Paul Scully?s mayoral ambitions
Paul Scully is weighing up running to become London mayor. The MP for Sutton and Cheam says he hasn’t “made a decision yet” but says he would focus on safety and policing, improving public transport and building more homes. Annoyed At Paul Scully’s Mayoral Ambitions
The Met Police is in special measures, Transport for London is struggling and council tax and tube fares are rising.
The Conservatives are deciding their candidate later this year. They would join Labour’s current mayor, Sadiq Khan. Mr Khan is hoping for a third term after winning the Labour nomination in December. He is facing competition from Hackney councillor Zoe Garbett.
The semiconductor industry?s?frustration
When chip shortages shut down car production lines in 2021, everyone took notice of the tiny devices that enable so many essential functions – from interior lighting to seat controls and blind-spot detection. These microchips, known as semiconductors, are so common that most people probably haven’t given them much thought, but they are the heart of the modern world.
But the COVID-19 pandemic has also caused an unprecedented surge in demand that is stretching capacity at all points in the supply chain, from component suppliers up through the larger chipmakers like TSMC and ASML. These larger players have the clout to essentially pay whatever it takes to manage the shortage, but this can risk leaving them with too much capacity when the supply / demand equation returns to normal.
The result is that even when factories return to full operation, lead times are still lengthy. This is causing frustration for a wide range of companies, including car manufacturers and the makers of smart home products, smart speakers and AI applications.
The UK?s?next?digital economy
The UK is a world leader in this area, with leading universities and businesses. The government has a long-term plan to support innovation.
It needs to keep up this momentum. This means investing in education and training, including boosting apprenticeships. It also needs to make it easier for pension funds and other investors to back UK technology companies at the seed and early stages, as their US cousins do.
It must also invest in infrastructure. Low latency, high speed connections are critical to unlocking the wider opportunities of the data economy. And it must ensure that public bodies can securely share their data with private companies, through the development of a digital identity trust framework, as well as the new legal gateway set out in the UK Digital Strategy. For example, enabling the sharing of live data from Transport for London can lead to more efficient commutes and a better-connected city. needs read more hear
