Lord Smith of Hindhead is Vice-Chairman of Peers for Gambling Reform. The recent launch of the highly anticipated gambling review is a welcome and important milestone as we head towards much needed reform of the gambling industry. Peers for Gambling Reform, of which I...


Jamie Njoku-Goodwin’s Twitter thread on the importance for business of a re-opening date
Jamie Njoku-Goodwin is Chief Executive of UK Music, and was Matt Hancock’s SpAd until recently. Link to original Twitter thread here.


Newslinks for Monday 11th January 2020
Coronavirus 1) Ministers consider tightening lockdown rules on exercise and face masks “Tighter coronavirus restrictions are being considered by ministers, The Telegraph understands, amid concerns the latest lockdown is not being followed strictly enough. Rules...
Salmond’s sensational attack on Sturgeon threatens to tear the SNP apart
Over the weekend, the Times reported that Alex Salmond, the former First Minister of Scotland, has made an extraordinary attack on Nicola Sturgeon, his successor and one-time protégé. In evidence to the man investigating the SNP leader’s conduct, he claims that...
Neil O’Brien: Trumpism in Britain. It’s time to call out those in the media who cynically feed the cranks, rioters and conspiracists
Neil O’Brien is co-Chairman of the Conservative Party’s Policy Board, and is MP for Harborough. “Defoe says that there were a hundred thousand country fellows in his time ready to fight to the death against Popery, without knowing whether Popery was a man or a...
Will Holloway: The challenges awaiting Ministers and MPs as Parliament returns today
Will Holloway is the Deputy Director of the think tank Onward and a former Special Adviser. This is not the New Year reset that the Government was hoping for. Parliament has returned not to slowing transmission and a gradual reopening of the economy, but to the worst...
Paul Mercer: Local government needs to stay in the Zoom era
Cllr Paul Mercer is a councillor on Charnwood Borough Council and is the Lead Member for Housing in the Cabinet. He is writing in a personal capacity. The majority of large companies and banks, as well as many small ones, realised the potential of videoconferencing...
Calling Conservatives: New public appointments announced. Chair of the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education – and more
Eight years ago, the TaxPayers’ Alliance reported that “in the last year, five times more Labour people were appointed to public bodies than Tories”. It currently reports that almost half of avowedly political appointees last year owed their...


Four Successful Regulations That Show Real Bite from the UK Gambling Commission
The UK Gambling Commission (UKGC) is one of those regulatory bodies that often gets it in the neck from all sides. “Toothless” was the charge laid at its feet this summer by a parliamentary watchdog, the public accounts committee (PAC), for the UKGC’s seeming...
WATCH: Starmer attacks the Government’s ‘mixed messaging’ on Covid-19 restrictions
#Marr: Are police going to have to fine people rather than warn them now? Labour Party leader Sir Keir Starmer: “They need clarity about what exactly is asked of them” pic.twitter.com/JjTl6xwzmE — BBC Politics (@BBCPolitics) January 10, 2021