Author Archives: Laurie

A world of digital plenty is possible, but only if we take on the data barons

What links Donald Trump, Sajid Javid and Jeremy Corbyn? Answer: over the last couple of months, they’ve all sought to capture the political energy from the seemingly endless sequence of tech giant scandals. Trump has tweeted about a supposed (unfounded) anti-right-wing bias in Google searches. In the UK, Javid has warned of tech firms’ record on child safety,Continue reading “A world of digital plenty is possible, but only if we take on the data barons”

The Digital Commonwealth: From private enclosure to collective benefit (IPPR)

7th September 2018 Digital technology is delivering a huge range of benefits to businesses, citizens and wider society. Platforms – online applications that intermediate between the provider of a service and its users – have unlocked many of these benefits by sorting and connecting an enormous range of services and products, both online and off.Continue reading “The Digital Commonwealth: From private enclosure to collective benefit (IPPR)”

Prosperity and justice: A plan for the new economy – IPPR Commission on Economic Justice final report

5th September 2018 Established in autumn 2016 in the wake of Britain’s vote to leave the European Union, the aim of the IPPR Commission on Economic Justice was to examine the challenges facing the UK economy and to recommend proposals for reform. Commissioners come from across the economy and society and from different political viewpoints,Continue reading “Prosperity and justice: A plan for the new economy – IPPR Commission on Economic Justice final report”

Today we’ve consumed more resources than the planet can renew in a year

Today is Earth Overshoot Day, the date when we have taken more from nature than it can renew in an entire year. Unsustainable extraction is occurring on a planetary scale: we are using natural resources 1.7 times faster in 2018 than the Earth’s ecosystems can regenerate this year. Critically, this year is the earliest dateContinue reading “Today we’ve consumed more resources than the planet can renew in a year”

Fining Facebook isn’t enough – we need total media reform

Facebook is being fined £500,000 by the Information Commissioner, the maximum amount possible, for its role in the Cambridge Analytica scandal. The fine is unlikely to change Facebook’s behaviour. The company is worth an estimated $540 billion, and in the first quarter of 2018 took £500,000 in revenue every five and a half minutes. SomeContinue reading “Fining Facebook isn’t enough – we need total media reform”

Fines are fine, but only structural reform can rein in the platform monopolies

Facebook is being fined £500,000 by the Information Commissioner, the maximum amount possible, for its role in the Cambridge Analytica scandal. The fine is unlikely to change Facebook’s behaviour. The company is worth an estimated $540 billion, and in the first quarter of 2018 took £500,000 in revenue every five and a half minutes. Some claim theContinue reading “Fines are fine, but only structural reform can rein in the platform monopolies”

Britain Unmoored: In Search of a Progressive Foreign Policy

Since the second world war and end of empire, British foreign policy has been moored to two powerful partners. Our ‘special relationship’ with the US has dominated our defence policy, through the cold war into an era of liberal interventionism. Our relationship with Europe, most recently through the European Union, has provided the basis forContinue reading “Britain Unmoored: In Search of a Progressive Foreign Policy”