Rowing a very long way: meet the two entrepreneurs who crossed the Atlantic for charity February 5, 2022 Among all the noble ways to raise money for a charitable cause, Guy Rigby and David Murray chose an unconventional one – to say the least. The two businessmen rowed across the Atlantic for seven weeks, breaking the world record as the oldest couple to ever row across any ocean. Indeed Guy is 68 and [...]
Letters: Time to take my Wordle for it February 4, 2022 [Re:New York Times acquires Wordle for seven figure sum, Feb 1] The acquisition of Wordle by The New York Times’ is the culmination of the game’s meteoric rise. But how did we reach the point where a game made by one man for his fiancée was sold for millions of dollars? Wordle’s success can be [...]
The rallying cry of levelling up has been cash-strapped and watered down February 3, 2022 People deserve to live in a country where life is not a postcode lottery, says Michael Gove in the foreword of the much awaited flagship plan for levelling up unveiled yesterday. This is one of those recycled truisms we hear again and again in politics. The same could be said for much of the white [...]
Opinion-in-brief: A day in the life of Nadine Dorries Twitter January 31, 2022 Clearly, Nadine Dorries is jealous of Rishi Sunak’s social media stardom. The Culture Secretary, famed for telling a reporter she would nail his testicles to the wall, has decided to do what every jilted lover has considered doing, and posting passive aggressive, vaguely amusing jokes on twitter. After the discovery of the “pork pie plot” [...]
Opinion-in-brief: A nuclear future gets lifted off the ground January 28, 2022 On Tuesday, Rolls-Royce invited bids from English and Welsh regions to host the site of a small nuclear reactors’ factory. Yesterday, fresh news of £100m of government money invested in the Sizewell nuclear site made the headlines. Sizewell C could generate enough electricity to cover 7 per cent of what the country needs, providing around [...]
The battle of London’s protected views exposes the power mismatch on housing January 27, 2022 If you’re reading this newspaper, you live in London and hopefully you love it. If you don’t love it, perhaps you still recognize its unique flavour. London is a melting pot where history finds innovation, where the majestic cathedral of St Paul’s neighbours the skyscrapers of the City. This concoction of old and new, of [...]
Commons snapshot: Boris goes big on Ukraine to shake off birthday blues January 26, 2022 While Boris Johnson struggled to regain control of his party in the midst of allegations of birthday parties in No10, he was for a moment, at least, able to divert attention away from it while presenting the UK as a strong force in the face of Russian aggression in Ukraine. “If President Putin were to [...]
Exempt housing can plug the hole, but we must bring it up to scratch January 21, 2022 If finding affordable housing is difficult for numerous young professionals and key workers in the country – and especially in the capital – imagine how hard it is for prison leavers struggling to find a job, or for refugees who have just landed on new shores. Then there are the victims of domestic abuse desperately [...]
Opinion-in-brief: Time to get off the hamster wheel of animal cruelty January 19, 2022 Yesterday, Hong Kong authorities announced they would cull 2,000 small animals – mainly hamsters – because they had caught Covid-19. There is no evidence that pets can transmit the virus to animals. It is reminiscent of the Danish PM’s decision to cull all minks in the country in 2020. The mink massacre led to the [...]
Explainer-in-brief: All the parties rocking Downing Street and Whitehall January 17, 2022 The number of Downing Street and Whitehall parties has been piling up, so much so that it can be hard to follow. So here’s your calendar. The last discovered party took place on the 16th of April 2021 and involved Downing Street staff dancing to a dj set the night before the Queen attended her [...]