The Festival of Words: From Gyles Brandreth to Anthony Scaramucci – all you need to know about the Fleet Street Quarter festival
No light at end of the tunnel: HS2 delay leading to higher costs as London Euston link nearing £5bn March 27, 2023 Delays linking up HS2 and Euston will mean extra costs and potentially even higher spending, the National Audit Office has warned ministers. A near 50-page report, looking specifically at the Euston element of the much delayed high-speed line, concluded that a “reset” in 2020 had “not succeeded”. It comes after Transport Secretary was criticised earlier [...]
ULEZ row: Khan reassures 90 per cent are unaffected by expansion, as 700K face new charge and ‘massive financial impact’ March 24, 2023 Nearly 700,000 car drivers in London will face a daily £12.50 ultra low emission zone (Ulez) fee when the scheme expands, according to new analysis. The RAC, which carried out the research, said the expansion of the zone from August 29 will have a “massive financial impact on motorists and businesses”. It comes a day [...]
Michael Gove: Four more firms signed up to Grenfell safety contracts after being named and shamed March 24, 2023 Michael Gove said four more companies have signed up to post-Grenfell building safety contracts after he named and shamed some of the firms earlier this month that had not signed up to the agreement. The Communities Secretary had given companies until March 13 to sign up to the agreement aimed at addressing cladding issues following [...]
New laws introduced to boost ship workers’ pay in bid to close P&O Ferries loophole March 24, 2023 In wake of the P&O Ferries scandal, new laws have been introduced to ensure seafarers with close links to Britain are paid the national minimum wage. The move has been taken in a bid to improve working conditions on ships after P&O Ferries decision to fire 800 of its staff last year. Shipowners will now [...]
London loves Thursday! 3.3m use Tube in return to (co-working) office – and the pub March 24, 2023 Thursday is now the most popular day for London workers to head into the office – with over 3.3m jumping on the tube to join colleagues for after work drinks. According to the latest ridership from TFL and WeWork shared exclusively with City A.M, Thursday is now the most popular weekday to travel on the [...]
Tui: Share price crashes 9.4 per cent over travel giant’s plan to raise £1.6bn for Covid loan repayment March 24, 2023 Shares in Tui today plummeted by more than 9.4 per cent after the travel company announced plans to raise €1.8bn (£1.6bn) to repay loans given to it by the German government during Covid-19. Tui, the world’s largest travel company, today set out plans to sell 328,910,448 new shares, at a 29.85 per cent discount of [...]
Ford admits it’s losing billions as heavy investment in electric puts brakes on profit March 23, 2023 Ford’s electric vehicle business has lost three billion US dollars (£2.44 billion) before taxes during the past two years and will lose a similar amount this year as the company invests heavily in the new technology. The figures were released on Thursday as Ford rolled out a new way of reporting financial results. The new [...]
10 construction firms fined £60m for ‘illegally colluding’ to rig contracts including for Selfridges and 135 Bishopsgate March 23, 2023 The UK competition watchdog has fined 10 construction firms a total of almost £60 million for “illegally colluding” to rig bids for contracts. The construction firms have been punished over cartel agreements related to 19 contracts worth over £150 million on both public and private sector contracts. The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said the [...]
37 per cent of flights delayed last year – but London’s Heathrow, Gatwick and Luton airports not worst offenders March 22, 2023 More than a third of flights to and from UK airports last year were delayed, new figures show. The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) said an “unacceptable” 37 per cent of flights were at least 15 minutes late in 2022. That is up from 17 per cent in both of the preceding two years and 25 [...]
UK taxpayers face a £56bn bill if sewage and water systems are to be fixed, House of Lords committee warns March 22, 2023 It will potentially cost £56bn over multiple decades to update the UK’s creaking and outdated water and sewerage systems.