Spotlight is the New Statesman’s series of highly focused policy reports, asking parliamentarians, academics, business leaders and experts to shed light on specific areas. Recent contributors include Sadiq Khan, Andy Burnham and George Osborne.
Information has always been equated with power, but never before has it been so easy to disseminate, to misdirect, and to steal information on a global scale. Cyber security is now one of the fastest-moving areas of policy, affecting everything from our national infrastructure to the US Presidential election.View website
The area between Liverpool, Sheffield and Newcastle forms a triangle with a population and an economic potential roughly equivalent to the Netherlands. With the right investment and infrastructure, the cities of a revitalised north could rebalance our economy.View website
The gap between the UK’s productivity and the other G7 economies is now at its widest since records began; the GDP per hour of German workers is 36 percentage points ahead. While employment continues to rise, the quality of work is a more significant – and more urgent – question.View website
Home ownership in the UK is now at its lowest for 30 years. The median house price in London is 12 times the median income. With some estimates putting the number of new homes needed at 300,000 per year, there has never been a greater need for new ideas and intelligent housing policy.View website
In the New Statesman you’ll find expert weekly analysis of the UK and global economy; Spotlight goes into more detail on the risks and opportunities for your money.View website
The NHS is a great source of national pride, but it is also approaching at potentially perilous tipping point as a result of huge cuts to social welfare, growing demographic pressures, skills shortages and mismanagement. For a country in which a tiny minority are privately insured for health, the end of universal free may soon become the defining political issue.View website
Fossil fuels powered the development of the human race, but now they threaten its future. From new means of generation to changing patterns of use, few areas of business and policy are changing as quickly, or with effects that are as pronounced, as the energy sector.View website
A country’s progression from agriculture to an economy of factories to an economy of knowledge, influence and investment is a defining geopolitical force. The battle between globalisation and nationalism, scarcity of resources and tectonic shifts in labour markets are all bound up in the fundamental issue of the things we make.View website
The UK’s yawning social and economic divides can only be bridged if the opportunities for jobs, education, health, culture and leisure are properly distributed. Affordable, effective transport – both private and public – is the circulatory system necessary to a healthy country.View website
