As travellers are plunged into airport chaos, we must finally lighten the load of their baggage April 7, 2022 Finally, travel bosses thought they were in the clear. The pandemic restrictions had receded, customers were returning to the skies, and airports were full again. Only now they are too full and sickness among airport staff has created chaos at airports as families, desperate to go away for the school holidays, try to make their [...]
Opinion-in-brief: Calorie-counting has never worked – why should it now? April 7, 2022 Boris Johnson wants to preside over a healthy nation, fair enough. But he’s buying into a diet culture that reached its zenith in the mid 2010s with the prevalence of MyFitnessPal and other calorie-tracker apps. Guilt-tripping people about the calories in their Sunday roast might work in the short-term by convincing people to resist extra [...]
Putin’s invasion of Ukraine is a war against old and new and tanks versus TikToks April 7, 2022 Three decades ago, the white, blue and red Russian flag was raised in Moscow, signaling the end of the Soviet Union. Right around that time, the English computer scientist Tim Berners-Lee invented the World Wide Web and introduced the first website. Today, we can see the impact of the end of the USSR on the [...]
Closing the autism employment gap means success for businesses up and down the country April 6, 2022 Tracy Clements is an English and Drama teacher. An avid traveller, she’s married with two kids and she’s on the autism spectrum. She’s in a safe job she likes, but she’s almost an exception. Only 22 per cent of autistic adults were employed in the UK in 2020 – but one in ten people across [...]
Explainer-in-brief: Fed up with the emoji offerings? Time to shine April 6, 2022 Ever felt like you needed a more specific emoji to caption your aperol spritz Instagram with? Frustrated at not being able to express every single emotion with a little yellow face? No, this isn’t an advert for an emoji self-help group or a Boomer’s guide on how to use the Other Keyboard. The Emoji Subcommittee [...]
Britain’s love of Channel 4 is blinded by nostalgia, it’s time to finally sell up April 6, 2022 From a quasi-outsider’s perspective – I lived in Australia for the first 26 years of my life – Channel 4’s current makeup seems bizarre. It is state-owned, but commercially funded. Editorially independent, but bound by a legislative public service remit. The notion of having a public broadcaster that provides news coverage free from all commercial [...]
As Rishi wades through the cost of living crisis, static growth is waiting in the wings April 6, 2022 The short-term pressures on Rishi Sunak have continued to grow in tandem with the cost of energy and everyday essentials. Conservative MPs are increasingly panicked about being saddled with a label of being “high tax Tories”. But underlying all of this is a much more worrying phenomenon. Since the financial crisis of the late 2000s, [...]
London’s open economy was exploited by corrupt money, now we must make it our strength April 6, 2022 For centuries, London has been a haven for people fleeing persecution, war, famine, and other catastrophes. From the French Huguenots of the 18th Century to Jewish refugees fleeing the Nazis, we have a strong and proud tradition in this city of welcoming, integrating, and supporting refugees. It is in London’s DNA and an integral part [...]
Explainer-in-brief: Macron gears up for the first hurdle of the election April 5, 2022 France will head to the first set of polls this Sunday, with Emmanuel Macron widely expected to be re-elected – but not without a challenge. He currently sits with a projected 27 per cent lead, followed by right-wing Marine Le Pen who has around 20 per cent, hard-left Jean-Luc Melenchon with 15 per cent and [...]
Letters: Housing, interrupted April 5, 2022 [Re: House price growth hits highest level since 2004 with record average of £265.3k, March 31] New figures released by the Nationwide house price index defy premature predictions of slowing prices in early 2022. An increase in average house prices of 20 per cent in the last two years is a shocking figure which coincides [...]