A match made in blockchain? The case for bitmarriage February 12, 2018 “Are you married?” For most people this feels like an obvious question. But despite common acceptance of the definition of marriage, marital status can be highly complex. English marriage law comes from a mix of statutes from the last two centuries, which throw up bizarre lacunae: a marriage in a synagogue is automatically legally valid, [...]
Helena Morrissey Q&A: How rethinking the City’s bravado culture and accepting difference will mean women and men can have it all February 12, 2018 It’s been almost five years since Facebook’s Sheryl Sandberg published Lean In, which encouraged women to raise their voices and get stuck into their workplaces. Now, the movement for gender equality has a new manifesto in the form of A Good Time to be a Girl, by the founder of the boardroom campaign The 30% [...]
Forget embracing failure, startups deserve the best possible shot at success February 12, 2018 Last year in the UK, 70 new businesses were started every hour. In just three years’ time, up to 90 per cent of them will have failed. Business failure is often a personal tragedy, though inevitable in a dynamic market economy. However, not every failure is due to a lack of demand for a product [...]
TLA’s Russ Shaw is fortifying London’s position as a global tech powerhouse February 12, 2018 With a discernibly American twang, tainted softly-British, New York-born Russ Shaw is, perhaps, not who one might expect as London’s tech cheerleader on the world stage. Although, perhaps his being here is testament to exactly why the capital, a hotchpotch of international talent and innovation, is worth shouting about so loudly. He’s the founder of [...]
Unilever threatens to pull advertising spend with tech giants Google, Facebook, and Twitter over toxic culture and fake news February 12, 2018 One of the world’s biggest advertisers is threatening to slash the amount of cash it spends with tech companies if they fail to tackle fake news and toxic cultures on their platforms. The stark warning comes from Unilever and its marketing chief Keith Weed who oversees an annual budget of €7.7bn (£6.8bn), spent on marketing [...]
McLaren F1 team appoints advisers including Sebastian Coe to help boost sponsorship income February 12, 2018 The boss of the McLaren Formula One (F1) team has revealed that he has appointed a panel of business advisers, including former London 2012 frontman Lord Coe, in a bid to boost its sponsorship income after years of dismal results. McLaren has recently announced a string of sponsorship deals culminating in the signing of computer [...]
UK retailers suffer worst footfall and spending for half a decade February 12, 2018 Britain’s retailers have been dealt another blow at the start of 2018, suffering the worst January for sales and footfall in half a decade. Figures released today by retail experts Springboard show footfall dropped by 1.6 per cent last month, the worst result for January since 2013, with customer numbers on high streets falling by [...]
Aldi knocks Waitrose off supermarket top spot while shoppers turn to Iceland and Ocado for online groceries February 12, 2018 Aldi has knocked Waitrose off the top spot as the UK’s favourite supermarket for in-store shopping. Customers rated their experience at the budget retailer as best in Which?’s annual survey. Last year’s most popular supermarket Waitrose fell to fourth-highest, below Marks & Spencer and Lidl. Respondents rated Aldi’s value for money very highly, and were [...]
Transport minister Jo Johnson calls for diesel-only trains to be ditched by 2040 and fast rollout of hydrogen train trials February 12, 2018 Transport minister Jo Johnson will today call for diesel-only trains to be taken off Britain’s railways by 2040, as the government seeks to tap the use of alternatives such as hydrogen. As battery technologies improve, the government expects to see the diesel engines in bi-modes replaced with batteries powering the train between the electrified sections [...]
UK M&A dealmakers ramp up charge on US acquisitions as the States takes the spotlight over China and India February 12, 2018 UK dealmakers upped the number of US acquisitions in the second half of last year – rising more than a fifth, according to fresh analysis by Deloitte. Its latest US/UK M&A deal monitor found that the UK acquired 109 US firms in the second half of the year, up 23.9 per cent on the 88 [...]