Money won’t solve the problem of the gas boiler September 14, 2021 For all the talk about building back better, green jobs and investment, the UK is lagging behind its European counterparts in the number of low-carbon heat pumps installed in homes. Later this month, the government is due to publish its much delayed heat and building strategy. But it is expected to dilute plans to force [...]
Vodafone: We need to focus on the tech we already have to tackle climate change rather than gambling our future on innovation September 14, 2021 The United Nations Climate Change conference – better known as COP26 – has forced us all to keep climate change at the front of mind. The world is awash with public and corporate pledges to be net zero. But in order to do this in a fair and equitable way, there will need to be [...]
Britain must be alive to the threat of Chinese influence in our universities September 14, 2021 Last year, Downing Street U-turned on a decision to grant Chinese state-backed telecomms giant Huawei even “non-core” access to Britain’s 5G famework. The threat of influence or privacy invasion was deemed to be too high a price to pay. Not so for Cambridge University it seems. Yesterday, it was revealed that three out of the [...]
As electric cars follow the trajectory of the smartphone, software will be the turf war September 13, 2021 When Steve Jobs launched Apple’s iPhone in January 2007, the mobile phone industry was turned on its head. At the time, Jobs described the iPhone as a “revolutionary product” and said that Apple was “reinventing the phone”. This was a rare occasion where a businessman’s hubris was justified. With the iPhone, Apple changed the way [...]
Cressida Dick should go and her successor needs to jump-start the police force September 13, 2021 Even a palate jaded by the madness of modern Britain will have found piquancy in Dame Cressida Dick’s two year extension to her term as Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis. Dame Cressida will stay in his position until 2024. She has been the UK’s senior police officer since 2017, is the first woman to [...]
Canada Corporation: It’s time to get back to the office September 13, 2021 What have you missed the most? Your favourite lunchtime spot, taking in world class architecture on the morning commute or, perhaps, simply talking to colleagues in person rather than over a screen? For many City workers, it felt like the start of a new school term as they returned to Square Mile – in some [...]
20 years on from 9/11: the waxing and waning of the US-UK ‘special relationship’, from Bush to Biden September 11, 2021 Twenty years on from one of the greatest days of infamy to strike the Western world, the attack on the 9th of September 2001, there are myriad points to reflect on, not least the ongoing heartache it has left on our collective psyche. One of those, though, should surely be the impact that this great [...]
Back to school in the City: Lessons for a CEO from M&A to COP26 September 10, 2021 It’s been back to school in the City this week, with the streets of the Square Mile once again flooded (if not quite packed) with people. On the surface, it may look similar to pre-Covid, as footfall ramps up and Transport for London reported the busiest month since March 2020. CEOs, however, cannot return to [...]
Quo vadis, Georgia? The UK and EU have a cautious path to tread with its diplomatic ties September 10, 2021 The last year or two in Georgian politics have thrown up several disturbing events. None are more perplexing than the nations’ decision to engage in a cooperation agreement with the Belarusian KGB last month. While Western countries ramped up sanctions against the regime in Minsk, Georgia’s move was at odds with its aspirations for EU [...]
The furlough scheme protected our economy but now it has to come to an end September 10, 2021 Around nine million jobs were furloughed at the height of the first lockdown in spring 2020 – almost a third of the entire workforce. While the furlough scheme has not been able to protect every job, unemployment during the pandemic could well have numbered in the millions without it – as happened in countries, like [...]