To do more than simply stay standing, the NHS must return to its first ideas September 7, 2022 Last week, in the wake of the desperately sad passing of TV host Bill Turnbull, BBC Radio 4 dedicated a segment to the importance of prostate cancer screening. “But the NHS can’t cope if every man turns up and demands a test,” said presenter Nick Robinson. This candid, casual reflection highlights a profound deficiency in [...]
How Truss pays for her plan for energy prices is just as important as what she does September 7, 2022 Our new prime minister already has a long list of detractors. Yet something many are failing to take notice of is how well she grasps the fundamental importance of generating economic growth. This is the central issue facing the economy and it will determine how, ultimately, we pay for an intervention in the energy market. [...]
Smoking laws light up the path for a small government September 7, 2022 A Johnson government, with its tendency to lean towards state intervention, and a pandemic, which lead to restrictions not seen for decades, has left the UK in an era where the big hand of Whitehall is the norm. Rolling back the size of the state was put front and centre of Liz Truss’ leadership campaign, [...]
Letters: The robots won’t wait September 7, 2022 [Re: Artificial Intelligence: UK’s Supreme Court to rule on letting robots patent inventions, Sept 4] The permission to appeal to the Supreme Court to reconsider the case of whether artificial intelligence (AI) entities should be allowed to be named as inventors on UK patent applications is a clear indication of the public importance of this [...]
If Liz Truss thought winning was hard, governing will be a formidable task September 6, 2022 It will not feel like it to Liz Truss, but that was the easy bit. Political campaigns are always brutal, exhausting and emotional affairs; none more so than this summer’s long and fractious Conservative leadership contest. But the challenges of the last few months pale into insignificance against the enormity of what the new prime [...]
If we’re going to get fracking, we’re going to need to overhaul our planning system September 6, 2022 In the face of an energy crunch which will put enormous strain on our economy, little makes more sense than making fracking a national priority. At a 10 per cent recovery rate, the potential natural gas reserve in the UK is enough to make us self-sufficient for 50 years. The safe and timely development of [...]
In memoriam of Boris Johnson’s premiership September 6, 2022 He’s been the poster boy for Brexit, the flag bearer for Levelling Up, and then the party boy of Downing Street who was eventually brought down by a sex scandal not involving him.
We must keep the shine on Britain’s financial services to maintain our global standing September 6, 2022 Britain’s financial services sector is still much envied on the world stage, but there’s no room for complacency. The international competition of financial centres is fierce. The UK’s capital markets have long been thriving – a diverse cluster of financial services, a large pool of skilled talent, and the robustness of our legal system are [...]
Letters: A new dawn, same problems September 6, 2022 [Re: Liz Truss will be the next UK Prime Minister, yesterday] We’ve spent the summer listening to Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak fight it out over who will be the next prime minister. Now, we finally have a new prime minister but we have all the same problems we had before the leadership election was announced. [...]
Please, end the political pass the parcel and build up our energy infrastructure September 5, 2022 Today the Conservative Party announces its new leader, drawing the curtain down on three years of Boris Johnson’s inimitable premiership. It is the third internal change of leader in six years, and we might hope as a nation that we are now given a little respite. Choosing a lowlight of the campaign is not easy. [...]