Congratulations, students – welcome to a broken system August 17, 2018 It is hard to think of a more eccentrically British fixation than the national obsession with A-level results day. And there’s something for everyone in the results announced yesterday A rise in the proportion of students achieving As and A*s (“exams have become too easy”), a fall in the numbers achieving above a C grade [...]
It’s time for an honest debate on retirement August 13, 2018 A population roughly the size of London – that is the number of additional people aged 65 and over estimated to be living in the UK by 2066, bringing the total figure up to 20.4m, according to the latest official data. At current rates, over a quarter of the population will be past retirement age [...]
Even the Venezuelan President knows that socialism has failed August 10, 2018 Venezuela is back in the news, with a plot straight out of a Netflix drama storyline. The apparent assassination attempt on President Nicolas Maduro last Saturday has everything: a drone explosion during the President’s speech, the terrified reaction of his wife captured during a live broadcast, and now a slew of accusations and counter conspiracy [...]
Jeremy Corbyn has made his party safer for antisemites than for Jews August 2, 2018 “If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor.” That was Jeremy Corbyn’s take on Twitter in January 2017, when Theresa May refused to condemn Donald Trump’s Muslim ban. It’s a tweet that has come back to haunt him recently. Read more: Labour MPs split over anti-Semitism hearing [...]
Elon Musk’s fall should bring our stratospheric expectations down to earth July 20, 2018 Stop what you’re doing, everyone. Elon Musk – serial entrepreneur, space crusader, and cult figure to climate progressives – has given us the one thing we never expected to see from him: an apology. The Tesla founder had little choice. While the world was celebrating the miraculous rescue of the 12 boys and their football [...]
Forget Trump’s visit, we must prepare for a new world order July 13, 2018 It was all going so well. The UK Prime Minister had secured the honour of being the first foreign leader to meet the new President of the United States. The visit appeared to be a success, the joint press conference ensued without any of the off-script tirades that had been feared, and the iconic shot [...]
Sex work bans are an affront to both safety and freedom July 6, 2018 You might have missed it this week, in the midst of open warfare in the cabinet over EU customs arrangements and a nationwide celebration of the adored NHS, but MPs on Wednesday had a new target: sex workers. Following a parliamentary report on prostitution, a cross-party group of MPs called for a ban on adult [...]
The world could do with more visionaries like Elon Musk July 3, 2018 A year ago today, entrepreneur, disruptor, and space-obsessed innovator Elon Musk assured his 10m Twitter followers that it looked like Tesla would be producing 20,000 of its Model 3 electric cars per month by December. It’s taken an extra six months but, on Sunday, Tesla finally hit its goal. It has not been a smooth [...]
Angela Merkel faces a make-or-break moment of her own making June 29, 2018 Angela Merkel had a message for her parliamentary colleagues on Thursday: the future of the EU rests on finding a solution to the migration issue. The German Chancellor is right that today’s summit is a make-or-break moment for the EU. What she neglected to mention, however, is that the migration crisis is the direct result [...]
We deserve a Prime Minister who isn’t blind to the case for cannabis June 21, 2018 No one could follow the story of Billy Caldwell, the 12-year-old boy who suffers from debilitating, potentially fatal seizures, and fail to be outraged by a bureaucratic system that denies him the cannabis treatment he needs. No one, that is, except Theresa May. The latest this week is that the government is finally going to [...]
