Making it harder to become a citizen will not solve the net migration problem May 12, 2016 Seen from the government’s point of view, the pathway to citizenship for immigrants to Britain should be as tough as possible. Since Theresa May became Home Secretary, a host of measures has been introduced to make the route from arriving to citizenship harder than it has ever been. The cost of citizenship in Britain is [...]
Do we really need Google’s working women emojis? May 12, 2016 What has the world come to? This week Google announced it’s pushing for more emojis of professional women, having submitted 13 new ideas that highlight the diversity of women’s careers to the Unicode Consortium. Frankly, the part that most caught my attention was not the emojis but the existence of a Unicode Consortium. That’s real [...]
Battleborn review: An unholy union of Borderlands’ goofball run-and-gun sandbox style and Street Fighter’s colourful character roster May 12, 2016 Fans of the Borderlands series have eagerly awaited the next big title from 2K since 2014. I speak from experience. So when Battleborn appeared to be an unholy union of Borderlands’ goofball run-and-gun sandbox style and Street Fighter’s colourful character roster… Well, I won’t lie, I squeaked with excitement. A Gorillaz-esque exposition sequence explains that [...]
Global alcoholic drinks consumption drops for the first time in a decade, according to Euromonitor International May 12, 2016 Global sales volumes of alcoholic drinks declined a sobering 0.7 per cent in 2015, entering negative territory for the first time in more than a decade. This fall translated into a loss of 1.7bn litres of alcoholic drinks sales since 2014, according to research from Euromonitor International. Worldwide volumes were derailed by the effects of [...]
Marks & Spencer unveils shake up of management team May 12, 2016 Marks & Spencer has revealed a shake up of its senior management team "to drive speedier decision making and move the business closer to its customers". Patrick Bousquet-Chavanne is becoming executive director of customer, marketing & M&S.com, taking on new responsibilities for M&S.com and the retailer's CSR initiative Plan A. It is not clear what will happen [...]
Five signs it’s time to start seriously investing in digital skills May 12, 2016 As a manager or business owner, when should I take steps to improve the digital know how in my organisation? It’s a crucial question that has crossed the mind of nearly every business leader as they struggle to keep up with new technology, security concerns and employees’ desire to keep learning. What are the clues or [...]
Safe as houses: Aldermore Group mortgage origination up 60 per cent May 12, 2016 Aldermore Group today revealed that the number of loans it had created in its first quarter of the year had leapt up, causing its share price to shortly follow suit. Loan origination for the challenger bank rose to £814m for the first quarter of 2016, up 43 per cent on the prior year's £568m. Mortgage origination was [...]
Carney’s warning of a Brexit recession sparks war of words between Threadneedle Street and former Chancellor May 12, 2016 The Bank of England has warned that leaving the European Union could trigger a recession, lead to a jump in inflation, higher unemployment and a “sharp” depreciation in the value of sterling. Threadneedle Street issued its most hard-hitting analysis of the likely effect of Brexit in the final Super Thursday before the referendum on 23 June, [...]
Open data: London is streets ahead when it comes to helping commuters plan their journey – but we mustn’t become complacent May 12, 2016 Whether we’re trying to navigate around traffic jams or route closures, find the quickest way to a meeting or explore a new area of the city, many of us rely on technology to identify the best route to take. Transport and navigation apps have been allowed to flourish in London thanks to the availability of real-time and static [...]
Royal Bank of Scotland to slash 200 UK jobs and shut branches May 12, 2016 Royal Bank of Scotland is planning to slash around 200 jobs from its retail unit, in the latest round of cuts to the lender's workforce as part of a wider restructuring of the business. The planned job losses, which were reported by Reuters, mean that RBS will have axed more than one in 10 positions at its [...]