Encipia

February 4, 2021

Mutant coronaviruses – they are only being human

The language of mutant viral infection and disease is dark and ominous, yet it is describing something that is essentially human – or perhaps the…

July 21, 2020

The two phases of the coronavirus

July 17 marked the 200th day of counting the number of infections and deaths arising from the Covid-19 pandemic, writes Dr John Egan. This count…

June 17, 2020

Covid conundrum: interact, produce, consume, or infect

There are early signs to suggest that a coronavirus and a steam engine have enough in common to provide a useful perspective for our economic…

January 14, 2019

Maxwell’s Brexit: A case of intangible destruction

Strip away from Brexit the bitterness, debate and division and what is left – an abrupt change of circumstance with a future that is unknowable,…

December 6, 2018

Maxwell’s Consumer: seeking a sustainable world

The recent uprising of the Gilets Jaunes in France is one idiosyncratic national reaction to a global problem. But global problems demand global answers and…

November 26, 2018

Maxwell’s Entrepreneur: finding the edge

If there is a powerful take-home message from last week – for chief-execs and business students alike – the succinct observations of Ray Dalio, founder…

November 15, 2017

Analysis: Amazon and the power of capital

On the 150th anniversary of the publication of Karl Marx’s Das Kapital, we add our energy-dissipative view of the interactions of labour and capital in…

August 28, 2017

Analysis: an Apple that just keeps on rising

Imagine Apple Inc. as a quintessentially huge machine fuelled by investment, converting labour into value and, via sales, into revenue and profit. John Egan looks beyond…

June 30, 2017

‘Consumptivity’: the heartbeat of a modern economy

At the heart of a modern economy there beats a pacemaker with a rhythm that in large part sets its productivity, its exchange rates and…

June 28, 2017

The Labour Theory of Value

In the works of 19th century political economists, the understanding of the nature of value is of major significance. The Labour Theory of Value is…

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Vaccination passports ‘will be here by summer’
Britons dreaming of a beach holiday in the Mediterranean can start planning the trip after EU leaders agreed last night to introduce vaccine passports by the summer. “Everyone agreed that we need a digital vaccination certificate,” Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, told reporters after an EU virtual summit. “This will make travelling within the EU possible and could pave the way for further travel from third countries into the EU.” However, she said that it could take three months for the European Commission to set up the technology for such documents, meaning the scheme may not be ready by the time the British government expects overseas travel for non-essential purposes to begin on 17 May. The Times, February 26

Paris govt calls for three-week lockdown
The Paris city government has called for a full three-week lockdown to bring infections back under control, but the central government said on Friday it was sceptical about whether the plan would work. Emmanuel Grégoire, deputy Paris mayor, said the city preferred a complete lockdown, arguing the strategy would ultimately pay off since it could allow the possibility of “reopening everything” after three weeks. A nationwide 6pm-6am curfew is in force and cafés and restaurants are closed in the capital. “We can’t be forced to live in a semi-prison for months,” Grégoire told France Info radio. “We now have to take courageous decisions.” The cities of Nice in the south and Dunkirk in the north are subject to weekend lockdowns after a rapid rise of coronavirus cases from new, highly infectious variants of the virus. Gabriel Attal, central government spokesman, said the Paris proposal would be studied. But he added: “I hear very few scientists saying you can crush the virus in three weeks … In Germany they announced a three-week confinement in December, and they still have it.” Financial Times, February 26

PM to lead new committee on Union
Boris Johnson will lead a new cabinet committee on the Union after a month of tumult in the government’s efforts to combat Scottish nationalism. Downing Street said that the prime minister would chair regular meetings of a “Union strategy committee”, less than a week after his handpicked chief of the Downing Street Union unit quit a fortnight after his appointment. Oliver Lewis, a former head of research at Vote Leave who was Dominic Cummings’s most senior remaining ally in No 10, left Downing Street last Friday amid claims that he had been accused by the prime minister and his fiancée of briefing against Michael Gove … Alister Jack, the Scottish secretary, said that the new committee was a “very good news story” and a “step-up” on the previous arrangement. The Times, February 26

Shamima Begum cannot return to UK to fight for citizenship, court rules
Shamima Begum, who fled Britain as a schoolgirl to join Islamic State in Syria, has failed to restore her British citizenship after the supreme court ruled on Friday that she had lost her case. The judgment from the UK’s highest court is a critical – and controversial – test case of the UK’s policy to strip the citizenship of Britons who went to join Isis and are being detained by Syrian Kurdish groups without trial. Lord Reed, the president of the court, said its judges had decided unanimously to rule in favour of the home secretary and against Begum on all counts before it, meaning that the 21-year-old will not be able to re-enter the UK to fight her case in person and will not have her citizenship restored while she is being detained in Syria. “The supreme court unanimously allows the home secretary’s appeals and dismisses Miss Begun’s cross appeal,” Reed said. The Guardian, February 26

Sunak’s tax raid on pensioners
Rishi Sunak is drawing up plans for a new “stealth tax” on wealthy pensioners as he seeks to repair Britain’s finances after the pandemic, The Times has learnt. The chancellor is expected to announce in his budget next week that the lifetime allowance, the amount people can build up in their pension pot before incurring punitive tax charges, will be frozen for the rest of this parliament at just over £1 million. The freeze means more people risk being dragged over the threshold and could face a 25 per cent levy on any additional income from their pension pot. The charge rises to 55 per cent if they choose to draw down a lump sum. The additional charge would mean about 10,000 people with larger pensions would pay more than £22,000 extra in tax by 2024. Analysts believe the measure could be worth £250 million a year to the Treasury. The move will also affect the 1.2 million people who are projected to exceed the threshold by the time they start drawing down income. The Times, February 26

US launches air strikes against Iranian-backed groups in Syria
The US has carried out air strikes against Iran-linked militia groups in eastern Syria in retaliation for recent attacks on American and coalition personnel in Iraq. The military action on Thursday was the first ordered by President Joe Biden since taking office and was described by John Kirby, Pentagon press secretary, as a proportionate response. “At President Biden’s direction, US military forces earlier this evening conducted air strikes against infrastructure utilised by Iranian-backed militant groups in eastern Syria,” Kirby said in a statement. He added that the US strikes had “destroyed multiple facilities located at a border control point used by a number of Iranian-backed militant groups”. Financial Times, February 26

Amazon rainforest plots sold via Facebook ads
Parts of Brazil’s Amazon rainforest are being illegally sold on Facebook, the BBC has discovered. The protected areas include national forests and land reserved for indigenous peoples. Some of the plots listed via Facebook’s classified ads service are as large as 1,000 football pitches. Facebook said it was “ready to work with local authorities”, but indicated it would not take independent action of its own to halt the trade. “Our commerce policies require buyers and sellers to comply with laws and regulations,” the Californian tech firm added. The leader of one of the indigenous communities affected has urged the tech firm to do more. And campaigners have claimed Brazil’s government is unwilling to halt the sales. “The land invaders feel very empowered to the point that they are not ashamed of going on Facebook to make illegal land deals,” Ivaneide Bandeira, head of environmental NGO Kanindé, said. BBC news, February 26

Airbus reveals planes sold in last two years will emit over 1bn tonnes of CO2
Planes sold by Airbus in 2019 and 2020 will produce well over 1bn tonnes of carbon dioxide during their lifetimes, according to landmark first estimates of the aerospace manufacturer’s emissions. Airbus sold a record 863 planes in 2019, which would translate to 740m tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent over a 22-year period, according to figures seen by the Guardian. It sold 566 planes last year, for which lifetime emissions would be 440m tonnes. The figures highlight the scale of the challenge of decarbonisation for the plane-making duopoly of Airbus and its US rival Boeing. Aviation accounts for about 1.9 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions, but its share is expected to rise rapidly after coronavirus restrictions ease and as more people in poorer nations are able to afford to fly. The emissions intensity of Airbus products fell from 66.6g of CO2 equivalent per passenger-kilometre in 2019 to 63.5g in 2020. Airbus said this reflected more efficient planes even as the pandemic caused sales to fall. The Guardian, February 26

Amazon to be forced to recycle electrical goods
Amazon and other online retailers will be forced to fund collection of old electronic equipment from homes and ensure it is recycled rather than sent to incinerators or landfill under plans being considered by the government. Ministers are responding to concerns raised by the Commons environmental audit committee that online retailers and marketplaces such as Amazon have been “dodging their environmental responsibilities for the products they sell”. The average Briton discards more electrical equipment than their counterpart in any other country but Norway, according to a United Nations report. Thousands of tonnes of valuable metals in this equipment, including gold, tungsten, lithium and cobalt, are wasted because it is often not recycled. Larger retailers with physical shops have been obliged since last month to take back an old item when a consumer buys a new similar item … However, online retailers and marketplaces are not required to collect old items … The government has now signalled that it intends to extend the obligation to online sellers following a review being carried out into the regulations. The Times, February 26

Schools told to work out their own GCSE and A-level exam grades
Widespread grade inflation is expected in GCSEs and A-levels this summer after ministers decided that results would be awarded by schools. Experts said the plans risked jeopardising the credibility of the qualifications and could lead to soaring grades with little consistency. They also warned of an avalanche of appeals as families in England will have far fewer restrictions on challenges than usual. The details are being announced today by Gavin Williamson, the education secretary. University applicants will have priority for appeals and places will be held open “within reason”. Results day will be brought forward to the week of August 9, giving teenagers a bigger window to question their results. The system will be generous, according to government sources. Ministers are determined not to use an algorithm to moderate results after an outcry last year, when some pupils were downgraded because of the past performance of their school. The Times, February 25