Annabel Denham

Annabel Denham is a columnist and senior political commentator at the Daily Telegraph

Tuesday

Annabel Denham

Covid won’t kill the office

The rapidity and willingness with which workers have adopted and adapted to remote working has led some – including Rory Sutherland in this week’s Spectator – to hail a home-working revolution. But there are convincing reasons why the office won’t be another Covid casualty. First, while it is not inconceivable that coronavirus could accelerate the pre-existing home working trend for office workers, it is bordering on Panglossian to think that we could broaden this out to most people in Britain.  Recent research from the Institute of Economic Affairs has revealed that headline statistics on full-time home workers are misleading. The bulk of the 13.7 per cent of the labour force classified in this way are working from home rather than at home.

Monday

Annabel Denham

The Tories’ bid to police the internet is a big mistake

Today, a Government in dire need of a good news story has mooted legislation resulting in the very opposite. The Conservative manifesto from 2017 said: 'Some people say that it is not for government to regulate when it comes to technology and the internet. We disagree.' Now the Tories are delivering on their promise. But their attempt to police the internet should worry us all. The 'Online Harms' white paper calls for an independent watchdog to write a 'code of practice' for tech companies. Under the plans, tech firms will be held accountable for what their users post and share, and penalised if they fail to take down offending content swiftly – a move that presents a serious threat to innovation, competition and free speech.