Turning down the volume
Sophia FalknerExcessive noise poses a real and serious risk to human health. Long term exposure to traffic noise is one of the most damaging environmental threats to public health in western Europe, second only to air pollution. Polling of Londoners by Deltapoll for Policy Exchange shows that only eight per cent of the city’s inhabitants report never being bothered by noise, slightly higher than the six per cent of Londoners who describe themselves as being very hard of hearing.
Nature and the City
William NicolleFollowing periods of lockdown in 2020 and 2021, many people discovered a renewed appreciation for local green spaces, particularly in urban areas.
However, over the last 20 years, the amount of urban green space in England fell by 8%, with a corresponding decline in some species, particularly bird.
This report explores measures to increase access to nature in urban areas, for example by planting trees and by requiring new homes to include specialist bricks that can provide habitats for birds and bees.
Beyond the Energy Crisis
Ed Birkett2021 has been a chastening year for Great Britain’s retail energy sector. Since August, 26 energy suppliers have failed. This could cost over £3bn, which would raise household energy bills by £120 per household. This report sets out a two-stage strategy for moving beyond the current energy crisis.
Romania and Moldova are now critical to Western defence and British strategy
For over two hundred years every single European war that Britain has been involved in has originated in the eastern half of the continent. From the Greek War of Independence in the 1820s, to the Crimean War in the 1850s, and from both World Wars – starting with Austro-Hungary’s shelling of Belgrade in late July 1914 and Nazi Germany’s invasion of Poland in September 1939 – to the Bosnian and Kosovo Wars in the 1990s, it has been an iron rule of modern British history that military crises in Europe always come upon us from these eastern lands “of which we know little”.
Sunak’s task tomorrow. The best way of reducing the deficit is to go for growth
Related Content Rishi Sunak needs to provide context, actions and vision when he delivers his Spring Statement to the House of Commons this week.Context, so that people can understand the present difficult economic environment and what lies ahead. Actions will be...
Ukraine reinforces the case for the Integrated Review
Military commentators have been quick to co-opt the war in Ukraine to their particular cause. In many cases that cause is a retreat from the modernising agenda of the Government’s Integrated Review (IR) in light of Putin’s deployment of traditional armoured forces. Supplying oxygen to these arguments are those not previously cheer-leaders for military spending, such as Jeremy Hunt, who call for a great increase in the defence budget but do not specify on what and why. These arguments are intuitive and seductive; combined, they build a momentum. They are also wrong.
Theresa May responds to Lord Bew’s Backstop paper
In a Q and A after her speech in Belfast on how Brexit will affect Northern Ireland, the Prime Minister was asked about Lord Bew’s recent Policy Exchange paper, The Backstop Paralysis: A Way Out. Specifically, did she agree with his assessment that the UK Government has not challenged the Irish Government’s narrative on the Good Friday Agreement being under threat.
‘Superb’ Building Beautiful essay collection features in The Times
“Beauty may have been neglected for years, but now decision-makers are moving in the right direction,” says Clare Foges in The Times. She praises Building Beautiful as “a superb collection of essays published… by the think tank Policy Exchange” and mentions contributions from the celebrated Syrian architect and author Marwa Al-Sabouni and Sir Terry Farrell, whose essay (and Times column) argued for a new generation of mansion blocks.
International Trade Secretary visits Policy Exchange for a keynote speech
Rt Hon Liam Fox MP, Secretary of State for International Trade, visited Policy Exchange to deliver a keynote speech on free trade and the UK’s place in the world after its departure from the EU.
Upcoming Events
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Tuesday, 1 September, 2020
10:00
With Hon Tony Abbott AC, Former Prime Minister of Australia chaired by Katy Balls, Deputy Political Editor at The Spectator Read a transcript of the event here (more…)
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Friday, 10 July, 2020
10:00 - 11:00
with Jens Spahn, German Federal Minister for Health in conversation with Rt Hon Jeremy Hunt MP, former Secretary of State for Health and former Foreign Secretary, chaired by Dean Godson, Director of Policy Exchange
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Friday, 3 July, 2020
13:30 - 14:30
with Rt Hon Liz Truss MP, Secretary of State for International Trade, Hon Tony Abbott AC, 28th Prime Minister of Australia, Rt Hon Stephen J. Harper, 22nd Prime Minister of Canada, Rt Hon Lord Mandelson, former First Secretary of State and former European Commissioner for Trade, Hon Chan Chun Sing, Minister for Trade and Industry of Singapore. Chaired by Juliet Samuel, Senior Fellow at Policy Exchange and Telegraph Columnist