The Know Daily - Tuesday 23 April 2024

_{Read in 5m 48s ∙ Listening to Dua Lipa ∙}

The city of love seems to love its bicycles, with more people now cycling than driving in the centre of Paris. A recent study found that while walking and public transport were still the most popular ways to get around, significant investment in cycling infrastructure - alongside a gradual clampdown on vehicles - had led people to favour bikes over cars. 

📝 The Rwanda plan, explained

After months of political wrangling, PM Rishi Sunak’s flagship Rwanda bill has been passed by parliament. Here’s what you need to know.

What’s the bill about?
The government wants to send some asylum seekers to Rwanda - and the ‘Safety of Rwanda’ Bill is designed to allow this plan to go ahead.

Under the plan, some asylum seekers arriving in the UK would be sent to the East African country, where the Rwandan government will decide on their claim. If successful, asylum seekers will be granted refugee status and allowed to stay. If unsuccessful, they can apply to stay in Rwanda on other grounds or seek asylum in a different ‘safe third country’. No asylum seeker would be able to apply to return to the UK, the BBC explains.

Haven’t we seen this policy before?
Yep. The government first announced its Rwanda plan in April last year, unveiled in response to the soaring number of “perilous small boat crossings” across the English Channel, said CNN.

But in November 2023, the UK Supreme Court ruled that the plan was unlawful, finding that Rwanda could not be considered a safe third country. Immediately after this ruling, the government introduced its ‘Safety of Rwanda’ Bill to make clear in UK law that Rwanda is safe - and that’s the legislation that’s just been passed. 

Got it. How has the bill been received?
Home secretary James Cleverly described it as a “landmark moment” in the government’s plan to “stop the boats”. But a spokesperson from the International Rescue Committee UK described the plan as “ineffective, unnecessarily cruel and costly”. 

Will the policy face fresh legal challenges?
Almost certainly - but the new legislation will make it harder. That’s because it orders the courts to disregard British laws and international rules that may otherwise stand in the way of deportations to Rwanda.

What happens now?
The bill will become law within the next few days, and the PM has said that the focus is now to “get flights off the ground”. This is expected to take at least 10 weeks, with commentators now looking closely at whether the policy will act as the deterrent ministers claim.

💼 The B Corp boom

A record 2,000 companies in the UK are now B Corp certified, with the figure having doubled in just 18 months.

First things first - what’s a B Corp?
B Corps - or Certified B Corporations - are businesses that are found to “prioritise people and the planet alongside profit”, as judged by the global nonprofit network B Lab. There are now more than 8,000 B Corps around the world, with almost a quarter of these based in the UK. Household names include FatFace, The Guardian and Ella’s Kitchen.

How is B Corp different to other awards?
It’s a good question, given that there are so many different certifications out there, with Fairtrade, Leaping Bunny and Climate Neutral being just a few. But according to B Corp, their certification differs by measuring a company’s “holistic” social and environmental performance - in other words, it takes into account the whole picture. 

That’s not to say that B Corp is immune from criticism, though. Some experts have questioned the value of its certification in recent years, concerned that companies are using it to greenwash. In December 2022, the British beer brand BrewDog lost its B Corp status less than two years after joining the scheme, after workers signed an open letter alleging a “culture of fear”.

What does B Lab say about all this? 
As reported by the BBC earlier this year, the nonprofit defends its assessment process. Chris Turner, executive director of B Lab UK, pointed out that businesses have to recertify every three years, starting the verification process from scratch. 

And while multinationals have joined the scheme in recent years, small-to-medium enterprises still make up 96% of the B Corp community. Turner said that B Lab is seeking to further prioritise accessibility, pointing to a recent UK campaign offering free certification to underrepresented founders.

👏 Cleaning up: Wet wipes containing plastic are finally set to be banned across the UK, amid calls for greater protections for rivers. 

🔌 Power up: Electric and hybrid car sales will jump to a new global record in 2024, according to a new forecast. 

🚬 Up in smoke: The rising cost of cigarettes is motivating 1 in 4 adults in England to quit, although health concerns are still the top reason for giving up.

🫣 High stakes: In an effort to “jazz up” its 2024 Olympics coverage, NBC is planning to use heart rate monitors to show the reactions of athletes’ parents during certain events. 

👀 See the screech: A seagull impression competition is held every year in Europe - and a nine-year-old boy from Derbyshire just won it.

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Trivia answer: B) More than 200 items from Vivienne Westwood’s personal collection are going up for auction in June - here are some of the most iconic looks. 

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