Explainer-in-brief: Tampax joins the losers of social media PR November 23, 2022 Tampax is facing a boycott after a Twitter post that was branded as blatant misogyny and accused of sexualising periods. The company is not the first one that has tried to be funny or to leverage social media and completely failed. American fashion brand Kenneth Cole attributed the “uproar in #Cairo” during the Egypt revolution [...]
Explainer-in-brief: A Swiss deal, full of holes of our own making November 22, 2022 Even the mention of a Swiss-style relationship with the EU threw Brexiteers into pitbull mode with Nigel Farage apparently willing to come back and “crush” the Tories. The government has already come out to deny the claims, with Rishi Sunak guaranteeing any trade agreement with the union won’t rely “on alignment with EU rules”. A [...]
Explainer-in-brief: Is Twitter really a dead man walking? November 21, 2022 When Elon Musk bought Twitter, many worried for the consequences on vulnerable users or those more likely to suffer abuse online, as Musk portrayed himself as a freedom of speech absolutist. But now that he’s taken ownership, the problem might be simpler: it’s not clear whether he has the acumen to keep the ship afloat. [...]
Explainer-in-brief: The French ready to go down under for submarines November 18, 2022 French president Emmanuel Macron said this week that the submarine deal with Australia was “still on the table”, following conversations with Australian prime minister Anthony Albanese at the G20. The $90bn deal fell through last year – sparking a diplomatic crisis of sorts between the two countries – when Australia ditched it to form a [...]
Explainer-in-brief: A housing crisis claiming lives November 17, 2022 The revelation that the death of 2-year-old Awaab Ishak in 2020 was caused by extensive mould in his family house has rocked a nation locked in a permanent housing crisis. Giving a statement about this tragedy in Parliament yesterday, Secretary of State for Levelling up Michael Gove said that “every single person in this country, [...]
Explainer-in-brief: Rishi Sunak’s Great Wall of China November 16, 2022 Sunak is likely to pay more attention to the potential economic and trade benefits of a working relationship with China.
For Afghan women activists at risk, marriage is the best way to the UK November 15, 2022 We have been talking about asylum seekers and migration all year. First, we had the fights with France about Channel crossings; then the debate about the extortionate Rwanda plan. More recently, we’ve been exposed to the inhumane conditions in asylum centres like Manston and just yesterday, there were more conversations with the French over people [...]
Explainer-in-brief: Amazon chases the robotic revolution in the retail space November 14, 2022 Amazon wants 100 per cent of its packaging to be managed by robots in the next five years. The retail giant is not far from this target, given three quarters of the packages it delivers have been – at least partially – wrapped up by a robot. Employees have been reassured that “the need for [...]
Explainer-in-brief: Another day, another tube strike November 10, 2022 Today London will be greatly affected by traffic turmoil, as tube strikes risk grinding the city to a halt. Londoners will be better off resorting to a Lime bike or an e-scooter to get to work. Not all news is bad news, though: at least we have been spared from the train strikes. The RMT [...]
Explainer-in-brief: What the hell is Boris Johnson doing at cop27? November 8, 2022 Boris Johnson called himself the "spirit of Glasgow" at Cop27 in Egypt.
