Facebook’s $400m acquisition of Giphy could be blocked based on fruitless antitrust claims September 9, 2021 The Competition and Markets Authority have threatened to dissolve Facebook’s £289m acquisition of Giphy based on fruitless allegations the merger would be anti-competitive. The only catch is: Facebook and Giphy are not competitors. Breaking up this deal on antitrust grounds will have international consequences. Regulators across the world are becoming increasingly hostile towards Facebook, as [...]
Wise: Banks will face death by a thousand fintechs if they don’t collaborate with new innovations September 9, 2021 The thought of “coming together” and “partnerships” have historically not conjured up images of banking, yet, today, the banking sector is very familiar with these terms. Banks face fierce competition competition from countless specialist digital fintechs, with the ability to adapt and innovate quickly to solve customers’ specific problems. Efficiency is at the core of [...]
Rail fares could be hiked by 5 per cent – it’s time for an overhaul of how we view public transport September 9, 2021 This week marked the start of the new academic year in earnest and for many it was also a return to work, coming back into London for the first time after months of working from home. But for rail commuters, the latest inflation figures could mean the biggest fare hike in a decade. If the government sticks to its current formula of bumping up fares by one percent [...]
A service economy and shrinking workforce is the driving force of low economic growth September 8, 2021 Extinction Rebellion’s fortnight of protests have only hardened existing beliefs and positions on both sides of the debate. But a book by Dietrich Vollrath of the University of Houston suggests that there may be much broader support for a low or even zero growth agenda than even XR might imagine. Vollrath does not address this [...]
Nicola Sturgeon has put independence ahead of Scotland’s economic recovery September 8, 2021 It’s that time of year again, when politicians, members, delegates and the media begin to pack their bags ahead of the party conference season. First up this year, albeit online, is the SNP, who, after almost fifteen years in Government, will set out their priorities anew. It should come as no surprise that independence is top of that agenda, just as it was [...]
Could you have lost out on a job because of your politics? Almost definitely September 8, 2021 Being part of a group is central to how humans survive, and once we have found ours, it fundamentally shapes how we behave. Under pressure, this tendency to group – for all its benefits – can lead us to double down on who we see as “us” and who becomes a disliked “them”. Feelings become [...]
Editorial: A Tory tax raid means Boris mustn’t break his promises again September 7, 2021 “You can’t fix the Covid backlog without giving the NHS the money it needs, you can’t fix the NHS without fixing social care, you can’t fix social care without removing the fear of losing everything to pay for social care and you can’t fix health and social care without long term reform.” This is the [...]
After 18 months of sporadic education, schools need a reset September 7, 2021 Throughout this week, close to 9 million pupils will return to school, after 18 months of constant disruption caused by the pandemic. What have we learnt? That school is best in person, obviously – but also that the pandemic has also amplified the scale of inequalities across the national educational system. The UK government has just launched its “back [...]
Paying for the privilege: inside the members’ club with a conscience September 7, 2021 As I write this, the weight of the world’s many crises feels heavy on my shoulders. The Conduit’s reopening comes at a time of general global unease. Closed in 2020 during the pandemic, and following the exceptional collective effort of its co-founders, team, and board thereafter, it will make its return next week to an [...]
Straight from the horse’s mouth: Why Extinction Rebellion are disrupting your commute September 7, 2021 In response to Eliot Wilson’s piece in CityAM last week, ‘What does Extinction Rebellion actually want?’ Extinction Rebellion protests always divide opinion. In the heat of frustration at another delay to your journey, it’s always tempting to come out against. Like Eliot Wilson in last Tuesday’s Morning Wire, you may dismiss XR activists as trustafarians [...]