Act now to close the education gap — or our economy will pay the cost for years to come October 12, 2020 If there were ever any doubt about the full cost of closing schools, the answer is now clear. It is a vast price — and one that will have to be paid by the nation on both a human and a financial level for many, many years to come. Alongside the mounting national debt being [...]
The answer to Britain’s housing crisis is more houses – not risky mortgages October 11, 2020 Housing experts were left scratching their heads this week after Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced his flagship policy to get young people on the housing ladder: bigger mortgages. Johnson plans to turn “generation rent” into “generation buy” by offering long-term, fixed-rate mortgages of up to 95 per cent of the value of the home. He [...]
The pensions triple-lock is unjustifiable in normal times — in the Covid era, it is utterly unconscionable October 9, 2020 Imagine you a Conservative chancellor trying to steer the economy through the midst of the worst pandemic in modern history. You have done your best to protect jobs and support struggling businesses in the face of drastic lockdown restrictions, while tax receipts shrivelled and the healthcare bill has ballooned beyond all previous measures. Despite your [...]
The arts are not an optional extra, they are the life and soul of our nation October 8, 2020 If at first you don’t succeed, retrain and move into a more viable vocation. That was the advice of the chancellor this week with regards to the impossible position faced by artists, musicians and actors who have seen their livelihoods decimated since the start of the Covid crisis. ITV may have later clarified that Rishi Sunak’s [...]
UK examining how to reduce travel quarantine period using tests October 7, 2020 The UK is urgently looking into ways to reduce the 14-day travel quarantine period which applies to some passengers arriving in the country, transport secretary Grant Shapps said. Shapps said that a mixture of Covid-19 testing and self-isolation was promising, and announced the formation of a Global Travel Taskforce to open up international travel, which [...]
In full: PM Boris Johnson’s Tory conference speech in full October 6, 2020 Boris Johnson took the stage Tuesday for the Tories’ virtual party conference, announcing policies on 1:1 teaching and low-deposit mortgages, but also promising to unleash the private sector. Here’s the text in full. Good morning conference, I want to begin by thanking you for everything you did at the election, pounding the streets in the [...]
In full: Rishi Sunak’s virtual Conservative conference speech October 5, 2020 Chancellor Rishi Sunak today addressed Conservative virtual conference, pledging to support entrepreneurs but warning of difficult times ahead. Here’s the full speech: “Politics is a team sport” “Being appointed Chancellor in February this year was an immense honour. Even though my first conference speech as Chancellor isn’t quite how I expected it to be, it [...]
Bailey: Khan is failing to get London moving again October 1, 2020 Over the last few months, coronavirus has forced our elected representatives to make some tough choices. And the overwhelming majority of Londoners have supported them. We stopped going into offices. We stopped making unnecessary trips to the shops. We shut down pubs, restaurants and hospitality businesses for months on end. We followed the rules, played [...]
Economists raise fears over Rishi Sunak’s new job support plan September 24, 2020 Economists this afternoon raised concerns that Rishi Sunak’s new support measures could lead to many workers losing their jobs as they do not encourage firms to keep employees on. The centrepiece of the chancellor’s scheme is a new “Job Support Scheme”, which will replace the existing furlough initiative. Under the plan, the government will support [...]
Paxful CEO Ray Youssef’s Journey September 24, 2020 Started from the bottom From being homeless in New York City to the CEO of an international crypto company, Ray Youssef shares his journey as a co-founder of Paxful, a global P2P crypto marketplace with a mission to empower the forgotten four billion unbanked and underbanked around the world to have control of their money [...]