Branko Milanovic warns that the post-pandemic world could see further polarisation in a now global labour market.
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Europe’s decarbonisation challenge? ‘Wir schaffen das’
Adam Tooze writes on the roadmaps to net-zero by 2050. Is a just transition for Europe realistic?
Lost an empire, not found a role
Paul Mason finds in the UK’s foreign and defence review a wilful refusal of its natural European engagement.
Putting the brakes on the spread of indecent work
Legal victories for workers against platform corporations remain partial and limited in the absence of legislative and institutional change.
Cancelling a debt we already own has a false allure
The proposal to cancel ECB-held sovereign debt is not the best riposte to the looming renewal of austerity.
Fissures that tear us apart and pressures that weigh us all down
Kate Pickett contends in a new Social Europe column that inequalities go together—and so their opponents shouldn’t get drawn into rivalry.
Politics
Northern Ireland—the unhappy ending Europe’s story must avoid
Europe has always had its anti-enlightenment side. Northern Ireland graphically presents its extreme manifestation.
The European Union and global governance
The EU’s strategic ambition must not be just to carve out a niche for itself among the major powers but to reshape global governance.
Nineteen Burmese protesters sentenced to death—Europe get off your sofa!
The military in Myanmar is fully aware of Europe’s response to the killing spree against democracy protesters. It is not impressed.
Europe’s democratic renewal needs a feminist slant
The Conference on the Future of Europe shouldn’t degenerate into political theatre. Politicians need to listen and give a voice to citizens.
Economy
‘Old’ rules and protections for the ‘new’ world of work
A ‘rebuttable presumption of employment’ is emerging as a response to platforms denying their workers employee status.
A renaissance of occupational safety and health?
The pandemic has brought occupational safety and health from the margins to the centre. Investment should follow.
Does it make sense to question the morality of capitalism?
Keynes warned that ‘practical men’ were often in thrall to some dead economist. In fact many leading economists have agreed on the idea of guaranteed work.
The ‘long Covid’ of work relations and the future of remote work
The pandemic made us all familiar with ‘social distancing’. Employers are starting to glimpse a future where ‘contractual distancing’ is normalised.
Society
Can virtual addresses provide a gateway to rights for homeless people?
Europe’s lockdowns highlighted the right to housing—and its link to health and security. For many, however, it remains a distant privilege.
Taming the Big Tech tiger
New EU digital rules need to tackle the business model of surveillance capitalism.
A greener and more social pillar
As the Social Summit looms, a step change in social and environmental rights is needed to realise the EU’s just-transition goal.
White, rich, safe: Covid-19 exposes health inequality
The distribution of coronavirus vaccine around the world is glaringly unjust. But many wealthy countries have an equity problem of their own.
Ecology
Driving the next stage of European green recovery
Amid much rhetoric of a green recovery, only about a quarter of associated spending in Europe fits the bill—despite the benefits.
Green markets won’t save us
Markets are an unreliable guide for navigating a problem as large and complex as climate change.
Europe’s decarbonisation challenge? ‘Wir schaffen das’
Adam Tooze writes on the roadmaps to net-zero by 2050. Is a just transition for Europe realistic?
Venturing the green transformation?
Under the European Green Deal, venture-capital firms are expected to play a vital investment role—one for which they are singularly ill-suited.
