Letters: A Mexican charade May 23, 2022 [Re: UK kicks off negotiations with Mexico for £4bn post-Brexit trade deal, April 20] It’s quite striking that we’re bragging about trade deals with Mexico as some kind of farcical “post-Brexit” boost. We never saw a real trade deal with the US even if we are now negotiating state-by-state. Our trade deal with Australia was [...]
Explainer-in-brief: The final act of No10’s Partygate? May 20, 2022 Yesterday, it was perhaps the beginning of the end of Partygate. The Met Police investigation was closed, with a final verdict of 126 fines issued to 83 people. There were no additional fines for Boris Johnson. By the end of it, the investigation – called Operation Hillman – cost £460,000. Yet we’re still waiting for [...]
Kings of crypto say it’s the solution without knowing what the problem is May 20, 2022 If you had doubts over whether the latest cryptocurrency correction would make mainstream news, you needed look no further than the House of Commons this week. In a duel between Ed Miliband and Rishi Sunak, the Labour frontbencher used the current price plummet as his attack line: “Crypto has crashed and so has the Chancellor,” [...]
If firms want to go green then we should give shareholders the keys to their plans May 20, 2022 WHILE the finance sector can feel distant and detached, people are waking up to the impact it can have on our environment. Which bank, building society, or investment fund we decide to deposit our savings, store our pensions, or pay our hard-earned salaries into can determine whether green projects and clean businesses are financed. That’s [...]
As we cut Russia off from our markets, we must also crack down on Western enablers May 20, 2022 During the nearly four year investigations into Russia’s efforts to interfere in the 2016 US elections, it became glaringly obvious the extent to which malign campaigns from Russia are in fact enabled by actors in the West. Bipartisan staff on the Senate Select Committee responsible for the inquiry became increasingly jaded by the depth of [...]
Letters: Musk’s bot-tled Twitter takeover May 20, 2022 [Re: Musk says $44bn mega takeover of Twitter is ‘on hold’, May 14] Musk, now unsure the $44bn Twitter takeover is worthy based on the number of bots plaguing the platform, has started the debate on how tech platforms can better verify digital identity. It’s not an issue that can ever be in the hands [...]
From calorie counts to meal deals, Boris Johnson can’t make up his mind May 19, 2022 When American political activist Ralph Nader famously called McDonald’s double cheeseburger “a weapon of mass destruction” he was on to something. On this side of the pond too, decades of unhealthy fast – and fat – food eating have left a mark. Around 63 per cent of adults in England are either overweight or obese. [...]
Bad at maths? The cost of Britain’s poor numeracy skills is no laughing matter May 19, 2022 Our nation’s poor report card for numeracy skills has been a longstanding challenge, and the current cost-of-living crisis is making that even more apparent. We all use numbers to navigate day-to-day life – from understanding interest rates to working out value for money while shopping. Nearly half of the UK’s working population has the numeracy [...]
Letters: Small businesses will hurt first May 19, 2022 [Re: Banks across the UK are ‘pulling the drawbridge’ as lending to small businesses hits all-time low, May 16] The fact that successful applications for finance amongst small firms have plunged to their lowest level since records began – while lending to large corporates has increased significantly since the start of the year – highlights [...]
Britain is right to step in as the EU drags its feet on a Northern Ireland concession May 19, 2022 Northern Ireland was never going to be easy. From the genesis of talks about the border in 2017, through to the “backstop to the backstop” agreed by Theresa May, to the Protocol on Ireland/Northern Ireland, its evolution was complex and technical. The Protocol effectively places Northern Ireland in the EU’s single market and customs union [...]