What is it about the European Union and bad tech laws with boring names? Brussels managed to transform four harmless letters into a byword for irritating compliance-induced spam and pop ups as well as a consolidation of power for the internet’s biggest players. Now that the GDPR dust has settled, along comes Article 13 of the […]
In a speech on security cooperation earlier this month Brexit Secretary David Davis neatly summed up Brussels’ intransigence when he said the EU was “shooting itself in the foot just to prove the gun works”. Whilst applicable to a wide range of issues surrounding the Brexit negotiations, it is most apt when describing the recent […]
Cities around North America are waiting with bated breath as Amazon decides where to place its second headquarters. “HQ2” will be a $5 billion facility, generating 50,000 high-paying jobs. On the shortlist of 20 locations there’s just one non-US city: Toronto, Canada. The tech scene north of the border is quietly booming. In 2016, the […]
Since he published his bestselling book, Enlightenment Now: The Case for Reason, Science, Humanism, and Progress, Steven Pinker has been criticised for excessive optimism. Writing for Open Democracy, Jeremy Lent, argues that Pinker is insufficiently concerned about depletion of the planet’s natural resources, including freshwater reserves. He faults the Harvard University psychologist for embracing a […]
Building a new railway in Britain is a herculean task. When Crossrail eventually starts operating at the end of this year, it will have been 75 years since the first proposals were made, and it will have cost the taxpayer tens of billions of pounds. If Crossrail 2 ever happens, it will have been at […]
California’s economy is now bigger than Britain’s. According to data published last month, if the state were an independent country, it would be the fifth largest economy in the world. America’s most populous state – home to 40 million people – grew in real terms by 3 per cent last year, compared to 2.3 per […]
We’ve just been handed a get-out-of-jail free card over NHS funding. Contrary to recent reports, we just need to be doing more of what we are and she’ll be fine. That’s the lesson to take from today’s story about how a computer has learnt to identify skin cancers with more accuracy than human doctors. As […]
Ten years since passing the world-leading Climate Change Act, the UK is well-placed to lead on tackling climate change once again. In a new report published today, Bright Blue explores the changes in the scientific, technological, and legal cases for deep decarbonisation since 2008, and makes a series of recommendations to strengthen the UK’s framework […]
Cuba is a rich country. Fabulously so in fact. That’s the logical conclusion of the latest report from campaign group Global Justice Now. This is not a reference to socialist planning, the destruction of markets nor political repression. Instead, the authors insist that an autarkic economy, one that trades little with dastardly foreigners, is a […]
Bread and circuses are as much public services as water and healthcare. Listening to the UK debate you would be forgiven for missing this essential truth. The big issue of what kind of a relationship or partnership we should have between the private sector and the public sector is very much back on the agenda. […]
We recently welcomed Jamie Bartlett to the CapX offices to talk about what happens whenpolitics and technology intersect. Jamie is the author of The People Vs Tech: How the Internet is Killing Democracy, a book that touches on a number of the most pressing concerns surrounding the rapid pace of technological change and, as the title […]
Last year, I found myself at two very different cultural events, just a few weeks apart. One was held in the awe-inspiring surroundings of the National Gallery in Trafalgar Square. There, I found myself surrounded by the great and the good of the British cultural establishment, attending the launch of a new government report, “Culture […]
Debates about the role of tech in our democracy have never been more vibrant or polarised. Amid a sea of Russian bots, nefarious analytics companies and mighty Californian internet giants, where does Joe Public sit – and what are the dangers for the future of liberal democracy? That is the question posed in People vs […]
It turns out search engines is worth $17,530 a year to us, email $8,414 and digital maps $3,648. Therefore absolutely everything anyone says about GDP, economic growth, productivity and inequality is wrong. Which is a bit of a problem for those attempting to plan our way into economic growth, productivity rises and a reduction in […]
There is a certain stripe of Briton who, when the phrase “ID cards” is mentioned, sits bolt upright in his armchair, moustache bristling, eyes aflame, and lets you have it. “I,” he proclaims, “am a free-born Englishman, warmed by the flame of liberty. My father didn’t defeat Hitler only for his son to be asked […]
For some time now, Universal Basic Income has been one of the hippest ideas in politics. But this week the UBI bandwagon – which has picked up passengers from both the radical Left and the free-market Right – hit a major bump in the road. Finland has decided not to expand a major experiment in […]
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