Under The Radar – 28 May

Ian Taylor, Unsplash

This week, we discuss:

1. How Brexit has thrown the UK’s edible insect sector into jeopardy

2. Controversial plans for the NHS to share sensitive data with third parties

3. A potential trade deal between the UK and Gulf states

The UK’s Edible Insect Sector – Bugged by Brexit

What happened?

The UK’s edible insect sector is in jeopardy due to legal changes triggered by Brexit. While the UK has retained the EU’s novel food regulation in law, it has not included the transitional measures set out by the EU.

What does it mean?

Failing to adopt the EU’s transitional measures is an illustrative of a government struggling to live up to its own aspirations of a Global Britain. And though the pandemic has delayed plans to harness the opportunities presented by Brexit, the need for clarity of purpose will only increase in the months ahead.

Unbeknownst to most, insects form part of the traditional diets of at least two billion people according to UNFAO, with the global edible insect sector set to be worth £3.25bn by 2027. There are already at least twenty-six edible insect businesses in the UK, ranging from cricket farms to restaurants and product manufacturers to retailers, presenting huge growth opportunity for the UK.

Coupled with the fact that the sector carries minimal environmental footprint, which fits with the government’s green ambitions, and their excellent nutritional profile that complements current consumer trends, the government’s position on edible insects seems illogical at best, and negligent at worst.

In truth, no one knows what Global Britain could, or will, eventually look like. But taking the opportunity presented by Brexit to become a world leader in new fledgling industries – like edible insects – seems like a good place to start.

Privacy vs Public Health

What happened?

Privacy campaigners have criticised the NHS for its plans to share sensitive data, including details of patients’ physical, mental, and sexual health, with third parties.

NHS Digital, which is leading the project, said the information will be used to analyse healthcare inequalities and develop new treatments for serious illnesses.

What does it mean?

Foxglove, a campaign group for digital rights, has issued a legal letter to the Department of Health, which claims that the public has not been given sufficient warning to opt-out and that the NHS has not stated which companies they would share the data with.

In many ways, digital rights campaigners like Foxglove are fighting a losing battle. Not only do they have to state their case to the Government, but they also have to convince the public – who already happily share personal data each time they use a smartphone and go on social media – to be concerned about this latest breach of privacy.

And with this medical dataset going towards research, it’s an increasingly difficult case to make: a majority of the British population supports the introduction of domestic vaccine passports, showing that most people are content to give up their private information for the sake of public health.

But despite these difficulties, Foxglove is right to demand more transparency from NHS Digital on which third parties will gain access to the dataset. Data collection on such a large scale is at high risk of leaks; the public needs to be reassured that all suppliers involved will be handling the data securely and that this sensitive information will not get into the hands of security researchers, attackers, or rogue states.

Truss sets her sights on the Gulf

What happened?

Liz Truss, the International Trade Secretary, has revealed that Britain is working on a trade deal with the Gulf states, including Saudi Arabia and the UAE.

What does it mean?

For Britain, a trade deal with the Gulf states is another Brexit prize for the government and would open the door for British companies to a market with huge wealth and purchasing power. For Liz Truss, securing a deal with the oil-rich GCC would somewhat numb the pain of her department’s inability to make headway on a trade deal with the US, despite it being a priority for Johnson’s administration.

But if the government found the Australian FTA bruising, a deal with the GCC will prove equally, if not more, controversial. The Gulf states are still renowned for their archaic laws and abysmal human rights record, which will likely prove to be a sticking point in any negotiations. Indeed, the government has long been criticised for selling weapons to Saudi Arabia while they relentlessly bomb the impoverished Yemen.

The Gulf states also have a poor record when it comes to trade deals, mostly due to internal rifts that prevent a united front. Despite on-off negotiations since 1990, the EU has been unable to strike a deal, even with plenty of political will in Brussels.

This Week’s Must Reads

1. ‘Small Businesses Have Surged in Black Communities. Was It the Stimulus?’ by Quoctrung Bui for The New York Times

2. ‘The secret deportations: how Britain betrayed the Chinese men who served the country in the war’ by Dan Hancox for The Guardian

3. ‘Third time lucky? Le Pen sets her sights on the Élysée Palace’ by Charles Bremner for The Times

4. ‘Why Shell’s climate defeat matters’ by Helen Thomas for the Financial Times

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Under The Radar – 21 May

This week, we discuss:

1. Sadiq Khan kicking off his regional tour

2. How a conservative majority in the U.S Supreme Court could reshape abortion rights

3. The high profile departures as Condé Nast’s digital-first strategy takes shape

Sadiq Khan’s Regional Tour

What happened?

On Thursday, Sadiq Khan kicked off a regional tour with a visit to North Yorkshire. The tour will – supposedly – be undertaken to look at levelling up and how London can work with other regions.

What does it mean?

On the face of it, Sadiq Khan finds himself in calm political waters. He eventually won a second term as Mayor comfortably, remains popular in London and continues to impressively navigate the political cesspit that is the Labour Party. But when one digs a little deeper, the picture changes.

A failure to manage expectations – with many Labour-inclined voters simply not showing up under the assumption that Khan would easily win – meant the Mayoral election went to a second round, after less than 5% separated Khan and the Tory candidate. For someone who has made no effort to hide his grander political ambitions – much like the Mayor before him – an unemphatic result was not the plan.

In the context of those ambitions and the coalescence of support around the levelling up agenda, it is of little surprise that a shrewd operator like Sadiq Khan is now undertaking his own regional tour. And, considering his infamously opportunistic penchant for self-promotion, the only surprise is that he hasn’t done it sooner.

Keir Starmer may be a dead man walking, but Andy Burnham’s reincarnation as a man of the people and his early jostling for the leadership means a Khan coronation is further away than ever before.

Roe v Wade’s viability 

What happened?

On Monday, the Supreme Court agreed to hear a Mississippi law which outlaws abortions after fifteen weeks of gestation. This is the first abortion case to come before the Supreme Court since Amy Coney Barrett was appointed and established a 6-3 conservative majority.

What does it mean?

In 1973, Roe v Wade established that women have the right to terminate their pregnancy up until foetal viability – i.e. when the foetus would be able to survive outside the womb. This is believed to occur at around twenty-four weeks – significantly later than the fifteen-week limit proposed by the Mississippi law.

Of course, as the phrase “believed to occur at around” signifies, foetal viability is a very murky boundary around which to inscribe law. After all, premature babies born at twenty-four weeks once had no chance of survival, whereas two thirds now survive to go home. Foetal viability is sure to shift alongside scientific and technological advancements.

It’s this type of arbitrariness in abortion legislation that has always made Roe v Wade subject to disagreement. Ever since it was passed almost fifty years ago, pro-life advocates across the country have been tirelessly trying to repeal it.

Up until now, those who hold pro-choice views could feel secure in the knowledge that the Supreme Court would always rule in favour of the 1973 precedent, but for the first time ever, conservatives now have the votes to overturn it. And the fact that the court has taken the case is an indication that it intends to do just that.

The Condé Nast Cull

What happened?

British GQ editor Dylan Jones is leaving the magazine after twenty-two years at the helm. The high-profile departure comes as Condé Nast merges its editorial teams in the US and the rest of the world under a new global digital-first content strategy.

What does it mean?

Condé Nast is streamlining its vast global business. The publishing house has suffered heavy losses for a number of years after CEO Roger Lynch, a tech leader with no prior experience in publishing, joined the company to implement a global digital-first content strategy. The pandemic and its devastating initial impact on print sales has only expedited the overhaul.

Lynch wants to steer the ship in a new direction and has set an ambitious target of double-digit revenue growth this year. To meet a drastic change in media consumption, Condé Nast is increasing investment in content, including video products, by 25% over the next four years.

But by prioritising digital, the axe is falling on editorial and commercial staff at Vogue, Condé Nast Traveller and GQ. Dylan Jones is just the latest editor to leave the company, after the editors of Vogue China, Germany, Spain, India and Japan all announced their departures.

Dame Anna Wintour, who has been the leading figure for Vogue and luxury fashion for thirty-three years, is unlikely to be going anywhere. Whether Condé Nast’s cost cutting measures extend to her multi-million dollar salary and perks, which includes a $200,000 shopping allowance and a Hotel Ritz Paris suite for fashion week, remains to be seen.

This Week’s Must Reads

1. ‘Wirecard’s reluctant whistleblower tells his story’ by Dan McCrum, Stefania Palma & Olaf Storbeck for the Financial Times

2. ‘How Marbella became a magnet for gangsters’ by Nacho Carretero & Arturo Lezcano for The Guardian

3. ‘How viral TikToks, eight Palestinian families and one of Islam’s holiest sites brought Israel to the brink of war’ by Alan Brown for The Telegraph

4. ‘The fragile story of the Olympic Refugee Team’ by Tom Kershaw for The Independent

Under The Radar – 14 May

This week, we discuss:

1. MDMA being used to treat PTSD

2. Warnings from the media over the Online Safety Bill

3. Facebook downgrading its digital currency project…again

MDMA used to treat PTSD

What happened?

Results from a new trial in America suggest that MDMA, commonly known as a party drug, could be more effective than therapy alone at treating PTSD. The results suggest two-thirds of people no longer qualified for a PTSD diagnosis afterwards.

What does it mean?

Undertaken by US charity Maps with the approval of the FDA, the study found 88% of people had a “meaningful reduction in symptoms”, while 67% no longer qualified for a PTSD diagnosis at all after 18 weeks and three sessions of MDMA-assisted therapy.

Although the results are based on just 91 people, they are nonetheless significant. Most psychedelic studies are exploratory, remaining unlikely to receive approval for prescription usage. However, Maps’ study is a stage three trial, meaning the findings can be used to apply for prescribing approval.

In recent years the US has rapidly embraced a liberal approach to psychedelics in numerous states, resulting in changing attitudes that have paved the way for progressive trials. Maps’ chief scientific officer has now said that MDMA could be available for prescription by 2023 in the US, with approval being sought in the UK this summer.

Experts in the UK have urged caution due to the small sample size but have accepted the study adds further weight to the growing conviction that psychedelic drugs have real treatment potential. 

It remains to be seen whether the UK will embrace the potential of psychedelics or continue living in the past.

Alarm bells rung over Online Safety Bill 

What happened?

Campaigners have warned that the government’s Online Safety Bill risks “stifling the free press”. The proposed bill includes safeguards for social media users’ ability to access journalism, including features to protect content deemed “democratically important”. Nevertheless, some have warned journalism is now in the scope of state regulation and under threat.

What does it mean?

Oliver Dowden, the culture secretary, is certainly correct in calling the legislation “groundbreaking” – with its unprecedented curbs to stop the spread of illegal and harmful content.

But in the government’s war on social media, has the free press been caught in the crossfire? Ministers are adamant it has not, pointing to the protections for “democratically important” content and a fast-track appeals process should journalists’ content be removed. But Fleet Street is not so sure.

Commentator, former journalist, and General Secretary of the Free Speech Union, Toby Young, has argued that while the democratic protections are a welcomed exemption, “an important line has been crossed” and “the state has no business regulating the work of journalists, whether it’s in a newspaper or on Facebook”.

Equally, Daily Mail editor emeritus Peter Wright told the House of Lords that the appeals process is completely unworkable for the media, “the shelf life of news is incredibly short. If a big story breaks, and 20 to 30 different news outlets are covering it and the platforms decide to block three of them, the story may have moved on within an hour or two. There is no appeals process you could put in place that would repair the damage that had been done.”

Social media has undoubtedly had a detrimental effect on the quality of journalism. So despite the reactionary outrage, perhaps a slower and more considered news cycle would be a good thing.

Facebook’s digital currency fails to impress

What happened?

Facebook-backed digital currency project Diem has announced it has withdrawn its application for a Swiss payment license and will instead shift its operations to the United States and partner with a domestic bank to issue a US-dollar backed stablecoin.

What does it mean?

Facebook’s digital currency has hit road bump after road bump. It is now a shadow of the former grandiose vision that was supposedly going to change the way we pay for goods and services entirely.

Announced in 2019, it was anticipated that Facebook would revolutionise the world of commerce by creating the Libra Association and the eponymous digital currency. But after Mark Zuckerberg and his Nick Clegg brain-trust failed to win over policymakers and regulators, Facebook scaled back the plan to Libra 2.0, which shared more resemblance to PayPal than a challenger currency.

The subsequent rebrand to Diem hasn’t been enough to shake the reputational damage that dogged Libra, with successor Diem downgrading the project even further. It has given up its global vision, abandoning its application to the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority and relocating its HQ from Switzerland to the U.S.

Diem will now launch a stablecoin, which is tied to the U.S. dollar, while California based Silvergate Bank will issue and manage the reserves.

This Week’s Must Reads

1. ‘How India’s Covid-19 crisis diminished Narendra Modi’ by

2. Amy Kazmin, Benjamin Parkin and Jyotsna Singh for the Financial Times

3. ‘Could the rising Gaza death toll spell the end of Israel’s new friendship with Gulf states?’ by Yossi Mekelberg for The Telegraph

4. ‘No visitors but teeming with life: what’s going on inside the Natural History Museum?’ by Phoebe Weston for The Guardian

5. ‘Without total change Labour will die’ by Tony Blair for the New Statesman

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