Will our Christmas dinner guests soon be AI chatbots? December 2, 2024 Glad tidings of comfort and joy! Christmas has traditionally been a time for congregating with your fellow homo sapiens – but play nice over the turkey and sprouts this year: it could be one of the last where unmediated human interaction is still the norm. We’re about to enter a world in which AI bots [...]
Rolls-Royce Cullinan Black Badge review: Embrace the darkness December 2, 2024 Carbon fibre? In a Cullinan? More often seen in supercars, this lightweight, man-made material looks slightly incongruous inside a 2.7-tonne SUV. The goal here isn’t to save a few grams, though. Rather than fit-for-purpose functionality, this is craftsmanship in carbon fibre. Each of the 23 carbon trim pieces has been woven into a repeating geometric [...]
Can rugby’s biggest social media star boost the English game? December 2, 2024 You may not have heard of her but she can claim to be the most famous name in the game – and now Ilona Maher is seemingly on her way to England and Premiership Women’s Rugby. The 28-year-old USA sevens player is a social media sensation, with 4.6m followers on Instagram and a further 3.2m [...]
The surveillance economy: Employee-tracking software is a symptom of failed management December 2, 2024 Using surveillance software may deliver short-term gains, but it will cost employers in the end, writes Paul Armstrong.
Jeremy Clarkson for PM! Are celebrity politicians the future? December 2, 2024 Trump, Zelenskyy and… Jeremy Clarkson: are we entering the era of the celebrity politicians? Eliot Wilson takes a look When some 13,000 farmers converged on Westminster last month to protest at the government’s plans for inheritance tax on farms, one figure stood out. A tall, lanky man in a knitted cap was hemmed in by [...]
What businesses can learn from World of Warcraft December 1, 2024 As World of Warcraft celebrates its 20th anniversary, Luke Aldridge examines what its enduring popularity can teach us about business.
Syrian insurgents fan out inside Aleppo in major setback for Assad November 30, 2024 Syria’s armed forces said on Saturday that to absorb the large attack on Aleppo and save lives, it has redeployed and is preparing for a counterattack.
Apprenticeships are the answer to getting young people in work November 29, 2024 Once, the UK looked enviously at the German and Swiss “skills miracles,” renowned for their robust apprenticeship systems and highly skilled workforces. Today, the tables have turned. Many countries now look to Britain as a beacon of innovation in skills development and apprenticeships, says Robert Halfon The government has just released a White Paper on [...]
Upstream to the innovation borough November 28, 2024 A decade ago, Fraser Nelson sparked a sobering debate about the health and structure of the United Kingdom’s economy. He compared the UK’s GDP per capita with that of each state in the United States, concluding the UK would “be the 2nd-poorest state in the union”, just ahead of Mississippi. Since then, achieving significant economic [...]
Ed Warner: Why sports will have to change to stay down with the kids November 28, 2024 A leading cricket journalist bemoaned the lack of Test cricket on terrestrial TV to me recently, trotting out the well-worn argument that the England Wales Cricket Board had severely weakened the sport when it signed coverage over to Sky back in 2005. That’s as maybe, but if long-form cricket was free to view on mainstream [...]