Explainer-in-brief: Poland’s fighter jets pose problems for Nato March 10, 2022 Yesterday, the US made a decision which shocked many as President Biden refused to act as a go-between and send Polish fighter jets to Ukraine. For those clamouring for more support in Ukraine, it seemed nonsensical. But it is part of a broader line Western countries are trying to balance as they support Ukraine’s efforts [...]
International Women’s Day and feminism every day March 8, 2022 In her book published last year, Amia Srinivasan wrote: “Feminist theory is grounded in what women think when they are by themselves, what they say to each other on the picket line and on the assembly line and on the street corner and in the bedroom, what they have tried to say to their husbands [...]
Big Oil’s exit from Russia is finally a true confluence between profit and purpose March 3, 2022 In November last year, any company with enough money to stamp their name on the top of a letterhead was clamouring to prove they weren’t just in it to make money; they were good people too. The Cop26 climate change summit offered an opportunity for businesses of all stripes to issue press releases and host [...]
Opinion-in-brief: Stay at home at the slightest inconvenience March 1, 2022 Today there will be the first full tube strike since 2017, as 10,000 RMT workers walk off and all London Underground lines stop running. Instead of directing people to find other ways to get to work, Transport for London told people to stay at home. Part of the problem facing the transport network is a [...]
Boris Johnson’s sanctions tread on almost no one’s toes February 24, 2022 IF you’re going to talk the talk, you better be able to walk the walk; it is a helplessly overused cliché, but as Boris Johnson tries to assert a firm hand of Global Britain with economic sanctions against Russia, it is the simplest words that ring true. Over the last few weeks, the prime minister [...]
Behind the story: Sajid vs Rishi and the cost of test and trace February 22, 2022 In May 2020, NHS test and trace was set up with a budget of £22bn. A year later, they had been given an extra £15bn, totalling £37bn over two years. This astronomical scale of money ploughed into the contact tracing regime has been blasted from all sides of politics, especially after it largely failed to [...]
Opinion-in-brief: Is Big Jet TV Guy the new Francis Bourgeois? February 21, 2022 When Tim Berners-Lee created the world wide web in 1989, he probably didn’t envisage that on a windy day in the UK, more than 100,000 people would tune in to watch planes land at Heathrow. Part of the fascination with Big Jet TV, the youtube channel dedicated to plan landings, was the host’s excitement. It [...]
Explainer-in-brief: Is there hope on the Ukrainian border? February 16, 2022 Yesterday morning it seemed like a pressure valve had been released, even if just slightly when Russia announced it was “withdrawing” some troops who had been carrying out “drills” on the Ukrainian border. After weeks of escalating tensions and a constant flow of European leaders travelling to Moscow to demand Vladimir Putin back down, it [...]
Explainer-in-brief: Peloton to ride high again February 10, 2022 They were the darling of the pandemic, and then they flopped. The American exercise bike company Peloton was a 15-minute story of fame for the ages. Its fortunes soared as the likes of Rishi Sunak and Miley Cyrus bragged about their secret spinning habit, but after gyms reopened, they floundered. Even more so after they [...]
New Zealand’s exit from isolation is only the first test February 4, 2022 After two years of harsh and emotionally devastating border controls, New Zealand’s Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has announced the country will finally relax expensive hotel quarantine requirements for returning Kiwis. It will happen in stages, starting with New Zealand citizens coming from Australia; international students will be barred until April. But the test won’t be [...]
