The recent scandal with Tesco's burgers has reignited a discussion about who, along the value chain, should bear the brunt of responsibility for a product. The burden of the certification and the liability that comes with it is a major blessing in disguise. Continue reading...
Holiday envy. If we're honest I'm sure we can all admit to experiencing this at least once in our lives. Here are five picture postcard holiday destinations that will make you the envy of your friends Continue reading...
What causes Parkinson's? A frequently asked question, to which there is not yet a definitive answer. It is clear however, that some forms are hereditary, such as my case. I have my own theory - call it a gut feeling or an inner voice, but invariably I follow my instincts. Continue reading...
As someone who makes a living by travelling the world seeking out the latest trends and undiscovered designers, I believe that to find truly innovative fashion design, you need to visit growing cities that are eager to establish themselves on the fashion scene. Continue reading...
The time has come to dispense with our dusty 'legalise or not legalise' discussion as this provokes a non-debate and an almost literal fist-fight of a discussion due to its lack of finesse. Continue reading...
The hero-soldier brand is undeniably potent. The increased presence of soldiers at sports events - be it at Premier League games or the Olympics - is a shrewd move by the PR-savvy Ministry of Defence. The idea of a wholesome, dutiful hero is very appealing and is very much a feature of British identity, intertwined as it is with our military history and our imperial present. Continue reading...
The French come with no pressure, no expectation, and that is when they are at their most dangerous. If England take to the field with the right attitude, then they have the ability to win, if they lose focus at any time, then the French could start smiling. Continue reading...
It's not all downhill in Switzerland's Engadin St. Moritz - also on offer is tobogganing, snow kiting, cross country skiing and even ice cricket. Even though there is great downhill skiing here, I'm here to get a taste of other winter activities. Continue reading...
The half-term general election rehearsal currently underway in Eastleigh might be fascinating those in the politics business but the result won't begin to restore the electorate's trust in politicians. Continue reading...
Since the coalition government was elected, the manifesto promise of the Big Society has morphed into relentless bashing of benefit claimants via the media. Whether stories originate from press officers or from journalists, the results are the same. Strivers vs. Shirkers, benefit scroungers, large families fleecing the public purse, single mums, teen mums, are all headlines that fuel the increasingly hate-filled rhetoric against benefit claimants. Continue reading...
In an event that lasted longer than Les Misérables and featured a cast just as big, not a single woman took to the stage to talk. Instead we were treated to an endless sausage fest of Sony execs droning on and games developers talking about how 'ambitious' the work they were doing was. Continue reading...
As someone who makes a living by travelling the world seeking out the latest trends and undiscovered designers, I believe that to find truly innovative fashion design, you need to visit growing cities that are eager to establish themselves on the fashion scene. Continue reading...
Chuka Umunna recently set a new year's resolution to not use the phrase 'SMEs' and accurately made the point that not all small businesses are the same so lumping them into a homogenous pile is wrong. Continue reading...
Rock throwing. Beatings. Bullets. Shouts of "F----ing kike." Ambushes. Theft. Threats. Tear gas attacks. This is not history. This is today. The French Jewish community expects and deserves a far greater degree of respect, as well as a strategic response to the blatant anti-Semitism they are experiencing. Continue reading...
We, as a society need to rethink how we treat obesity - medically and socially. Each day when I leave my house I am confronted by fat phobia - be it shouted from white vans or the huff and puffs of people forced to sit next to me on public transport. I am fully aware my body repulses some of you- but I don't care Continue reading...
While record numbers of users are engaging on our desktop websites and mobile extensions, one thing was clear: our readers found our iPad app buggy, slow and difficult to use. We clearly needed a reboot! And here it is. Continue reading...
Educational bias, workplace policies and lack of encouragement may go a long way to explaining why only 27% of scientific researchers worldwide are women. But while equity is reason enough to tackle the issue, the world may have a lot more to gain from a better balance. Continue reading...
It's all a far cry from what could be described as the comparatively sober, 'traditional' Indian corporate approach to sustainability, rooted in a long tradition of philanthropy. It's a tradition which has been absorbed smoothly into the relatively recent concept of corporate social responsibility (CSR). Continue reading...
Honestly, I hardly know what homophobia is anymore. Even my parents have worked through it. Everyone around me knows, and I live in a bubble of kindly indifference to homosexuality where it is no more an issue than the color of my hair. But I do remember. Continue reading...
There will be no peace in the Middle East until the region accepts the fact of the founding of Israel as a Jewish state, as the United Nations explicitly created it. And there will be no movement from the game of piling blood libels on Israel and the Jews by the majority of the world's failed countries until the world's successful countries cease to be pawns in this shameful and hypocritical ostracization -- and they end the effort, begun by the British in the Balfour Declaration in 1917, of selling the same real estate to two different parties. Continue reading...
This week a group of government officials, meeting in a Moscow hotel, could set in train advice for their G20 leaders that creates jobs and restores balance to a global economy wrecked by inequality. Continue reading...
A UK taxpayer earning £30,000 per year will pay £7,065 in tax. Of that, £67 will go to the aid budget and £403 towards defence. That leaves £6,595 for everything else. A proper debate about government spending should surely recognise that pitching defence spending against aid is like robbing a pretty hard-up Peter to pay an even more impoverished Paul. Continue reading...
Challenging the status quo, be that in the business, leadership and management arena, or in any other for that matter, requires an alternative approach - and the skill of being brave enough to go for it. Continue reading...
As more of us start to assess what we really value in our working lives we may find that the sharing economy opens up more options for our own working lives too, as portfolio working and 'renting time' become increasingly mainstream. Continue reading...
For the past decade the aspiration has been to lower supply-chain costs through leaner and leaner operations. Continue reading...
Privatisation raises ethical questions about the nature and role of imprisonment in our society. While privatisation could help curb any remaining restrictive practices, it is no panacea to the problems of our overcrowded, usually invisible and too often ineffective prison system. Continue reading...
In the global village the rules of conventional journalism have become redundant. The grammar of what passes for journalism has been completely re-written. Continue reading...
