No more ties in the office? Suit yourself in a world beyond workplace dress codes March 12, 2019 “A man cannot dress, but his ideas get clothed at the same time,” wrote Lawrence Stern in Tristram Shandy in 1759. More recently, Caitlin Moran pointed out that when a woman says she has nothing to wear, what she means is “there’s nothing here for who I’m supposed to be today”. Clothes are text. From [...]
Domino’s profits hit by international ‘growing pains’ March 12, 2019 Domino’s saw profits fall last year as it suffered ‘growing pains’ in international markets, the pizza company announced today. Shares in the fast food firm were up 6.18 per cent to 247.5p this morning after it said it continued to perform well in the UK and Ireland, and revealed plans to break even internationally next [...]
DEBATE: Are smart speakers really a better measure of inflation for the ONS than envelopes? March 12, 2019 Are smart speakers really a better measure of inflation for the ONS than envelopes? Vicky Pryce, former joint head of the Government Economic Service and author of It’s the Economy, Stupid, says YES. It makes sense for the ONS to rethink its inflation basket. Fewer people write letters now, although parcels have increased with online [...]
The Conservative party needs to rediscover its economic way March 12, 2019 For most people, the Conservative’s 2015 “long-term economic plan” is now a distant memory. But as someone who was deeply immersed in that election campaign, I still sometimes wake up at night reciting its contents. Though much mocked for its repetition, the plan was more than just a catchphrase. From deficit reduction and tax cuts [...]
30 years since the dawn of the World Wide Web, Britain is still at the heart of tech success March 12, 2019 It has been 30 years since Sir Tim Berners-Lee sat down at his desk at Cern and changed the world with a humble sounding document called “Information Management: A Proposal”. The memo, piloting a system to allow computers to share information via an emerging technology called hypertext, did not catch many people’s eyes as it [...]
Deal or no deal, let’s make the UK the most attractive place for business March 12, 2019 What happens if there’s no Brexit deal? Over the past year, we’ve had various answers to this question – most ranging from the alarming to the apocalyptic. But while we’ve heard an awful lot about the problems, we haven’t heard much about solutions. That’s why our think tank, the Centre for Policy Studies, has just [...]
Tube delays: Commuters hit by signal failure on Jubilee Line March 12, 2019 Commuters faced severe delays on the Jubilee Line this morning after disruption threatened to play havoc with their journeys into work. Read more: Revealed: These are London's most stressful Tube stations A signal failure at Waterloo led to severe delays across the entire line this morning, with Transport for London (TfL) advising passengers that their [...]
Eve Sleep announces boardroom overhaul as results fall short of expectations March 12, 2019 Eve Sleep has announced sweeping changes to its management team as its full-year results fell short of market expectations. The figures Group revenue grew 25 per cent to £34.8m. Gross profit jumped 15 per cent to £18.4m. Statutory loss before tax deepened from £19m to £20.3m. Net cash dropped more than 20 per cent to [...]
Online gambling firm 888 grows profits after year of strong expansion March 12, 2019 Online gambling firm 888 has posted double-digit growth in profit before tax for the full year, despite a small decline in revenue. The figures Adjusted profit before tax increased 11 per cent to $86.7m (£65.6m). Revenue declined by two per cent to $529.9m. Adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation was up six per cent [...]
Sales fall again at fashion retailer French Connection as it signals modest return to profit March 12, 2019 Like-for-like sales fell again at French Connection over 2018 despite posting a modest return to profit in what it called a “tough” retail trading environment. Read more: French Connection shares rocket as it looks for a buyer The figures While the struggling retailer saw a return to underlying profit of £0.1m for the year to the end [...]