Why we should be worried that many women are reliant on their partners’ pensions August 20, 2019 We may have come a long way since the days when women were the property of men, but we still face some huge challenges when it comes to addressing financial gender inequality. According to a new report from Fidelity, 12 per cent of married women plan to rely on their partner’s pension in retirement, while [...]
Italy’s return to political chaos leaves investors in wait-and-see mode August 20, 2019 A furious global hunt for yield has helped to spark a significant repricing of fixed-income markets. The consequences of last week’s major market moves were by turns high-profile and obscure. One oxymoron-inclined senior White House adviser to President Donald Trump insisted that the inverted curve that appeared briefly in US Treasury yields was in fact [...]
Bureaucratic boroughs risk holding London back in the 5G race August 20, 2019 Despite the hype around the latest handsets and a commitment from the new cabinet to prioritise connectivity, London risks losing out on the 5G opportunity. Much has been made of the country’s struggles to keep up with international competitors in the race to deliver world-class connectivity, while our imminent departure from the EU places greater [...]
DEBATE: Are the Operation Yellowhammer warnings about no-deal likely to be exaggerated? August 20, 2019 Are the Operation Yellowhammer warnings about no-deal likely to be exaggerated? Ruth Lea, economic adviser to the Arbuthnot Banking Group, says YES. The Yellowhammer warnings have a weary familiarity to them. As with Project Fear Mark 1, prior to the 2016 referendum, any possible negativities have been ramped up out of all proportion. In 2016, [...]
Give Corbyn some credit – he helped to deliver Brexit August 20, 2019 When the history books are written, Boris Johnson may well be remembered as the man who delivered Brexit. But there is someone else who would deserve almost as much credit for Britain’s departure from the EU: Jeremy Bernard Corbyn. Admittedly, Corbyn’s current role in enabling Brexit is mostly involuntary. It turns out that he is [...]
What to do about staff skipping work for the beach August 20, 2019 We’ve heard it all before: “my cat is having kittens”, “I’ve hurt my back”, “I’ve got food poisoning”, “my bathtub fell through my ceiling”, or “my car broke down”. When the sun is out, employees might feel inclined to use one of these excuses in order to skip work and do something a little more [...]
Has Priti Patel thought through the implications of abruptly ending free movement? August 20, 2019 Priti Patel, fresh from announcing that she wants criminals to feel “terror” at the thought of breaking the law and following last week’s Home Office brainwave to print anti-knife messages on the packaging of products from chicken restaurants, has a new plan. The home secretary has revealed her intention to end freedom of movement from [...]
The prince and the pervert: a cautionary PR tale August 19, 2019 The fall of Jeffrey Epstein has everything: money, sex, power, celebrity, glamour and danger, with a profoundly depressing tawdriness as its core. He rose from humble Brooklyn origins to untold wealth on Wall Street, and was famed for his jet-setting lifestyle as well as friendships with the Clintons and President Trump, though the 45th President [...]
How useful are passwords for keeping our data secure? August 19, 2019 Every year, new research and new articles appear telling us that the most popular passwords are still things like “password1” and “qwerty123”. This “big” reveal is then followed up by a lecture on the importance of protecting yourself online. But we’ve been using passwords as digital identification tools for as long as we’ve had technology, [...]
The founder of Yulife on avoiding the grey-suit mentality of the insurance industry August 19, 2019 Dressed in a tie-dye T-shirt and jeans, Sammy Rubin looks more like a climate change activist than the chief executive of an insurance company. But then, there’s a lesson on why you shouldn’t judge people on how they look. Indeed, there are many things we can learn from Rubin – his hippyish dress-sense feeds right [...]