The study, carried out by the University of Oxford and national charity Butterfly Conservation, funded by The Woodland Trust, comes at a critical time for butterfly species. Recent data revealed that 2024 was one of the worst years for butterfly numbers across the UK, with more than half of species in long-term decline for the first time on record. In the new study, the researchers found that having more hedgerows…
Quick Hits Secretary’s Order 08-2025 lifts the prior abeyance placed on investigative and enforcement activities related to Section 503 of the Rehabilitation Act and the Vietnam Era Veterans’ Readjustment Assistance Act (VEVRAA). OFCCP stated that it intends to continue processing previously filed and new Section 503 and VEVRAA complaints, and reminded contractors that compliance obligations, including affirmative action programs (AAPs), under both laws remain in effect. Compliance reviews, often referred…
The need for workplaces that are truly inclusive, caring and equitable is growing intensely. So, how can leaders create an environment where employees feel empowered to help one another, support diversity initiatives and contribute to community causes?Prior research has linked this kind of prosocial behaviour to personality traits or the immediate impact of certain leadership styles. However, our research shows that when people feel supported by those around them, they gain…
3 July 2025By José Manuel Campa and Isabel SchnabelEuropean and national authorities have joined forces with banks to integrate reporting requirements across Europe. This will reduce costs for banks and improve data quality. In this blog post we describe the European integrated reporting initiative and present some initial results.Collecting data from banks is essential for authorities to conduct monetary policy, supervision and resolution. But banks in Europe are facing more…
Quick Hits USCIS updated its Policy Manual to require TN employment to be with a U.S. entity, reaffirm the prohibition on self-employment, and clarify that certain foreign employers may no longer qualify. The updated policy narrows eligibility for several TN professions—including engineers, economists, and scientific technicians/technologists—emphasizing degree relevance and job duty alignment. USCIS clarified TN application procedures, including port-of-entry options and documentation standards for foreign degrees and state licensure. Clarification…
Stepping into the role of chief risk officer (CRO) comes with a lot of questions: Where to start, what to prioritize, and how to make an impact? The way new CROs approach these questions in their earliest months shapes their ability to achieve long-term success.To understand the mindsets, skills, and practices that work best for new CROs, McKinsey conducted in-depth interviews with more than 30 current and former CROs of…
A supply shock for the United States, a demand shock for EuropeIn our previous scenarios we highlighted the divergence in growth between the US economy and the economies of Western Europe. The US had exceeded its potential pre-pandemic pace, while GDP in the Eurozone, after a strong post-pandemic recovery, had landed on a modest pace, reopening a negative output gap.The Trump administration's trade policy draws a sharp contrast with the…
Quick Hits The Texas Responsible Artificial Intelligence Governance Act establishes a broad framework for the acceptable development, deployment, and oversight of AI systems in Texas, effective January 1, 2026. The act identifies certain acceptable and unacceptable uses of AI systems, creates the Texas Artificial Intelligence Council to oversee AI governance, and introduces a regulatory sandbox program for testing AI innovations. Enforcement authority is vested exclusively in the Texas Office of…
Quick Hits The Texas Responsible Artificial Intelligence Governance Act establishes a broad framework for the acceptable development, deployment, and oversight of AI systems in Texas, effective January 1, 2026. The act identifies certain acceptable and unacceptable uses of AI systems, creates the Texas Artificial Intelligence Council to oversee AI governance, and introduces a regulatory sandbox program for testing AI innovations. Enforcement authority is vested exclusively in the Texas Office of…
The Supreme Court of Canada (SCC) recently rendered a unanimous and consequential judgment in Opsis Airport Services Inc. v. Québec (Attorney General)1 that refined the doctrine of interjurisdictional immunity (IJI) while confirming its continued relevance in protecting core federal legislative powers. This decision holds important lessons for federally regulated entities, in areas like aeronautics and interprovincial or international transportation, that seek to determine whether provincial regulatory regimes apply to them.…
Dr Gavin J. Svenson, Director of the Museum of Natural History Dr Svenson comes to the University of Oxford from the Cleveland Museum of Natural History (Ohio, USA) where he was Curator of Invertebrate Zoology and, since 2022, Chief Science Officer. There, he was a driving force behind the museum’s $150 million transformation which, in 2024, opened an expanded 375,000 square foot building with new galleries and cutting-edge design. Dr…
The political tasks of the fight against neocolonialism are to prepare real African leaders who put the interests of their people first, leaders elected by their people, and not in accordance with someone else’s order, Adu Yao Nicaise writes. Kwame Nkrumah, the father of the independence of the Republic of Ghana (1957), is believed to have created the concept of “neocolonialism” which is presented in his work Neo-colonialism: The Last Stage…
On May 29, 2025, the Ontario government introduced Bill 33, Supporting Children and Students Act, 2025 (Bill 33), a wide-ranging legislative proposal that seeks to amend key statutes related to child, youth and family services, as well as Ontario’s education system. If passed, Bill 33 would make significant changes to the Child, Youth and Family Services Act, 2017, the Education Act, the Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities Act, and…
In the modern economy, almost every business is a tech business, with digitization, automation, and data solutions embedded into multiple operations. But with these advancements come risks. One of the most critical risks is that responsibility for technology often does not sit with companies themselves but instead with an array of third-party suppliers, service providers, and subcontractors. By outsourcing IT services, companies can unlock efficiencies and innovation. The downside is…
This commentary originally appeared in Time. The views expressed are the author’s own. The sweeping victory of the charismatic Zohran Mamdani in the Democratic New York mayoral election has the business community alarmed, if not downright distressed. Immediately after the election, many New York CEOs and financiers predicted an accelerated flight of capital to lower tax states like Texas and Florida. Mamdani’s victory fits the emerging pattern of angry…
PFAS have been linked with a range of health issues including decreased fertility, developmental delays in children, and a higher risk of certain cancers and cardiovascular diseases.Scientists at the University of Cambridge have identified a family of bacterial species, found naturally in the human gut, that absorb various PFAS molecules from their surroundings. When nine of these bacterial species were introduced into the guts of mice to ‘humanise’ the mouse…
In this edition of Author Talks, McKinsey Global Publishing’s Raju Narisetti chats with Steve Grove, CEO and publisher of The Minnesota Star Tribune, about How I Found Myself in the Midwest: A Memoir of Reinvention (Simon & Schuster, June 2025). Grove, the former founding director of Google News Lab, left Silicon Valley and his work helping start-ups innovate and returned to his home state of Minnesota to explore a new…
When the business landscape is as unsettled as it is right now, all eyes turn to the CEO. Employees, boards of directors, investors, customers, suppliers, regulators, and other important stakeholders are increasingly looking to CEOs for more context and perspective on the risks and opportunities associated with disruptive trends—geopolitics, generative AI, shifting workplace dynamics, and dozens more. Stakeholders’ influence has only grown over the years as business operations and value chains…
From C-3PO’s polished diplomacy to R2-D2’s battlefield heroics, robots have long captured our imagination. Today, what was once confined to science fiction is inching toward industrial reality. General-purpose robots, powered by increasingly capable embodied AI, are being tested in warehouses, factories, hospitals, and fields. And unlike previous generations of robots, they’re not just performing a single preprogrammed task but adapting to dynamic environments, learning new motions, and even following verbal…
On June 27, the Valdai Club hosted an expert discussion titled “NATO in The Hague: a crisis of development or the beginning of collapse?” Moderator Timofei Bordachev noted that the meeting of the leaders of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation in the Netherlands had generated a lot of information noise - opinions, statements and assessments, often ironic; he invited the participants to discuss what, despite this, could be extracted from its results…
In the largest clinical trial to date, pramipexole was found to be substantially more effective than a placebo at reducing the symptoms of treatment resistant depression (TRD) over the course of nearly a year, when added to ongoing antidepressant medication.The trial, supported by National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) and published in The Lancet Psychiatry, included 150 patients with treatment resistant depression, with equal numbers receiving 48 weeks…
The time has come to reconsider the principles that guide operating model redesign. In some ways, these principles have seemed timeless. For decades, leaders have aimed to integrate people, structures, and processes as seamlessly as possible to deliver value and improve organizational health. But now these rules must evolve to address the current pace of change and disruption. These days, how to organize for value is an even trickier undertaking.…
Many organizations use public cloud technology to reduce costs and improve business agility, innovation, and resilience. Gen AI is adding even more value to the estimated $3 trillion in EBITDA value from cloud by 2030. However, many organizations are still working to fully realize the benefits of cloud transformations. In many cases, simply transferring existing models (such as waterfall and ticket-based plan-build-run infrastructure) to the cloud can result in limited…
Healthcare organizations’ mission is to help people manage their health, but it’s not an easy goal, given the diversity of patient needs and the complexity of how providers, payers, and healthcare services and technology firms work together. What do healthcare organizations need to do? In the latest episode of the McKinsey on Healthcare podcast, McKinsey Senior Partner Patrick Finn, global leader of the Healthcare Practice, discusses how organizations can stand…
With US states creating a variety of insurance rules and regulations, such as those around parental and sick leave, the resulting fragmentation has created significant complexity for some companies. Companies must balance the needs for great customer experiences with advanced compliance and security practices. In this interview, McKinsey partner Ann Carver, co-convener of McKinsey’s Women in Tech conference, talks with Polly Nicholas, chief experience officer (CXO) at Unum, a leading…
A significant shift has risen in the B2B technology and telecommunications landscape, where telecom operators find themselves at a strategic inflection point. Having historically held a competitive edge, operators today are faced with increased customer expectations to expand beyond their core connectivity offerings. According to McKinsey’s latest Global Technology and Telecommunications B2B Pulse Survey, nearly 80 percent of B2B customers affirm that telcos have a “right-to-play” beyond traditional connectivity. Yet,…
Quick Hits The Supreme Court ruled that federal district courts likely lack the authority to issue universal injunctions blocking presidential actions nationwide. The Court found that the Judiciary Act of 1789 does not provide for universal injunctions, emphasizing that equitable relief must be tailored to the specific plaintiffs involved in a case. The decision will potentially allow the Trump administration to continue enforcing its executive orders despite ongoing legal challenges,…
Today, healthcare leaders in many countries are navigating an era of accelerating complexity, defined by financial pressures, shifting demographics, and evolving consumer expectations and care delivery models. To meet this moment, CEOs will need to guide their organizations through a period of reinvention and reimagination—in service of achieving both mission and margin.Physicians may be well suited to answer this call, bringing with them a desire to improve patient care and…
The University of Oxford held a groundbreaking ceremony on Tuesday 24 June to celebrate the start of construction of the Cyrus Poonawalla Vaccines Research Building. The ceremony marks a significant milestone in Oxford’s mission to counter and constrain global health threats. Located on the University’s Old Road Campus, the Cyrus Poonawalla Vaccines Research Building is a major new facility to host world-class vaccine and pandemic sciences research. Over 9,000m2 of…
Economic relations between Russia and China remain high. Beijing has become Moscow's most important trading partner, and in the context of Western sanctions, it has also become an alternative source of industrial and consumer goods, as well as the largest market for Russian energy and other raw materials. At the same time, external political factors may have a growing influence on Russian-Chinese economic relations. These include the trade war between…
The purpose of Bank Overground is to share our internal analysis. Each bite-sized post summarises a piece of analysis that supported a policy or operational decision.
27 June 2025By Elena Banu, Johanne Evrard, Daniel Jonas Schmidt and Michael WedowThere is now an urgent need to channel retail savings into European capital markets in order to develop those markets and finance EU priorities. In this edition of the ECB Blog, we show that an EU savings standard could increase retail participation in the capital markets, benefiting savers, boosting investment in EU companies and supporting strategic priorities.[1]There are…
Mary Catchpole, 19, was given a newly licensed drug called leniolisib (or Joenja) at Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge. It is the first ever targeted treatment for a rare, inherited immunodeficiency called Activated PI3-Kinase delta syndrome (APDS).People with APDS have a weakened immune system, making them vulnerable to repeated infections and autoimmune or inflammatory conditions. Discovered just over a decade ago by a team of Cambridge researchers, it is a debilitating…
How effectively does the United Nations respond to new challenges? What is the political significance of the UN Charter today? How can we overcome the politicisation of the UN's work? Is the global majority capable of uniting to defend their shared interests? On June 26, the Valdai Club hosted an expert discussion dedicated to the place and role of the UN in the changing world order. Oleg Barabanov, Programme Director of…
Employers are the largest purchasers of health insurance in the United States, representing approximately 165 million lives and more than $800 billion in healthcare expenditures. Large employers—those with more than 10,000 employees—are often innovators when it comes to benefit offerings, shaping the trends that are later adopted by small and medium-size employers. Every year, large employers submit about 300 requests for proposal (RFPs) to health insurance carriers, according to our…
Student housing on and near college campuses in the United States is a difficult asset class to master. For students (and their families), housing needs to be high-quality yet affordable. For universities, it needs to enable great student experiences and educational outcomes. And for private providers, it needs to be at or near full occupancy and profitable. It’s easy to assume that the needs of these stakeholders are largely independent,…
The purpose of Bank Overground is to share our internal analysis. Each bite-sized post summarises a piece of analysis that supported a policy or operational decision.
Chandon explains that there are four ways food products claim to be healthy. Some brands say it’s because they have improved the nutritional properties of the food. They use labels like “enriched” if they have added “good” vitamins and minerals or “diet” if they have removed “bad” sugar and fat. These are the traditional, nutrition-based ways to be healthy.Other food products claim to be healthy “by nature”. These brands claim they have preserved…
A team of scientists at the University of Oxford has developed an innovative vaccine delivery system that could allow a full course of immunisation - both initial and booster doses - to be delivered in just one injection. In preclinical trials, the technology provided strong protection against malaria, matching the efficacy of traditional multi-dose vaccination regimens.Luca Bau, Senior Researcher from the Institute of Biomedical Engineering, said: 'Reducing the number of…
Among the anniversary events associated with 1945, besides the 80th anniversary of Hitler’s defeat in the Second World War, the anniversary of the creation of the United Nations plays an important role. In the current extremely acute and unstable situation in the world, understanding the activities of the UN as well as its limitations and real possibilities acquires additional significance. In the context of geopolitical divisions in the world and…