Woudhuysen



Politics Posts

Work-life balance

Why Labour’s ‘right to switch off’ is bad for workers

Published 3 September 2024

Obsessing over work-life balance is a poor substitute for raising living standards

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Starmer in Downing Street

Starmer will let the ‘Blob’ take over Britain

Published 14 August 2024

Britain’s unelected and ineffective quangocrats are already amassing more power under Labour

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Costs of Net Zero

Net Zero is a war on the working class

Published 27 February 2024

We are sleepwalking towards a social and economic catastrophe

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Walking in the arctic

The battle for the Arctic

Published 28 December 2023

Russia, China and the West are scrambling for control over the frozen tundra

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Electric car charging

The electric-car fantasy

Published 8 December 2023

Rishi Sunak’s green diktats are a recipe for disaster

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Frans Timmermans and Net Zero

The Dutch revolt against Net Zero

Published 24 November 2023

Voters have sent Frans Timmermans, the EU’s ‘climate pope’, packing

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Rishi Sunak, UK Prime Minister

The Remainer outrage over Horizon is entirely confected

Published 11 September 2023

The EU science scheme is really not all it’s cracked up to be

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Whitehall and the Civil-service

Britain’s elites need to own up to their failures

Published 5 September 2023

Responsibility dodging is now endemic among our leaders

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Water tunnel

The green roots of the UK’s water crisis

Published 4 July 2023

Climate-change alarmism has throttled innovation in the water industry

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Longer hours working from home

Labour could not be more wrong about working from home

Published 30 May 2023

Keir Starmer’s plan for a ‘right to work from home’ will let work take over our lives

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Tony Blair

Just say no to digital ID

Published 12 March 2023

Tony Blair and William Hague’s scheme would rob us of our civil liberties

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Digital ID, Reasoned

Digital ID, A Tool To Control Thee?

Published 26 February 2023

This week, once again, Tony Blair has been bleating on about ID cards

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Miliband

Labour is living in eco-dreamland

Published 28 September 2022

Recycling failed policies will do nothing to solve the energy crisis

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John Kerry

John Kerry’s climate colonialism

Published 26 September 2022

Biden’s climate envoy wants to restrict Africa’s ability to grow

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Sir David Attenborough

That’s enough eco-propaganda, Sir David

Published 19 September 2022

David Attenborough should stick to educating us about animals rather than bashing human beings

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Renewables - coal and wind

Renewables will not solve the energy crisis

Published 16 September 2022

Wind and solar are far too unreliable to meet Britain’s energy needs

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Water discharge

Why Britain’s water industry stinks

Published 24 August 2022

The sewage crisis is a damning indictment of the water firms and our state bureaucracy

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Bank of England

We need democratic control over the Bank of England

Published 4 July 2022

Independence’ was a terrible idea. It’s time to reverse it

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War in Ukraine

How many generals is Putin prepared to lose?

Published 30 March 2022

The loss of so many high-ranking generals is a sign of Russia’s meat-grinder militarism

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James on GBN’s Debs & Co 13 January 2022

Published 24 February 2022

James discusses some key elements of the news on GBN’s Dews & Co.

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PartyGate debate on talkRADIO TV

Debate on PartyGate police inquiry on talkRADIO tv

Published 11 February 2022

James on the on Darryl Morris show, talkRADIO TV, 11 February 2022, discussing PartyGate police inquiry

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How work took over our lives

Published 23 January 2022

The growth of the office gave employers unparalleled insight into their workers’ private lives

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Battle of Ideas, 2021

From profits to prophets: why has big business gone woke?

Published 29 November 2021

James joined this panel led audience discussion at the Battle of Ideas festival 2021 on the pros & cons of Woke Capitalism and what’s driving it.

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Working from home

Why working from home is bad news for workers

Published 1 August 2021

Employers will intrude ever more deeply into employees’ private lives.

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The Apartment

Could the borderless home be worse than the open office?

Published 20 February 2021

At a time when the future of open-plan space is under review, a re-reading of Billy Wilder classic 1960 movie The Apartment reminds us of the dangers of a corporate over-reach into private lives

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Mark Twain

In defence of Mark Twain

Published 7 December 2020

He was many things — an idealist, a wit, a supreme writer — but he was not a racist

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Trial of the Chicago 7

Trial of the Chicago 7: great cinema, bad politics

Published 15 October 2020

Despite its overbearing liberalism, Aaron Sorkin’s new film is a cinematic triumph

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High Street

Nudging: an elite disease

Published 18 March 2020

No10’s Behavioural Insights Team deserves close scrutiny. So do its critics.

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Sky News on flood warnings

Flood warnings: prevention and the Environment Agency

Published 17 February 2020

Sky News discussion on the Environment Agency’s gospel of despair in response to recent floods

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Sky News on climate change, 18-Oct-2019

Climate protests and Extinction Rebellion

Published 18 October 2019

Sky News on climate protests with Richard Ecclestone of Extinction Rebellion

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Greta Thunberg and climate change

Greta Thunberg and climate change

Published 22 August 2019

Sky News discussion on Greta Thunberg and climate change

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Harry and Megan

Massacre of the (future) innocents

Published 13 August 2019

Two key papers form the theory behind today’s anti-natalism. They are junk science.

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Prince Harry's climate pledge

Prince Harry’s climate pledge

Published 31 July 2019

Sky News discussion on Prince Harry’s climate pledge to only have two children with Clare Farrell from Extinction Rebellion

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Sky News on heat wave and climate change

July 2019 heat wave and climate change

Published 26 July 2019

Sky News debate with Angela Terry of One Home on the July 2019 heat wave in the UK and climate change

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Sky News on Trump trade war with Huawei

Trump’s trade war with Huawei

Published 6 June 2019

Sky News discussion on Trump’s trade war with Huawei

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Sky News on climate change

Climate protests

Published 27 April 2019

Sky News discussion on the climate change protests by Extinction Rebellion with George Monbiot and James Woudhuysen

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The Post

‘The Post’: missing the big story

Published 7 February 2018

Back in 1971, when this docudrama is set, it must have been tough being a newspaper baroness.

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Population control in Africa

The silent war against population growth in Africa

Published 25 January 2018

Once again, Westerners are foisting population control on Africa.

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EU holding Africa back

How the EU is holding Africa back

Published 10 January 2018

It’s long been known, but often hushed over, that the subsidies the EU pays its farmers under the Common Agricultural Policy, plus the bureaucratic rules and standards it wields against food imports, have discriminated against African farmers.

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Progress in Africa. Foto: Axel Schmidt/ddp

Africa: what would real progress look like?

Published 27 November 2017

After the faltering of Angela Merkel and the fall of Robert Mugabe, here are some principles of economic development that could form an alternative to Germany’s policy and practice in Africa

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Globalisation

Is globalisation over? The future of world trade

Published 29 October 2017

Listen to the debate ‘Is globalisation over? The future of world trade‘ from Battle of Ideas 2017

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The Great Firewall of China

China isn’t the only country censoring the web

Published 8 August 2017

Last weekend, that supreme and unimpeachable force for worldwide progress, Apple Computer, withdrew perhaps 60 Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) from its App Store in China.

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Donald Trump & Trade

The liberal West was protectionist before Trump

Published 31 January 2017

Obama and the EU pursued their own PC-flavoured trade wars before the Donald arrived

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Postcapitalism

A postcapitalist pseuds’ corner

Published 15 December 2016

Two books prophesying the future show a distinct ignorance about present-day capitalism

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Child migrants in Europe

Child migrants: Britain is far from full

Published 8 February 2016

David Cameron says he hates racism. He says he cares, deeply, about children – enough to cosset the charity Kids Company until well past its sell-by date.

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Lewis Carroll and Children

Why Alice is still wonderful

Published 26 July 2015

In July 1865, the Reverend Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, a mathematics lecturer at Christ Church, Oxford, published the first edition of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, under the pseudonym Lewis Carroll.

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Transport in UK election

Transport in the UK election, 2015

Published 1 May 2015

While Japan is building floating trains, British politicians are promising (slightly) lower fares.

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Greening of education

The greening of the ivory towers in education

Published 26 March 2015

A National Association of Scholars report interrogates the tyranny of sustainability in education.

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Dangerous dogs

Dangerous dogs or feckless owners?

Published 15 May 2014

If you own a dog in Britain and it hurts someone, you can now be sent to prison for five years.

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Fur is not political

Banning fur is not a political statement

Published 28 February 2014

Call me sentimental, but I like animals. But I don’t like celebrity culture, and not just because I don’t know who many of the top celebs are nowadays. Don’t know, don’t want to know.

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Humanity

Humanity: alive and well in the fast lane

Published 13 November 2013

The human spirit – motorists emphatically included – remains intrepid, indomitable, and impervious to differences of race, age or gender.

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A tax obsession with diminishing returns

Published 29 August 2013

Politicians fetishise tax avoidance because they have little clue how to generate wealth.

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Dangerous dogs: not that dangerous

Published 8 August 2013

Further proposed state restrictions on pets always mean yet more state restrictions on humans.

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The robots are coming – but not fast enough

Published 15 July 2013

The claim that mechanisation is sweeping away jobs in a wave of innovation bears little relation to reality.

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From red peril to green panic

Published 18 June 2013

America’s military industrial complex once chased communists. Now it obsesses over CO2 emissions.

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The right to bear 3D-printed arms

Published 16 May 2013

The US authorities are armed to the teeth, and we’re panicking about citizens printing out rubbish guns?

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Rare earths and not-so-rare tensions

Published 27 March 2012

The US government’s threat to take China to court for hoarding precious elements is more than just a trade dispute.

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All this carbon-cutting is a waste of energy

Published 2 February 2012

Neither Boris Johnson nor Ken Livingstone is willing to deliver the uninterrupted, cheap energy London needs.

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Making a molehill out of a mountain

Published 17 January 2012

Clint Eastwood’s biopic of J Edgar Hoover is more about the man’s personal identity than his historical significance.

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A Satire of Tulip Mania by Brueghel the Younger (ca. 1640)

Manias about change

Published 7 November 2011

Just because your email Inbox is brimming doesn’t mean that the real pace of change is accelerating. Panel discussion.

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Fracking and Fukushima: our energy security fears

Published 17 October 2011

When I hear the phrase “energy security”, I reach for my revolver’.

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The end is nigh

The end is nigh: is survival all we can hope for?

Published 11 October 2011

In their policies for energy and for the economy, British politicians hold up continued existence as the maximum goal we should strive for.

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Drowning in oil by Loren C Steffy

BP’s Deepwater Horizon and Loren Steffy, Drowning in oil

Published 24 April 2011

BP became so obsessed with irrational management practices and petty health-and-safety measures that it overlooked the real safety of its workers

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Budgeting for a dismal no‑‏growth future

Published 30 March 2011

For all their talk of innovation, the Lib-Cons are more concerned with pinching pennies than investing.

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When a billion Chinese jump

‘Lifestyles will have to be redesigned’

Published 27 August 2010

A Guardian journalist’s ranting about the ‘neglect, greed and human filth’ of modern China shows that new prejudices about a Green Peril have replaced old fears of the Yellow Peril.

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An exhausted approach to the energy issue

Published 3 August 2010

The Lib-Cons ‘energy policy’ is to encourage people to use less of it rather than to generate more of it.

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Christian Salmon

An engaging tale, packed with myths

Published 28 May 2010

Christian Salmon’s book rightly notes the increasing use of narrative in modern life, but his ‘anti-capitalist’ instincts get in the way of understanding why.

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Election 2010: question everything on innovation!

Published 2 April 2010

James Woudhuysen explores the roots of the establishment’s neglect of scientific and technological innovation.

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How the state is a roadblock to progress

Published 11 March 2010

Red tape-obsessed, visionless governments are holding back the kind of big and risky innovation society needs.

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Letter from India

Published 11 March 2010

On a recent trip to India, James Woudhuysen collected a prize for Excellence in Innovation. As proof, he records the boom and dust of his travels.

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Still no clear policy on nuclear energy

Published 9 November 2009

New Labour’s commitment to nuclear is half-hearted at best, and goes hand in hand with more policing of our energy use.

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State intervention is no substitute for innovation

Published 30 October 2009

British industry isn’t dead by any means, but if low-carbon jobs and protectionism trump new research and development, it soon will be.

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New Labour’s power vacuum

Published 21 October 2009

The UK government’s obsession with energy self-sufficiency and renewables looks set to lead to blackouts in the next few years.

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What movies tell us

What movies tell us about work

Published 2 July 2009

Movies, as everyone knows, form a powerful medium. So when we consider movies and the world of work, one thing ought to be obvious: to show a few classic movies at normal workplaces would be a useful innovation.

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Gladwell: hero or zero?

Published 26 June 2009

Malcolm Gladwell’s Outliers reveals more about the author’s prejudices than it does the nature of success.

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An R&D recession

Published 27 May 2009

Today’s economic crisis partly springs from years and years of under-investment in research and development.

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A Fu Manchu of the dot com age?

Published 9 April 2009

Claims that Chinese cyber-spies are plotting world domination through the World Wide Web are greatly exaggerated.

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The recession and the Politics of Fumbling

Published 19 March 2009

The consistent incompetence of politicians is no accident: it is testament to their lack of a cohering ideology.

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The CFLs are on, but nobody’s home

Published 12 January 2009

The mad green war on light bulbs won’t save much electricity – it’s about enforcing moral rectitude in the home.

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Global rivalries go green

Published 23 December 2008

Climate change will be a central part of government agendas in 2009 – and a rich source of diplomatic squabbles, too.

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Nothing Romantic about environmentalists

Published 16 July 2008

The great nineteenth-century English poets waxed lyrical about nature, but they still believed in humanity – unlike today’s eco-pessimists.

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Eco-imperialism is alive and well in the West

Published 12 July 2008

The West’s pleading with China to cut carbon emissions bursts with ulterior motives

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London 2012: where’s the Olympic Spirit?

Published 2 April 2008

Officials don’t care about sport for sport’s sake: they want the Games to boost British self-esteem, fix public transport and solve global warming.

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BBC

Brown’s ‘get fit’ towns: Kim Jong-il would be proud

Published 7 November 2007

With its new towns that will force people to keep fit, New Labour is pushing an authoritarian health agenda that will be the envy of tinpot dictators.

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Why greens don’t want to ‘solve’ climate change

Published 10 October 2007

Environmentalists are cagey about techno-fixes to climate change because berating mankind for its impact on nature is their raison d’être.

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It’s official: the masses are not gullible

Published 16 August 2007

A new British government survey suggests that lots of us have an agnostic or atheist attitude to the cult of environmentalism.

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This land is our land

This land is our land

Published 8 August 2007

If New Labour is serious about making homes more affordable, then it should allow members of the public to buy land and build homes where they please.

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Let’s fight back against the new Model Army

Published 12 July 2007

Like voodoo forecasts, computer models of climate change are being used to stifle political discussion and resign man to his Fate

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Take a PEW, hear a sermon

Published 25 May 2007

With three new tracts on planning, energy and waste, the government shows it would rather change our habits than encourage innovation.

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Did Rachel Carson really kill more people than Stalin?

Published 23 May 2007

On the centenary of her birth, the author of Silent Spring is idolised by greens and demonised by the right. Both sides need to turn over a new leaf.

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Come, friendly bombs, fall on Brown’s eco-towns

Published 11 May 2007

With his plans to erect zero-carbon homes in zero-car suburbs, Gordon Brown builds on the Blairites’ small-minded approach to housing

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Remembering the Moscow Trials

Published 16 April 2007

Amid today’s craze for anniversaries, there’s one episode in history that nobody – especially on the left – wants to talk about.

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Gambling addiction: a panic at odds with reality

Published 22 January 2007

Top doctors, business consultants and officials reckon we could all end up enslaved by the slot machines. Wanna bet?

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Beware the New Parochialism

Published 7 August 2006

The Blair-Schwarzenegger and Clinton-Livingstone love-ins on tackling climate change summed up the Lilliputian localism of today’s Green lobby.

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Carbon ration cards

Published 20 July 2006

Debate on BBC Breakfast between Professor Mayer Hillman and Professor James Woudhuysen about the Carbon Ration Card proposal announced by Secretary of State for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs David Miliband

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Windmills of the mind

Published 3 July 2006

Why the UK government’s energy policy is more concerned with changing our behaviour and mindset than with actually supplying more energy.

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The folly of carbon swipe cards

Published 25 June 2006

David Miliband is right: his plan for all citizens to carry around a card that measures their use of carbon will be seen as ‘burden’ by most of us.

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Computer games and sex difference

Published 26 April 2006

The suspicion exists that there are not enough computer games being programmed by women for women. Yet women do play computer games.

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ID cards yes, mobile government no

Published 20 February 2006

The government’s enthusiasm for ID cards is in stark contrast to its lukewarm attitude to mobile IT

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All’s quiet on the Trafalgar front

Published 21 October 2005

Why the British elite won’t utter the v-word on the bicentennial of Nelson’s battle

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All eyes on the future

Published 21 June 2005

New Labour invests a lot in cloudy crystal balls – a professor of forecasting explains why.

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Future of work in Ireland

The future of work in Ireland

Published 18 February 2005

Looking beyond the myths toward the Big Picture: speech at Industrial Relations News, Dublin, February 2005

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Brands: don’t buy the hype

Published 25 August 2004

Both corporations and their critics are so obsessed with brands that they ignore the real worlds of work and politics.

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Putting the IT into politics

Published 7 August 2003

A little more conviction and a little less ‘compulsion’ might get people interested in e-government.

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Playing at democracy

Published 28 November 2002

Reality TV is no model for voting reform. In the US, Fox TV’s cable channel, FX, plans to broadcast a new kind of gameshow.

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Brands demystified

Published 27 January 2001

Throughout the world of business, people believe in the magic of brands

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Government and City literature

Published 1 May 1991

The presentation of important information from government and the City should be more efficient – and legible.

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A licence to print money

A licence to print money?

Published 9 April 1987

The other day, I found my­self in a book auction orga­nised by Sotheby’s, in the West End.

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