After the Nvidelity comes the Huangover. Jensen Huang joins long list who confused boardroom and bedroom
HS2 faces the scrap as Boris Johnson kicks off review August 21, 2019 The controversial HS2 high speed rail line could be scrapped after the government launched a review into the scheme following mounting concerns over its cost and deliverability. Transport secretary Grant Shapps officially kicked off the review into the high speed line, which will connect London to Birmingham from December 2026, and Birmingham to Manchester and [...]
UK government spending surplus shrinks in July August 21, 2019 The UK government earned £1.3bn more in taxes than it spent in July 2019, official figures showed today, a smaller surplus than economists had expected. Read more: Chancellor Javid to simplify’ the tax system in Autumn budget Analysts predicted a £2.7bn surplus in public borrowing in the first figures under new chancellor Sajid Javid, but [...]
Boris in Berlin: PM seeks to woo Merkel after Tusk turns down backstop plea August 21, 2019 Boris Johnson is travelling to Berlin today for his first bilateral meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel since taking office, in the hope of breaking the Brexit impasse. The UK Prime Minister will have meet his German counterpart this afternoon, followed by dinner, before travelling to Paris for talks with French President Emmanuel Macron on [...]
Trump scraps Denmark trip over Greenland grudge August 21, 2019 Donald Trump has cancelled his trip to Denmark after the Danish Prime Minister told him Greenland was not for sale. Over the weekend Mette Frederiksen shrugged off the US President’s suggestion that he buy the island – which is a semi-autonomous Danish territory – as a joke and dubbing it “an absurd discussion”. But Trump [...]
Business groups hail ‘long overdue’ move on customs system August 21, 2019 Businesses are to be automatically enrolled in a new customs system, as part of government efforts to keep British firms trading after Brexit. HMRC will allocate more than 88,000 firms with an Economic Operator Registration and Identification (EORI) number in the next fortnight – double the existing number. Letters informing companies of their EORI number [...]
The Brexit hysteria is misplaced – humans have always adapted and moved forwards August 21, 2019 There is a profound oddity about the whole of the Brexit process which rears its ugly head on a continual basis – namely the desire of certain commentators and politicians to talk down every development in this long-running national saga as being inevitably likely to lead to national ruin. And not just any common or [...]
Stamp duty contortions and eco-warriors with private jets? Welcome to silly season August 21, 2019 August is traditionally the silly season. Brexit makes this year slightly different, of course, but it is good to see a fine British tradition still being preserved. Silly stories abound. Sajid Javid was linked (erroneously, he now claims) with the idea of fixing the housing market by making sellers pay the stamp duty rather than the [...]
Grant Shapps indicates support for TfL gaining control of commuter belt August 20, 2019 Sadiq Khan and transport secretary Grant Shapps held their first meeting yesterday, in which the devolution of commuter lines to Transport for London (TfL) was at the top of the agenda. Shapps, who replaced Chris Grayling as transport secretary in Boris Johnson’s Cabinet overhaul, is understood to be more open to the idea of giving [...]
UK officials ‘unshackled’ from EU meetings ahead of Brexit August 20, 2019 The government has told UK officials and ministers to stop attending “most” European Union meetings from the start of next month. The move, which will come into effect from 1 September, is billed as enabling officials to “focus on our future relationship with the EU and other partners around the world”. From that point on, [...]
Tusk rejects PM’s backstop plea as EU27 memo slams ‘misleading’ claim August 20, 2019 The President of the European Council has slapped down Boris Johnson’s suggestion that the Irish backstop be dealt with during transition. Last night the Prime Minister published a letter to Donald Tusk, in which he suggested removing the “anti-democratic” backstop from the withdrawal agreement, suggesting it could be dealt with as part of the future [...]