Gove has signed a cladding deal – but it could kickstart a fight over affordable homes April 14, 2022 Political tensions enmeshed in the cladding crisis have raised their ugly heads again this week, as developers have come out and argued they won’t be able to build enough affordable homes if they’re made to pay even more for cladding remediation. Levelling Up Secretary Michael Gove has secured his first real win, with a deal [...]
If the FCA stays stuck in the past, London will lose capital to European competitors April 14, 2022 Sometimes, when things are not working fully, you have to start from the beginning. Perhaps it was this rationale driving Nikhil Rathi, chief executive of the Financial Conduct Authority, when he made several promises in the regulator’s “three year strategy” almost identical to those made by George Osborne in 2011 when the body was set [...]
Letters: New rules for a new age? April 13, 2022 [Re: Police training documents suggest the force are unequipped to investigate Big Tech, 11 April] Matthew Lesh’s comment that the Online Safety Bill is “draconian”, and the government’s focus on it means it is “failing to educate and resource the police to tackle real crime”, fails to acknowledge the crux of the bill and what [...]
Behind-the-story: A British volunteer soldier turned twitter persona April 13, 2022 The war in Ukraine has been fought on two fronts: on land against Russian troops – and on social media. Aiden Aslin, a British national fighting with the Ukrainian forces, personified these simultaneous struggles. The former care worker from Newark, in Nottinghamshire, was engaged in the very real fight against Russian troops. But was also [...]
Rishi Sunak’s weak stomach for a scandal could spell the end for Johnson April 13, 2022 When Boris Johnson catapulted a young upstart from Treasury minister to Chancellor of the Exchequer, he likely envisaged Rishi Sunak would be pliable and amenable to his insatiable desire for spending rather than the thin-skinned thorn in his side.
Scandals within the NHS have finally made us question the angelic halo of our doctors April 13, 2022 Much of the narrative around the health service over the past few years has depicted nurses as angels and doctors as living saints. Soap operas are helpful purveyors of this narrative. Perhaps the most famous is George Clooney as the charismatic Dr Ross in the long running American medical drama ER. Dr Ross, despite the [...]
As inflation pushes up prices, businesses should only hike them where it really counts April 13, 2022 Just as the impact of the pandemic was subsiding, inflation has risen to its highest rate since March 1992 – hitting 5.5 percent in January 2022. The Bank of England has projected that inflation will hit 7 percent by the spring. From freight rates to oil to furniture and groceries, prices are increasing dramatically. Many [...]
Explainer-in-brief: As NHS chiefs call for more rules, is Covid-19 back? April 12, 2022 Just as many of us were beginning to feel like the worst of Covid-19 was behind us, the chief executive of the NHS Confederation has warned that Easter could be ‘as bad as any winter’ in the health service. In the last week, around 20 NHS trusts issued divert warnings, telling ambulances to take patients [...]
From Calais, with love: CCTV funding rows capture our migration challenge April 12, 2022 In the first five weeks of war in Ukraine, more than four million people have fled their home, according to the United Nations. The bulk of these have gone to Poland, but many are trying to find permanent homes elsewhere in Europe. Before introducing the Homes for Ukraine scheme, the UK was scrambling to process [...]
Levelling up state administrators’ salaries won’t help us address economic inequality April 12, 2022 Last week, the Department of Levelling Up, Housing and Communities advertised for a new set of lucrative public sector jobs. As part of the “flagship” plans to ensure equal economic growth across the country, a team of 12 “levelling up directors” will receive a generous, tax-payer funded salary of up to £144,000. The job? To [...]