There’s still more to come from UK banks’ connections to the Panama Papers, says the financial watchdog April 26, 2016 The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is still looking into the link between UK banks and the so-called Panama Papers tax avoidance leaks. The financial watchdog has written to around 20 banks and other financial institutions asking about their connection to Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca. The FCA gave firms a deadline of 15 April to undertake an initial review but there's still a [...]
Wheeeeeeeee! Tickets for the giant Olympic Park Orbit slide have gone on sale April 26, 2016 Time to treat your inner child – tickets have gone on sale for the highly anticipated giant slide at the Orbit Tower in London's Olympic Park. How giant? It happens to be the longest and tallest tunnel slide in Europe. Nice one London. Tickets will cost £17 – the current £12 cost of climbing the Anish Kapoor [...]
Austin Reed appoints AlixPartners as administrators, putting 1,200 jobs at risk – but buyers are already circling April 26, 2016 Just one day after British stalwart BHS entered administration, another iconic name has been forced to follow suit. Austin Reed has this morning entered administration, affecting 1,184 staff. Peter Saville, Kevin Coates and Catherine Williamson, of AlixPartners Services have been appointed joint administrators. It comes a result of cash flow difficulties arising from challenging retail market conditions, [...]
Big Ben’s bongs are going to be silenced for months April 26, 2016 One of the capital's most iconic sounds is going to be silenced for several months, as repairs are carried out on the UK's best-known clock tower. The Houses of Parliament said today that Big Ben's bongs will be no more – for several months, anyway – while vital repairs are carried out to the tower. Meanwhile, [...]
Mitsubishi could have been flouting fuel efficiency rules for 25 years April 26, 2016 The scandal at Mitsubishi Motors could date back a quarter of a century, it was reported this morning, as the troubled Japanese car maker announced it was setting up a special committee to investigate wrongdoing. In a statement issued this morning, Mitsubishi said: "Mitsubishi expresses its most sincere apologies to all of our customers, shareholders, [...]
How the internet is driving UK advertising market to be the fastest growing in Europe April 26, 2016 The UK has the fastest growing major advertising market in Europe, according to a new report. Adspend totalled £20.1bn in 2015, up 7.5 per cent on 2014. This was the biggest year-on-year growth on record since 2010. According to the Advertising Association/Warc Expenditure Report, spending on the internet made up £8.6bn of this, up 17.3 [...]
Property market mushrooms in March as mortgage borrowing hits a post-crisis high April 26, 2016 The property market was in full swing last month with yet another industry report showing mortgage lending shot up as investors piled in to beat the stamp duty surcharge which came into effect on 1 April. According to the British Bankers’ Association (BBA), banks and building societies dished out £17.1bn to people taking out mortgages in March – [...]
This mesmerising data viz shows all of the world’s shipping routes April 26, 2016 From the hub of activity in the East China Sea to the relative quiet of Somalia’s piracy afflicted waters — the below map shows the extraordinary extent of modern shipping’s reach. The map — created by London-based data visualisation and digital journalism studio Kiln and the UCL Energy Institute — charts global merchant fleet movements over the course of 2012. It was made [...]
Paul Smith wants to turn Trafalgar Square into a mini golf course – but he needs your help April 26, 2016 Paul Smith and his friends at the London Design Festival have teamed up to transform Trafalgar Square from its current status, ie. tourist-addled nightmare, to the sort of mini golf course we can only dream about. Smith has even designed a pair of socks for it. But there's no easy way to say this: there's a chance it might not [...]
Say what? A third of us wouldn’t mind being microchipped at work April 26, 2016 Fancy having a chip implanted in you? Fancy using it at work to get around the office or log on? It may sound more like science fiction (however close it is to becoming reality) and a rather creepy concept – but surprisingly, a third of us wouldn't mind at all being microchipped at work in order to do these [...]