Spectator Briefings
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5 of the best wineries on the Gran Canaria Wine Route
Gran Canaria might not be the first place you think of when it comes to wine, but vines have been growing here since the Spanish colonised the island in the 15th century. Due to the island’s distinctive microclimate and volcanic soils, grapes grow incredibly well, and the Canarian archipelago lays claim to 18 unique grape varieties,
The hidden inefficiency of hydraulics: why we need a revolution
Hydraulics is one of the world’s unsung heroes. It’s everywhere, hidden in plain sight. From the brakes in your car to the planes in the sky and the cranes that built your office, hydraulics is the muscle behind modern life. Yet, despite its ubiquity, it has remained technologically stagnant for 70 years, operating at astonishingly
The importance of happiness in academic success
As Year 11 and Year 13 students across the country are readying themselves for this year’s public exams season, it is the ideal time to remind ourselves what education is about. I am very clear that a good education is partly judged around exam results, but is also about developing students’ character and skills, largely
Rooted in tradition, prepared for the future
For over a century, St Anthony’s School has been a cornerstone of Catholic preparatory education. Founded by Richard Patton in Eastbourne in 1892, the school relocated to its current site in Hampstead in the 1950s. Today, it continues to offer an exceptional educational journey, from its co-educational nursery (ages 2.5–4) to its academically rigorous preparatory
The Sherborne Difference
Last year, Sherborne Boys, Sherborne Girls, Sherborne Prep and Hanford Prep came together as the Sherborne Schools Group (SSG). It was a courageous move to secure the financial future of the schools and deliver an even better educational experience. For many years Sherborne Boys and Sherborne Girls have benefitted from a close relationship, underpinned by
Pioneering innovation: launching the world’s first graphene-enriched carbon fibre facility to advance vision 2030 and global innovation
As I reflect on the monumental achievement that we’ve reached with GIM GrapheneFibre, I am both humbled and energised by the possibilities this milestone brings. Together with our partners in Saudi Arabia, Organized Chaos, we have officially launched the world’s first commercial production of graphene-enriched carbon fibre – a groundbreaking leap that firmly places Saudi
How can we unlock longer working lives?
How do we get Britain back to work? Tackling our high rates of economic inactivity has been described by Liz Kendall, the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, as ‘the greatest employment challenge in a generation’. The challenge is indeed a serious one. Since the pandemic, the proportion of workers who are economically inactive
A perfectly modern education
Walking through Sherborne’s streets, it is clear there is something special about this gorgeous Dorset town. Routinely named in lists of the UK’s most beautiful places to live, it has a tangible air of history, with a glorious abbey standing at its heart. But it’s the two full-boarding senior schools and two local prep schools
Securing Britain’s energy on the pathway to net zero
There is no projection of the UK’s journey to net zero that does not include a role for gas for decades to come – and with a focus on clean power by 2030, there is a need to accelerate our transition to low-carbon gases. Today, gas accounts for almost half of the UK’s energy consumption
A manifesto for the financial crime challenges facing the next government
As we approach the final days of the UK general election campaign, it is crucial to consider the robustness of our financial system. This isn’t about tax policies or government spending, but the regulations and safeguards necessary to combat financial crime and protect people’s savings. Our team collaborates with more than 1,000 companies globally to
Urgent action is required to address pensions adequacy
Since its introduction just over a decade ago, automatic enrolment has undoubtedly transformed retirement savings in the UK, allowing millions of workers to effortlessly save for their future. Some 22.6 million people now contribute to a workplace pension, an increase of 47 per cent before auto enrolment’s inception in 2012. That is a significant achievement.
Where next for pensions auto-enrolment?
Since its introduction just over a decade ago, automatic enrolment has undoubtedly transformed retirement savings in the UK, allowing millions of workers to effortlessly save for their future. Some 22.6 million people now contribute to a workplace pension, an increase from 47 per cent prior to auto enrolment’s inception in 2012. That is a significant
Adani Green Energy accelerates decarbonisation of India’s grid by developing world’s largest renewable energy project
With India’s economy due to grow almost 7 per cent this year and an environmental necessity for clean energy, the country urgently needs to decarbonise its energy system at scale. The dual challenge of satisfying the rising demand for energy while ensuring a cleaner and greener future requires extraordinary ambition and scope. Adani Green Energy
Joining forces
It is a cold evening in the picturesque Dorset town of Sherborne. The Sherborne Astroturf pitch twinkles, diamonds of condensed fog glinting on its blue surface. Through the mist drifts the low chatter of girls and boys, smartly attired in military fatigues and readying for the sternest test of their cadet lives. This evening is
Regulating nicotine pouches is an unmissable opportunity for the government to unlock its smoke free 2030 ambition
England has a golden opportunity to be one of the very first countries globally to bring its smoking rate to below 5 per cent, thereby meeting the World Health Organisation’s definition of ‘smoke free’. The government has set itself the ambitious, and laudable, target of reaching this important milestone by 2030. At BAT we have
What could an 80s beer brand teach political leaders about reinventing your brand?
Political parties are faced with the challenge of re-inventing themselves every few years in order to reconnect with both their core voters, whilst appealing to new, and undecided ones, particularly as the clock ticks down to a General Election. It can also be a similar problem for major businesses, and their brands, as they look to
The vaping industry: time to step up
You may have recently seen billboard or newspaper adverts calling for better regulation of the vaping industry, to help combat the levels of underage vaping and the sale of illegal vapes. These are the work of BAT, the biggest vaping manufacturer based in the UK. As a FTSE 10 UK company, our call for the
Latest from Coffee House
How Labour governments always end
Couldn’t we just skip to the end? I’m old enough to have seen this so often: must I sit through each dreary succeeding scene again? Parties in government are animals: they have natures; their natures do not change; they are incapable of being different animals; and what follows, follows. A Labour government finally runs out
Can Keir Starmer fend off Labour’s big beasts?
It was the chronicle of a death foretold. Last year Keir Starmer’s chief of staff, Morgan McSweeney, drafted a memo for his boss spelling out in the starkest terms How Labour Could Fail. This week, instead of celebrating the first anniversary of Labour’s landslide election victory, the two men revisited that analysis and reflected on
Portrait of the week: Welfare rebellions, Glastonbury chants and Lucy Letby arrests
Home Sir Keir Starmer, the Prime Minister, in the face of a rebellion by 120 backbenchers over the welfare bill, undertook to limit to new claimants restrictions on personal independence payments (Pip). Modelling by the Department for Work and Pensions predicted that 150,000 people might be pushed into ‘relative poverty’ by the revised welfare cuts,
Labour should look to Andy Burnham for inspiration
For Keir Starmer, it seems everything is going south. His MPs are openly rebelling, his advisers are mutinous and it often feels as though he can’t decide whether to run the country as human-rights-lawyer-in-chief or as Nigel Farage-lite. It’s no wonder that some in his party are beginning to look north for an answer to
The right is splintering
When Elon Musk tweeted his vision for an ‘America Party’, he ignited a firestorm of hope and scepticism. The idea was inspired by his anger for Donald Trump’s $5 trillion spending bill. In the UK, Ben Habib and Rupert Lowe, formerly figures in Reform, have splintered away from Britain’s populist party over splits with Nigel
At PMQs we saw Keir Starmer’s ugly side
‘When a Knight won his spurs in the stories of old, he was gentle and brave, he was gallant and bold.’ I wonder if Sir Keir Starmer ever sang the old hymn, podgy hands on crossed-legged knee when at primary school in the Stakhanovite front-lines of 1970s Surrey? Presumably not, given how ill-suited the epithets