From Sharm el-Sheikh and John Lewis’ Christmas advert to Remembrance Sunday and interest rate rises: Here’s what got us talking this week
There was a march that turned violent. Middle age somehow got that bit longer. And in darkest Hounslow, people went nuts for bargain-basement housing.
The Cenotaph service is open for anyone to attend (Source: Getty)
1) It's Remembrance Sunday this weekend
How will you be commemorating the fallen? We have some ideas for you here. And there's also plenty of fireworks taking place throughout the capital this weekend. Find your nearest one here.
2) Holiday dream turned to nightmare in Sharm el-Sheikh
Thousands of British holiday-makers were stranded in the popular Egyptian resort this week after the UK government suspended flights over fears that the Metrojet crash had in fact been caused by a bomb. Although it was hoped that "rescue" flights would resume on Friday, just a handful made it out, and even a repatriation flight was turned around mid-air. That left the vast majority of families stuck scrambling to extend their hotel booking.
3) Christmas has started – and this year it's going to be rather bleak
John Lewis fired the starting gun on Christmas yesterday with its Man on the Moon advert (if you haven't seen it, get the hankies first). And while the department store travels a well-trodden path that will almost certainly guarantee success it feels perhaps a little too out in the cold for the usual comfort you might crave at Christmas.
Will sentimentality "ad" up for John Lewis – or has it just experienced the advert equivalent of the difficult second album? Perhaps it's time for a new Christmas advert king…
4) John Lewis wasn't the only one
There was a plethora of Christmas adverts released this week – including one that implied Father Christmas might not exist, and one that suggests the real meaning of the festival is a fancy new handbag. Check out the best of the rest here – and have yourself a mincepie while you do.
Oh, and in case you haven't started shopping yet, you might want to have a look at this list of the toys your children are almost certainly going to want this year.
5) US and UK diverge on interest rates
Non-farm payroll data from the US smashed expectations yesterday afternoon, paving the way for the Fed to raise rates come December. This side of the Atlantic, however, the wait got that bit longer…
Leisurely reads
"People think it’s all voodoo and magic, but it’s not that technically complicated"
Let me tell you this: it’s quite a disconcerting feeling to sign a form agreeing to let a hacker break into all your personal data. Even when it’s an ethical one.
Charts of the week
Great reads from elsewhere
Oil may be king of the commodities, but its physical form is tough to come by for a retail investor. But that didn't put off this Bloomberg journalist. "If gold is the equivalent of a pet rock, then I can confidently say that oil is the equivalent of playing host to a herd of feral cats," she says. Find out how she got on here.
The internet isn’t really like a cloud. Almost all international traffic passes through cables under the oceans – an undersea web that is largely unregulated and increasingly vulnerable.
