Labour Party Conference: Critics slam Miliband’s mansion tax plans September 23, 2014 Ed Miliband today confirmed Labour's plans to introduce a "mansion tax" on homes worth more than £2m – but his plans have already met with criticism. Nick Leeming, chairman of national estate agents Jackson-Stops & Staff, has dubbed it the "Downton Abbey view of politics" claiming it is "distorting" the view of who owns homes [...]
UN climate change summit: Cameron to focus on shale gas extraction September 23, 2014 Today, world leaders including Prime Minister David Cameron have gathered in New York for the UN climate change summit. UN leader Ban Ki-moon, who is hosting the event, said the talks are ‘not to talk, but to make history’. He has asked more than 100 global leaders to make pledges for cutting greenhouse gas [...]
Finally, Google stops forcing Google+ on Gmail users September 23, 2014 Could this be the beginning of the end for Google+? After years of forcing Gmail users to sign up to a G+ account, Google has finally stopped the practice – for new Gmail users, at least. Google+, Google's "Facebook killer", was launched in 2011 to lukewarm reviews. Since then, all users have been automatically signed [...]
Ed Miliband’s conference speech: Here’s what you need to know September 23, 2014 Ed Miliband has delivered his last speech to a Labour conference before the 2015 general election. The Labour leader hopes his six-point plan will be enough to entice voters to give his party the keys to Downing Street and reverse his low personal ratings. The plan is intended to be implemented over 10 years. Here [...]
Mapped: Which Phones 4u stores are being shut down? September 23, 2014 PricewaterhouseCoopers has revealed the addresses of the 360-plus Phones 4u stores that are being shut down, and the number of staff being made redundant as the business is wound down. At this stage 1,679 people will lose their jobs, with a further 720 people staying on to help with the wind down. Some [...]
Joanna Barsh: Gender inequality in business and why quotas aren’t enough September 23, 2014 An article published this month by McKinsey & Company argues that we need to move away from “conscious capitalism” and focus on a different kind of business structure – one which places more emphasis on the value of female qualities. Written by former director of the New York office Joanna Barsh, it promotes the [...]
In charts: Just how big is Barclays’ record £38 million fine? September 23, 2014 Barclays has been fined £38m for failing to protect customer’s money, the largest ever handed out for such client asset breaches. The financial watchdog ruled Barclays put at risk £16.5m of customer money and failed to protect it from potential costs, delays and loss of assets if the bank were to become insolvent. The size [...]
Whistleblowers should be “rewarded and celebrated”, says HSBC boss September 23, 2014 Whistleblowers at financial services firms should be "rewarded and celebrated", HSBC Group chairman Douglas Flint said at the launch of a campaign encouraging people to speak out against wrongdoing today. Set up by the Chartered Institute of Securities and Investment, Speak Up is designed to encourage the financial services industry to help staff who [...]
Who is the richest person in China? Alibaba’s Jack Ma tops new list September 23, 2014 Alibaba founder Jack Ma is now the richest man in China – but he still falls outside the list of the world's 10 richest people. A report published today puts the 50-year old founder of Alibaba Group Holding in pole position among China's wealthiest for the first time, after the ecommerce giant's record breaking [...]
Uber taxi app could face fresh crackdown under a Labour government September 23, 2014 Taxi app Uber could face a much more hostile regulatory and tax regime if a Labour government is elected in 2015. Speaking at a fringe event hosted by the New Statesman at the Labour conference, shadow transport secretary Mary Creagh said her party would not tolerate "tax avoidance on a large scale" adding that Uber's [...]