The Queen and Oliver Twist movie backers forced to pay back £26m to the taxman in landmark ruling March 17, 2017 The taxman today hailed its victory in a tax avoidance case against partnerships that backed a number of high profile films including The Queen and Oliver Twist. The £26m ruling paves the way for HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) to go after similar schemes, a decision it estimates could swell its coffers by £286m. British movie makers have [...]
Former chancellor George Osborne has been appointed editor of London daily the Evening Standard – Twitter reacts March 17, 2017 George Osborne has announced yet another new job, and Twitter has gone a bit nuts… The former chancellor has just been appointed Editor of the Evening Standard and it's fair to say the news came as a surprise to basically everyone. I am literally dumbfounded. Trying to imagine Osbo drumming up page leads. "Don't we need a nib [...]
Editor’s Notes: Only a lack of ambition can hold Britain back, says the Legatum Institute’s researcher tasked with finding the upside of the Brexit vote March 17, 2017 Britain faces an enormous challenge in the wake of Brexit, but the prize is more than worth the fight. That’s according to one experienced former trade negotiator who now finds himself at the heart of the UK’s trade debate. Shanker Singham is director of economic policy and prosperity studies at the Legatum Institute in London. He’s [...]
Sandi Toksvig and Noel Fielding revealed as presenters for the Channel 4 version of Great British Bake Off March 16, 2017 Channel 4 today revealed comedians Sandi Toksvig and Noel Fielding will be stepping into the Great British Bake Off (GBBO) tent as the show's new presenters. Also new for the eighth season of the show will be food writer Prue Leith. She will be joining baker Paul Hollywood, who hopped channels after the BBC lost the rights [...]
21st Century Fox £12bn takeover of Sky has been referred to regulators Ofcom and the CMA by culture secretary Karen Bradley March 16, 2017 The bid by Rupert Murdoch's 21st Century Fox to take over Sky has been referred to regulators by the culture secretary. Karen Bradley confirmed her decision this morning after already announcing she was “minded” to do so. Broadcast regulator Ofcom will examine “public interest considerations” and the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) “jurisdiction issues”. Read more: Sky takeover [...]
Channel 4 chief executive David Abraham is standing down after seven years at the broadcaster March 14, 2017 Channel 4 chief executive David Abraham is stepping down from the broadcaster after seven years in the job. The publicly owned, privately funded channel accidentally broke the news on Twitter this afternoon before a formal announcement was made. Channel 4 press tweets, then quickly deletes, this press release in a tweet suggesting that their CEO David [...]
WPP chief executive Martin Sorrell urges advertisers to show faith in newspapers as spending drifts to Google and Facebook March 14, 2017 Advertising grandee Sir Martin Sorrell has urged his industry to show faith in newspapers as more and more money drifts towards online giants. Sorrell, the founder and chief executive of WPP, said that at a time when Google, Facebook and Twitter stand accused of “giving a platform to hatred and fake news” there ought to [...]
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 [...]
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, [...]
Ticket touts threatened with unlimited fines March 11, 2017 Ticket touts who bulk buy music concert tickets and them re-sell them online will be hit with unlimited fines under new government plans. The department for culture, media and sport (DCMS) is making it illegal for touts to hack ticket-buying websites to buy more than the maximum amount of concert tickets normally available to consumers. [...]