Downing Street says a new Scottish referendum would create uncertainty “at the worst possible time” March 13, 2017 Downing Street has hit out at Scottish first minister Nicola Sturgeon after the Holyrood politician revealed she would next week kick off her bid for a second independence referendum. Sturgeon today said she had hit a "brick wall of intransigence" in seeking to present Scotland's Brexit fears to Westminster, and promised to seek a vote between Autumn [...]
British book worms are spending more on reading this year, sending sales up £100m March 13, 2017 Britons are reading more than last year and increased spending by six per cent on books by as much as £100m more compared to 2016, according to research from Nielsen Book Research UK. Printed book sales were up seven per cent, driven by greater reading amongst younger generations, despite commonly held assumptions that young people [...]
Nicola Sturgeon announces she will seek second referendum on Scottish independence March 13, 2017 Scottish first minister Nicola Sturgeon has announced she will seek a second referendum for Scottish independence. Sturgeon will go to MSPs next week to seek approval for a referendum between the autumn of 2018 and spring of 2019, although she said the exact timing of the referendum would be left to the Scottish parliament. The [...]
Mobileye share price soars as Intel’s $15.3bn acquisition confirmed March 13, 2017 Intel has snapped up an Isreali technology firm specialising in driverless car tech in a multi-billion dollar deal to accelerate its automotive plans. Shares of Mobileye shot up more than 30 per cent in pre-market trading on the New York Stock Exchange after reports of the deal initially serviced. Mobileye, which works on technology for driverless cars, has [...]
Lloyds Banking Group is about to outsource nearly 2,000 tech jobs to IBM March 13, 2017 Lloyds is about to outsource nearly 2,000 tech jobs to IBM, according to the union representing the bank's workers, in a billion pound deal that will save cash in the long term. The bank and the tech giant are on the verge of agreeing a seven year deal worth £1.3bn that would see 1,900 IT staff [...]
Jeremy Corbyn says a maximum wage is still being considered by Labour March 13, 2017 Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has rekindled the prospect of Labour introducing a maximum salary, months after suggesting a pay ratio scheme. Speaking on the Today programme, Corbyn said Labour is consulting on the appropriate level for a pay ratio, but he added that a hard salary cap was still on the table. “On maximum pay we [...]
Snap: Investors get spooked when you have no long term plans March 13, 2017 There are a number of reasons that, in the cold light of day, investors have become less confident about the long-term success of Snapchat. Putting aside the obvious facts that it is yet to trade anywhere near profit and is reliant on a young audience (more of that later), what are the main causes for [...]
It’s not rocket science! How code written for a manned mission to Mars ended up selling advertising March 13, 2017 It's a question we’ve all faced: what to do when you’ve written machine learning code to help Nasa determine the optimal configuration of components for a manned mission to Mars? Use it to sell advertising, obviously. Such is the story of DataXu, one of the pioneers of Real Time Bidding. Founded way back in 2007, [...]
SSE is hiking electricity prices as energy firm follows Npower, EDF, Eon and Scottish Power March 13, 2017 Customers of SSE can expect a rise in their electricity bill as the energy company announces its first price rise in three years. A rise of 14.9 per cent will kick in from 28 April due to the increasing price of wholesale electricity across the market. On average, it expects customers' electric bills on a [...]
UK house prices: Rent increases have fallen to their lowest since 2013 – while London prices fell for the ninth month March 13, 2017 Rent increases for tenants across the UK have fallen to their lowest since 2013, new figures have shown, with prices in London dropping for the ninth month in a row. Rents rose just one per cent to £1,190 in the year to February, the lowest rise since April 2013, figures from Landbay showed. In the [...]