Ireland says it will become the world’s first country to label alcoholic drinks with comprehensive health warnings, linking them to a slew of fatal illnesses. In a move that has caused controversy ahead of debate at a World Trade Organization (WTO) meeting this month, the new legislation will take effect in three years to give producers time to add detailed warnings about calorie content, alcohol content and health risks to labels. While thirteen EU member states, including France, Italy and Spain, have made their own concerns known to the EU, Ireland has defended its move as consistent with health warnings in other drinks and food products.
The attorney-general responsible for advising the UK government on legal procedures has been accused of seeking priority in arranging a speeding awareness course following an incident. Suella Braverman was reported to have contacted her civil servants in an attempt to have the course arranged, according to The Times. The move would break the UK’s ministerial code, which seeks to avoid conflicts of interest. The papers have reported she ultimately opted to keep the three points on her licence. Braverman is part of a wider cabinet division regarding net migration figures, which are expected to roughly double post-Brexit.
National conservatism may have some ideas on how politicians can effectively combat problems of success, but many of those ideas are flawed, writes Stephen Bush in the Financial Times. People in rich countries tend to be more isolated, depressed or anxious and have fewer children than their peers in poorer countries. One conservative response is to promote constitutional, cultural and religious traditions. Although this response may provide some aid to common social problems, it is still hard to address these issues in light of various obstacles to change. National conservatism is also bad policy, Bush notes, as conservative policies often do not necessarily help people find solutions to certain challenges. Hungary, an example of national conservatism, has a population growth rate below replacement, despite providing incentives for families with children. Additionally, austerity policies in Greece only made their economic problems worse. Globally, solutions to social issues should be addressed based on the specific culture of the nation, and should not be solved by conservative politics alone.
Beijing has reportedly launched punitive action against American chipmaker Micron over concerns regarding its products’ network security, thus denting the tech giant’s revenues by a “single-digit percentage”. This retaliation is most likely in response to the extensive chip export controls introduced by Washington last October. Foreign policy experts suggest that the use of tough rhetoric against China may hurt the possibility of cooperation with the west. The US successfully persuaded European countries to take a harder line over China, and an early test will come this week when China’s commerce minister Wang Wentao becomes the first senior official to visit Washington since 2020. Thus, global efforts are being made to build alternative chip supply chains that have the impetus of worsening relations between China and Taiwan, the country that produces more than 60% of the world’s chips and 90% of the most advanced. As the tech battle between the US and China continues, another Big Read suggests the AI revolution is transforming education, forcing schools and universities to restructure how they teach and test students.
European Union (EU) member states risk losing the single market bit by bit if they prioritise the pursuit of “strategic autonomy” and economic security over joint policies, says former Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti. He argues that objectives should be more easily achieved through joining forces and warns the single market must be a priority despite the rise of new concerns. Monti also calls for an overhaul of single market rules and the “soft” nationalism of governments, regulators and central banks impeding integration in the banking and capital markets union.
The volume of foreign direct investment (FDI) into Germany is expected to drop this year due to the Biden administration’s Inflation Reduction Act. Record levels of FDI were seen in Germany in 2021, largely due to a rise in UK companies setting up operations in Europe’s largest economy to retain ties with the EU following Britain’s departure. Last year US, Swiss and UK investors led inward investments as China’s projects declined. The proposed IRA, which is designed to lure investment in clean technology towards the US, could affect investment in Germany and Europe.
Historians have argued that imperial Rome fell due to a failure of imagination rather than plague or invasions, and a story by The Guardian suggests there are parallels with the stagnation and dystopia of today's Western powers. However, the article suggests that the West-unlike the late Romans-has the potential to tap into a major tech innovation boom, in particular emerging trends such as a new generation of robots that will work alongside humans on factory floors. Meanwhile, revolutions in medical discovery enabled by supercomputers mean scientists "are empowered to in turn follow hypotheses and hunches, exploring avenues they may have never otherwise considered".
Britain's start-up scene is second to none, with the country's tech firms raising more funds in 2022 than those of France and Germany combined. However, the high level of entrepreneurial spirit in UK universities isn't matched by the support network they need to flourish, said Sir Nigel Wilson, the CEO of L&G. As a result, many firms are tempted to move overseas to Silicon Valley and New York, which benefit at the UK's expense. The toxic combination of "planning policy and regulation" and limited investment from de-equitisation of pensions are among the key factors holding UK business back.
Former UK Foreign Secretary, Dominic Raab, has announced he is to stand down from parliament at the next election, citing mounting concerns over the pressure of the job on his family. The move comes a month after Raab quit his position in Prime Minister Boris Johnson's Cabinet over accusations of bullying by civil servants, claims which Raab fiercely denied. With Raab's constituency among the top targets for the Liberal Democrats in the election, he had faced an uphill battle to hold on, having won the seat by a slim margin of 2,743 votes at the 2019 election. Raab's departure is the latest in a string of withdrawals by prominent Conservative MPs; the former cabinet ministers Sajid Javid and George Eustice have both confirmed they will leave, along with younger MPs, Chloe Smith and William Wragg.
Michael Caine's latest film, The Great Escaper, based on the true story of a WWII veteran who escaped his care home to attend D-Day commemorations, was filmed entirely in England instead of France in order to minimise travel for its elderly cast, according to production company Pathe. The film stars Caine, 90, and Glenda Jackson, 87, in their first acting project together in almost 50 years. Sir John Standing, who also appears in the film, has claimed that problems with Brexit red tape were the real reasons why the film could not be shot in France.
