Employers will not be allowed to force people to retire before the State pension age under recommendations in the report of the Pensions Commission. It suggests the Government should introduce legislation that would align retirement ages in employment contracts with the State pension age. It would allow, but not compel, a worker toContinue Reading
The only policy announcement Boris Johnson made in his Conservative party conference speech, as many have pointed out, was a £3,000 “levelling-up premium” for teachers. The idea, to entice maths, physics, chemistry and computing teachers to take jobs in schools serving disadvantaged areas, sounds plausible. And being taught by specialistContinue Reading
Austrians will soon be able to travel huge train distances for next to nothing – and it’s all part of an effort to tackle the climate crisisContinue Reading
Few Lebanese people will be surprised that the latest leak of offshore financial documents alleges senior Lebanese figures, including the current prime minister, have used offshore tax havens (although Najib Mikati, a businessman who took the top job in July, has denied this). That the so-called Pandora Papers lists LebanonContinue Reading
Chinese president Xi Jinping made a pledge earlier this year to complete the “reunification” of China (with Taiwan). Coupled with recent violations of Taiwan’s sovereign airspace by Chinese warplanes, this has prompted widespread speculation on the island’s security. Taiwan has been preparing for possible conflict with China for a longContinue Reading
Facebook has announced that it is halting development on its Instagram Kids project. This follows reports that the social media giant had commissioned – and kept secret – internal research that found Instagram was detrimental to young people’s mental health. The study’s findings, not to mention the fact that theyContinue Reading
The UK’s social security (welfare) system entered the pandemic in exceedingly poor health after years of cuts, ill-equipped to provide support to people who became ill or lost their jobs because of COVID-19. The £20 increase to universal credit was arguably a tacit acknowledgement of the inadequacy of our system,Continue Reading
Boris Johnson is not unfamiliar with taking the platform at Conservative party conferences. Indeed this is a man who has crashed into and then crashed out of a succession of conferences – usually with a combination of befuddled bamboozlement and buffoonery – generally to the joy of the expectant mediaContinue Reading
Every political party relies on slogans to sell their policies and justify their decisions. Most vanish instantly into the void, but some are more special. These are the slogans that hold the others together. They are designed to sell not just a policy, but a whole programme for government. TheseContinue Reading
In Scotland, a person in possession of a class A drugs will be issued a police warning in most cases, effectively decriminalising personal possession. This recent announcement comes hard on the heels of a record-high 1,339 drug-related deaths in 2020. England and Wales also saw a record year of drug-relatedContinue Reading
