Britain’s pay gap standards are outdated and threaten an equal future October 5, 2021 The continual disparity between men’s and women’s pay remains the starkest illustration of gender inequality in the UK. For several years now, we’ve had the data showing the harsh reality that female workers are valued less – but simply shining a light on a problem is not always enough to fix it. We only know [...]
Editorial: Crisis? What crisis? Sunak and his party would be wise to avoid complacency October 5, 2021 The year is 1979, and rubbish bags are piling up in Leicester Square. Lorry drivers are striking leading to queues at fuel pumps, and Brits are panic-buying bread. Prime Minister Jim Callaghan returns to Britain from a conference in Guadeloupe and declares airily that “I don’t think other people in the world would share the [...]
Time to fly: our space highways are just as important for security as those on the ground October 5, 2021 Much has been said about the poor timing of Government announcements, and the launch of the National Space Strategy last week was no exception. As Britain sent the first satellites from European soil in 2022 the country was grappling with fuel shortages and fears of a “winter of discontent”. However, the criticism is little in [...]
Michael Gove vows to enact ‘real change’ on a local level to fulfil levelling up agenda October 4, 2021 Michael Gove, the newly appointed Housing Secretary, attempted to finally add flesh to the bones of the levelling up agenda at Conservative Party Conference yesterday. In his keynote speech in Manchester, Gove, the head of the freshly renamed department for Levelling up, Housing and Communities vowed to provide “real change” for downtrodden regions of the [...]
Opinion-in-brief: A real Australian-style points system would fill the gaps October 4, 2021 The shortage of HGV drivers has led to chaos at petrol stations, empty supermarket shelves and McDonald’s running out of milkshakes. Now, animals are being culled because of a lack of butchers and care homes are struggling to fill vacancies. Christmas, once again, is in peril. Britain voted to leave the European Union to “take [...]
Keir Starmer’s bid for Red Wall voters will leave the young out in the cold October 4, 2021 No one wants to hear a longer speech from Keir Starmer after his first performance in front of live crowds at Labour conference last week. The ninety minute monologue on his vision for the party’s future was, in short, a lot. But even in the midst of winding journeys through his personal history, segues on [...]
Ballooning infrastructure costs could be quelled if Whitehall embraced clear data October 4, 2021 Infrastructure is one of the government’s latest passions. It could be, in ministers’ eyes, a foundation for Global Britain and a way out of the economic decline that Covid-19 has brought in its wake. We have a National Infrastructure Strategy, and the prime minister, announcing it last summer, admitted it sounded “positively Rooseveltian” and pledged [...]
UK talent pools will run dry without easier immigration October 4, 2021 The UK’s credentials as a leading global financial centre are undisputed. Our time zone, language, and regulatory system all contribute to this unrivalled status. Over the centuries the sector has combined tradition with innovation and shown openness and willingness to change and adapt. This has made the Square Mile an attractive arena with unique strengths [...]
Opinion-in-brief: Boohoo makes a bid for the Land of the Free October 1, 2021 Boohoo is a great example of how moral pronouncements don’t always match behaviour. While shareholders have criticised the workhouse chic of the clothier’s factories, it has not made a dent in consumers’ appetite for fast fashion. Yesterday’s revenue numbers show that trend isn’t changing, with an almost ten-fold increase in sales and operating profits in [...]
Instagram Kids exposes the fallacy of Big Tech’s self-regulation October 1, 2021 “Who watches the watchmen?” asked the Roman poet Juvenal. To Big Tech watchers, the question is simpler: have the watchmen been watching at all? Technology is remarkably under-regulated. For years, regulators blithely waved through a series of mega-mergers, failing to act for lack of proof that free products can harm consumers. Meanwhile, a single piece [...]