A deadly pandemic, a growing sense of impending economic and geopolitical catastrophe, and a totally detached elite with delusions of grandeur; for number 10, partying while the planet burns is obviously just the playbook of the 20s, now as then. But amid all the outrage over Number 10’s rule-defying homage to the Roaring Twenties, it’s […]
It’s hard to believe that the close of the COP26 Climate Summit, with all of its high-stakes drama and carefully warned optimism, was just a month ago. The pace at which climate action has slipped down the political and media agenda, even as polls continue to show it is a top priority for an overwhelming […]
I can’t remember a more defensive press release than yesterday’s letter from the Department of Transport (DfT) detailing the big reductions in the maximum level of subsidies available through the Plug-in Car Grant Scheme. He insisted that the reforms were above all aimed at ensuring that more people could access grants. He stressed that the […]
The COP26 negotiations have entered their final phase. Ministers and diplomats will now work around the clock to find a deal that can credibly “keep 1.5 ° C alive.” The goal – as is so often the case with high-stakes diplomacy – is a deal that no one likes, but that everyone can live with. […]
The COP26 is experiencing its first major oscillation. This may seem like a slightly odd assessment for a summit that has seen its first president sacked and replaced unceremoniously, been subject to a pandemic-induced postponement, faced calls for a second postponement and experienced funding disputes with the Scottish government, strong criticism from developing countries of […]
How is the glass? Half full? Half empty? Lying crushed on the ground? Raised in the air in victory? The long-awaited release of the government’s long-awaited Net Zero Strategy provides an opportunity for reflection, a long microsecond to catch one’s breath before this shocking and chaotic fall of climate-related developments continues, an opportunity to honestly […]
No one comes to a Boris Johnson speech for in-depth political analysis – and good work, too. Everyone knows what to expect: alliteration, knowingly terrible jokes, partisan attack lines, all wisely mixed with free market ideology and culture war postures, and seasoned with crude political cunning. The Prime Minister spoke in Manchester yesterday in spades. […]
Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to 11e Annual BusinessGreen Leaders Awards. More durable than a COP26 zoom meeting. More competitive than the post-Brexit job market. More cautiously optimistic than Emma Raducanu’s bank manager. The BusinessGreen Leaders Awards are both the UK’s most prestigious green business awards and a crucial part of this year’s Net Zero Festival. […]
Whisper it, but was this a pretty good reshuffle for the net zero agenda and the wider green economy? There was continuity at the top of the Department of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, the Department of Transportation and the COP26 team, where Kwasi Kwarteng, Grant Shapps and Alok Sharma all face a dreadful fall […]
Google parted ways with an executive on Thursday, following a LinkedIn blog he posted in June, where he confessed to being anti-Semitic in his past, news sites reported. Amr Awadallah was vice president of developer relations for Google Cloud. He joined the company in 2019. Israel’s vice president of engineering and products for Google Cloud, […]
Dominic Cummings does it again, going after his old boss in a lengthy new blog post. In his latest entry, titled “Boris: Normal Mode vs. Self-Conscious Mode,” the former chief assistant to the Prime Minister revealed even more details about the conversations he had with the Prime Minister while he was at the heart of […]
Here is the statement in its entirety. Statement Regarding Complaints No10 Today The Prime Minister’s new director of communications, Jack Doyle, at the request of the Prime Minister, has made a number of false accusations to the media. 1. Re Dyson. I have WhatsApp messages between PM / Dyson forwarded to me by PM. I […]
Mr Johnson’s former senior adviser has denied being responsible for the leak of private texts in which the Prime Minister promised to “settle” a tax problem for entrepreneur Sir James Dyson. He said he had also warned Mr Johnson against plans to secretly charge donors for renovating his Downing Street apartment, saying they were “unethical, […]