 18, 2021 This week, days before Joe Biden had even stepped foot in the White House as US President, he showed a greater commitment to digitally-enabled government than most other world leaders have done for a long time. Unveiling a $1.9 trillion relief package including billions in IT and cyber funding, the President-elect called on Congress to [...]
Coronavirus: Here comes the startup chancellor April 20, 2020 Startups are the economy’s ‘department for the future.’ Their job is to future-proof all the other sectors – from retail and banking through ecommerce to public services. They are vital to the UK’s post-Brexit, post-Covid-19 future. They are also among its most vulnerable. Look up ‘start-up’ in the Cambridge Dictionary and the first example of [...]
Why the UK’s startup sector is worth saving March 30, 2020 Covid-19 has already destroyed so much. Lives, livelihoods, freedom of movement. For those on the frontlines, whether in the NHS, social care or supermarkets, or in the country’s many sick beds, the battle is fierce. As the dominoes of our economy have tumbled, the government has quickly stepped in. First to safeguard business. Then to [...]
Ignore Elon Musk’s doom-mongering – AI will strengthen our society, not break it September 10, 2019 In Elon Musk’s mind, the dystopian thriller Ex Machina is forecast, not fiction. Debating Alibaba’s Jack Ma at the World AI Conference at the end of August, Musk claimed that humanity was directly threatened by the development of artificial intelligence, and that human beings were simply a “biological boot loader for digital super-intelligence”. The billionaire [...]
How to make the UK an innovation nation December 20, 2016 Prime Minister Theresa May intends to start 2017 with a flurry of policy announcements including apparently unveiling what Nick Timothy, her co-chief of staff, called “a more long-term and strategic approach to economic and industrial policy” in an article he published before he re-joined government. Industrial strategy is back. This is very welcome. But how does [...]
Wanted: A bold government housing strategy that delivers for the young rather than the old December 6, 2016 If Brexit wasn’t dominating British politics, then one other issue would be: the lack of housing. If you know someone under 30, living in London and able to afford their first home, then your friend belongs to the country’s richest percentile. For most people, even for those on what used to be a decent median income, owning [...]
Britain needs a culture shift if it’s going to lead the world on free trade November 15, 2016 In her most pro-business speech since she came to power, Theresa May last night made a grown-up argument for Britain to promote free trade. This is excellent. But as the Prime Minister knows, it will take a lot more than pro-trade rhetoric to make things happen. Britain will have to take concrete steps at home and [...]