How big UK housebuilders have remained profitable without meeting housing supply targets: Bself/Shutterstock We must “bulldoze through” the planning system to “get Britain building again”. So said Sir Keir Starmer at the Labour party’s last annual conference. He argued it’s time to “fight the blockers” and build the 1.5 million homes that he thinks Britain …
Ukraine war: US and allies may supply longer-range missiles – how this would change the conflict: Noises from Washington indicate that US president Joe Biden may be about to overcome his reluctance to supply Ukraine with the longer-range missiles it desperately needs. According to a report from CNN on September 11, which quoted “an official …
How canny marketing and strong supply links gave the world a taste for Scotch whisky: Whisky casks piled outside Bunnahabhain distillery Islay, Scotland. Niall MacTaggart/Shutterstock Scotch whisky exports grew from £4.51 billion in 2021 to more than £6 billion in 2022, while separate government figures showed a 25% sales increase last year – the biggest …
Nearly a third of Nigerians don’t have access to a basic supply of water. This is partly because of loopholes in a law: Access to clean water is a major issue in Nigeria. Getty Images Water, sanitation and hygiene facilities are essential for health and welfare. Providing them is one of the core duties of …
Somaliland: Berbera city’s growth is being held back by a power supply monopoly: Berbera port consumes a lot of energy while most city dwellers lack affordable electricity. ED RAM/AFP via Getty Images Somaliland’s main port, at the city of Berbera, accounted for two-thirds of the country’s revenues in 2020. Over the years, these revenues have …
Human organs for transplant: 5 steps Africa must take to improve the supply chain: Lack of a proper storage and transport medium is a challenge to organ donation in Africa. Sean Gallup/Getty Images Medical science has made tremendous advancements over the past 70 years. One of these is the transplant of human organs from one …
Price inflation: five ways stronger UK supply chains can help reduce rising food costs: Denis Belitsky/Shutterstock Annual price inflation has recently fallen below double digits, but food costs are still rising rapidly. Official UK figures show food prices rose by 19.1% in the year to April 2023. To prevent further increases, the UK needs to …
How extreme weather threatens to bring down UK’s power lines and halt supply to homes: Simon Annable/Shutterstock Storm Arwen, described by the UK’s Met Office as “one of the most powerful and damaging winter storms of the last decade”, hit the east coast of Scotland and northern England in late November 2021. Wind gusts of …
Food aid supply chains rely on a surplus – here’s what happens during a shortage: Ink Drop/Shutterstock Many households in Britain have felt the impact of recent food shortages or, at the very least, noticed sparse shelves in the fresh produce aisle of their local shop. For people whose next meal may come from food …
Alzheimer’s disease: problems with the brain’s energy supply could be a cause: Mitochondria help ensure our cells have the energy they need to function. ART-ur/ Shutterstock Scientists have been working to understand the root causes of dementia and Alzheimer’s disease for decades now. But one of the reasons we don’t yet have a cure for …
How ‘ugly’ fruit and vegetables could tackle food waste and solve supermarket supply shortages: 'Ugly' produce might be just as delicious but still gets rejected based on looks. Rosie2/Shutterstock The world is facing a significant food waste problem, with up to half of all fruit and vegetables lost somewhere along the agricultural food chain. Globally, …
Installing a backup power supply: electrical engineers answer your questions: South Africans are taking their power supply into their own hands with backup systems that don't rely on power utility Eskom. Ihsaan Haffejee/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images South Africa’s electricity utility Eskom has made it clear that “loadshedding” – rolling scheduled power cuts – isn’t …
Global supply chains are devouring what’s left of Earth’s unspoilt forests: Dawid K Photography/Shutterstock While farming continues to drive deforestation around the world, 60% of the destruction of Earth’s large, intact forests is caused by other forces. In particular, our research shows that more than one-third of this destruction can be blamed on the production …
Ukraine: why supply of US and German tanks echoes cold war: The decision that Germany and the US will allow the export of M1 Abrams and Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine, alongside the British Challenger 2 tanks promised in mid January is the culmination of Nato’s policy to assist Ukraine and an important symbolic step …
Ukraine recap: supply of German and US tanks to make Kyiv ‘a real punching fist of democracy’: For the past several days the focus of war news has been squarely on Germany’s Olaf Scholz. The chancellor has been battling with his conscience over whether to accede to Volodymyr Zelensky’s plea to supply Ukraine with his …
Food shortages: five ways to fix ‘unfair’ supply chains: Marian Weyo/Shutterstock UK food prices soared by more than 16% in 2022 as record inflation pushed up the prices of everything from bread to beans. Tesco chairman John Allan recently suggested that suppliers could be using this situation to boost prices. Speaking to the BBC’s Laura …
Ukraine war: supply of advanced tanks will give Kyiv an edge over Russia and move it closer to Nato: When he appeared before the UK’s House of Commons Defence Committee in November 2021 to defend his government’s cuts to the armed forces, the then prime minister, Boris Johnson, declared that “the old concepts of fighting …
Phosphorus supply is increasingly disrupted – we are sleepwalking into a global food crisis: oticki / shutterstock Without phosphorus food cannot be produced, since all plants and animals need it to grow. Put simply: if there is no phosphorus, there is no life. As such, phosphorus-based fertilisers – it is the “P” in “NPK” fertiliser …