Can the Curse of Oversize Packaging Finally be Laid to Rest?
Technology Takes on the Problem
UK – We have all experienced it. The knock on the door, the sizeable parcel left on the step as the driver waves from the gate and leaves. We carry it off before opening it carefully lest we damage the goods inside. So where are they? A bundle of brown paper or inflatable plastic bags fill the box. We pull them out to reveal - a tiny package inside, perhaps a pen or torch, certainly something which could have been packaged much more suitably.
Fear not, help is apparently at hand. Companies have woken to the fact that with so many people now trying to recycle and minimise waste, steps need to be taken. And with the UK Office for National Statistics reporting internet purchases rising to 31.3% of total retail sales, the search is on for ways to overcome the problem.
Our pandemic response must be informed by the amount of chronic illness it generates.
Writing for The Conversation, Dr Nisreen Alwan, Associate Professor in Public Health, reflects on her own persoal experience of having COVID-19 and the after-effects of Long COVID which she is campaigning to have recognised at national and international levels.
On March 20 2020, while the UK was anticipating its first national lockdown to control the coronavirus pandemic, I started feeling unwell with what felt like a COVID-19 infection.
Over the next couple of days, I developed a collection of symptoms: fever, chills, cough, chest heaviness, exhaustion, diarrhoea, abdominal pain and bad muscle aches, particularly in my legs. Since the UK government had stopped lab testing for those who were not hospitalised for COVID-19 on March 12, the vast majority of community infections in March remained unconfirmed by testing, including mine. The instruction then was that if you were not ill enough to go to
2/17/2021 7:01:54 AM GMT | By Dhwani Mehta
UK CPI rises 0.7% YoY in Jan vs. +0.5% expected.
Monthly UK CPI arrives at -0.2% in Jan vs. -0.4% expected.
GBP/USD remains depressed below 1.3900 on the UK CPI release.
The UK Consumer Prices Index (CPI) 12-month rate came in at +0.7% in January when compared to +0.6% booked in December while beating expectations of a +0.5% print, the UK Office for National Statistics (ONS) reported on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, the core inflation gauge (excluding volatile food and energy items) arrived at +1.4% YoY last month versus +1.4% booked in November, surpassing the consensus forecast of +1.3%.
The monthly figures showed that the UK consumer prices arrived at -0.2% in January vs. -0.4% expectations and +0.3% prior.
When the United Kingdom (UK) releases the highly anticipated integrated review of its foreign, defence, security and development policy in March, it will mark the first formal iteration of the UK’s Indo-Pacific strategy. This brief explores the dynamics that are driving the UK’s tilt to the Indo-Pacific. It identifies three key drivers that are prompting the shift: a reappraisal of China, the economic fallout of Brexit, and the UK’s close ties with the US. It explores the emerging trends in this churn across security, trade, development, and diplomatic domains and highlights the opportunities they afford the India-UK relationship.