1 minute read
CITY VIEW
by cityam
from our high tax strait-jacket. The focus on tax policy distracts from the supply-side reforms that could do more to put the UK economy back on track. You could pick any one of a host of issues –our chronic lack of housing chief among them –but arguably the one area in which the government could make the most immediate impact would be by reforming our childcare system. Quietly, the cost of handing off one’s pride and joy / devil-children to somebody else for the day has become one of the biggest brakes on the UK’s economic growth. As a report from the Adam Smith Institute has found, the UK has the most restrictive childcare rules in the world –with mandatory care ratios in particular driving up the cost for parents; it’s worth noting that not one of Germany, Denmark or childcare-champion Sweden bother with such ratios. As is the way in Britain these days, rather than addressing the issue successive governments have elected to throw bucketloads of taxpayers’ cash at it. Even that’s been done poorly.
The Institute for Fiscal Studies, in a separate report today, note there are no fewer than eight overlapping schemes for new parents to navigate. A broken childcare system doesn’t just take cash out of the economy; in many cases it makes going back to work after maternity leave not make any sense.
The uncomfortable reality is that means a lot of smart, careerdriven women leave the workforce for years. Rather than all the guff we saw yesterday, concrete moves to address our childcare system would be a real International Womens’ Day policy.
Dog-shaped robot units by Chinese company Unitree are presented at a demonstration during the World Police Summit 2023 taking place in Dubai
TOP DOGS
The Guardian
Tiktok Unveils European Data Security Plan
Tiktok has announced a data security regime for protecting user information across Europe, as political pressure increases in the US to ban it. The plan involves user data being stored on servers in Ireland and Norway.
The Times Bordeaux Ordered To Uproot Vineyards
The French have lost their taste for wine. More than 300 Bordeaux vineyards are to switch to growing olives and walnuts and thousands of hectares of vines wil be uprooted in an attempt to rescue the claret industry.
THE FINANCIAL TIMES
FCA CONTACTS BANKS’ BOARDS OVER FAILURE TO PASS ON RATE RISES
The UK’s top financial regulator has engaged directly with the boards of some high street banks for failing to pass on interest rate rises to their customers.
