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Under
The
The
Labour
Radar
Leadership
While the media landscape is
Contest
preoccupied 2020
by COVID-19, politics
and business grinds on. ‘Under the
Radar’ provides a concise overview and
thoughtful analysis of critical stories
Summary
currently being & Analysis
overlooked.
May Day Revolts at And while much of the debate so far
has concerned hate speech, political
Amazon advertising and illegal content, the latest
developments show that regulators are
awakening to concerns over physical
What happened? goods too.
Tim Bray, Amazon’s top engineer as well This is likely to be too little too late
as one of its Vice Presidents, resigned for the brick and mortar shops who
from the company over its “chickenshit” for years have been undercut by their
- his word - treatment of employees. under-regulated digital competitors. But
Bray stressed that this goes beyond the politicians and regulators will be under
company’s treatment of employees during pressure to heed the call of Tim Bray and
COVID-19 and extended his criticism to ensure that new competition laws are at
how Amazon treats humans as “fungible least paired with stronger employment
units of pick-and-pack potential”. regulations too. As Bray pointed out
in his resignation blog post, recent
And Amazon’s bad news day did not conditions in Amazon warehouses have
end there. The EU’s largest consumer only magnified a pre-existing problem
group, Beuc, accused online platforms – Amazon’s pursuit of relentless growth
like Amazon of selling a wide range has produced an inherent blind spot to its
of goods that do not comply with EU human costs. And while he was speaking
safety standards. Beuc cited a recent test of the Amazon work force, Beuc’s report
showing that two thirds of goods posed shows it applies to consumers too.
a risk to consumers. Following on from
these revelations, the EU’s competition Bray’s intervention should not be
commissioner, Margrethe Vestager, underestimated. By speaking so brutally
vowed to press ahead with the new Digital and publicly from the inside, he has
Services Act that threatens to curtail the shown that there is a growing awareness,
activities of the Internet giants. and even solidarity, in the upper echelons
of the industry. Much of the high-skilled
What does it mean? big tech workforce is also socially and
politically liberal, and so Bray isn’t likely
While Amazon’s value continues to to be the only notable figure dismayed by
balloon, so too does momentum for Amazon’s treatment of its warehouse staff.
wide scale reform of the digital services And while sales have never been stronger,
sector. The proposed Digital Services Act Amazon has never been weaker in the
will replace twenty year old e-commerce court of public opinion or more exposed
regulation, which has proven manifestly to regulators – a revolt in the warehouses
unfit-for-purpose in the age of big tech. and the boardroom, combined with
dangerous products potentially harming
consumers, is a PR crisis that will demand
some concessions.
A Lack of candour at What does it mean?
NBC? The long tail of 2017’s #MeToo movement
appears to have claimed another victim in
Lack, months after Weinstein himself was
What happened? convicted and sentenced to 23-years in a
New York State prison.
Andy Lack, the Chairman of NBC
and MSNBC news, announced he was Lack’s sudden departure and the short-
standing down after five years in charge transition period to fresh leadership is
at the broadcaster. Or, rather, it was a clue the move to replace Lack with
announced Lack was being stepped Conde wasn’t part of some long-planned
down in favour of Cesar Conde, the NBC restructuring. Stoking the fire, Farrow
executive responsible for Latin America’s tweeted yesterday that “Andrew Lack
Telemundo network and all of NBC’s is stepping down, after public protests
overseas assets. calling for leadership change and a
unionization effort within the company
NBC positioned the 72-year old Lack’s demanding more transparency about
move as part of a broader restructuring of harassment issues there.”
NBC’s news division, but that didn’t stop
some in the industry from speculating The ‘harassment issues’ at NBC referred
that Lack was retired (in part) for his to by Farrow are long-standing. In his
controversial handling of reporting book, Farrow portrays the NBC news
done several years ago by Ronan Farrow division as a sort of sexual playground,
(then of NBC) on film mogul Harvey where powerful male executives and on-
Weinstein, reporting that was never air talent took numerous liberties with its
aired by NBC. Farrow subsequently (often junior) female staff. Lack was at the
took his reporting to the New Yorker helm when former Today Show host Matt
Magazine, which ended up publishing the Lauer was forced to resign after a number
Weinstein allegations several days after of junior staff reported that Lauer had
the New York Times published their own sexually assaulted them.
bombshell report. Lack denies he and
fellow NBC executive Noah Oppenheim And while NBC management backed
‘killed’ Farrow’s report, as alleged by Lack and Oppenheim over Farrow’s
Farrow in his 2019 book ‘Catch And Kill’. allegations and through the messy sacking
of Lauer, new NBCUniversal CEO Jeff
Lack’s tenure wasn’t without other Shell appears to be using his arrival on
controversy. He previously received scene as an occasion to clean house.
criticism for his decision to hire high-
profile Fox News host Megyn Kelly, a As well Shell should. Because if the
move that backfired spectacularly, with media are going to lead the charge on
Kelly’s show eventually being cancelled in uncovering abuse, they need to take their
2018. own medicine.
Cutting family ties For the country famed for Borat, there
has been little to laugh about over recent
years. After gaining independence from
What happened? the Soviet Union in 1991, Nursultan
Nazarbayev ruled with an iron fist -
A significant change has been made at propped up by sham elections (first put in
the top level of Kazakhstan politics with power with 98.8% of the vote), an abject
President Tokayev sacking the chair human rights record, and an inherently
of the senate. Dariga Nazarbayeva was corrupt judicial system. A lack of greater
widely seen as the nation’s heir apparent, scrutiny from the Western world may or
following in the footsteps of her father may not have had something to do with
Nursultan Nazarbayev who stepped down the likes of the UK being one of the six
last year after three decades in power. largest investors in the Kazakh economy.
(NB. he remains the spiritual ‘Leader of President Tokayev’s election last year
the Nation’ and holds a lifelong veto of was supposed to welcome a new dawn
government policies) for democracy in Kazakhstan but key
decisions will continue to rest with the
Nazarbayeva has spent the last year now god-like ‘Leader of the Nation’. For
embroiled in a High Court legal battle context, Nazarbayev’s relationship with
after the National Crime Agency froze Tokayev has a distinct Putin/Medvedev
three of her family’s London properties flavour, circa 2008.
(worth a whopping £80 million) using
unexplained wealth orders, ie McMafia Linking Nazarbayev’s dictatorial
laws. Although a judge has now dismissed tendencies to his daughter’s removal from
NCA claims that the properties were parliament is not hard. She was given the
bought using proceeds from criminal chop shortly after daring to recommend
activity, Nazarbayev was reportedly that parliament should hold more power
unhappy at the unwelcome attention over political decision-making. And while
drawn to the family’s wealth and the high-profile UK court case was indeed
sanctioned his daughter’s removal. an inconvenience, it was surely not reason
enough to jeopardise the dynastic line.
What does it mean? Nazarbayev has proven he is willing to
throw his own flesh and blood under the
Nazarbayeva escaping charges, after bus if it ensures that his power remains
only the second implementation of the untainted and the voice of a democratic
McMafia laws in British history, is news parliament suppressed.
in itself. But perhaps more importantly
the case shines a light on a controversial
yet oft-overlooked political system.
What Trafalgar Is
Reading
Labour’s leaks reveals a party still in self-destruct mode
GQ
“This is not total proof that all this material comes from Corbynites attempting to
scorch the earth behind them and to distract from the incoming EHRC report, but it is
circumstantial evidence of a concerted attempt from somewhere to muddy the waters”
- Glen O’Hara on Labour’s leaked dossier on anti-Semitism.
To Trump, ‘Complete and Total Exoneration’ Is Always
Right Around the Corner
The Atlantic
“In a world with only one hoax—the hoax intended to slime Trump—it all goes back to
the Russia investigation.”
- Quinta Jurecic and Benjamin Wittes on Trump’s fixation on the Russia investigation.
But if you must read about Coronavirus
The world stopped another Chernobyl by working
together. Coronavirus demands the same
The Guardian
“The only effective responses to international disasters, no matter which state they
occur in, are international”
- Serhii Plokhy explores why coordinated action is the only effective response to the
pandemic.
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