As Zac Goldsmith is chosen as the Tories’ mayoral candidate, bookies put Labour’s Sadiq Khan ahead October 2, 2015 Zac Goldsmith may have crossed one hurdle when he was selected as the Tories' candidate for next year's mayoral election – but he still has some way to go if he wants to win, if bookies are anything to go by. Ladbrokes has put Goldsmith's odds of winning in next May's vote at 11/10, just [...]
Oil price pushed up by escalating tensions in Syria October 2, 2015 The price of oil has risen for the second day in a row, pushed up by an escalation of military action in Syria. In early trading, WTI was up at $45.67 per barrel – a 2.1 per cent increase from yesterday, while Brent was 1.5 per cent higher at $48.39 per barrel. Today, [...]
Loose-lipped Londoners are the most likely to spill a company’s secrets October 2, 2015 Loose-lipped employees are spilling company secrets in coffee shops, restaurants, cafés, parks and libraries across Britain. But it's Londoners who are the worst offenders, with around half having overheard at least one private business conversation in a public place, and 47 per cent having had one. MeetingRooms.com, which conducted the survey, defined private as anything [...]
Why we need to stop countries developing killer military robots before it’s too late October 2, 2015 The prospect of human-killing robots walking among us on our streets is a very scary one, and while it was once stuck firmly in the realms of science fiction, it is now becoming a distinct possibility. It's no wonder, then, that thousands of scientists and artificial intelligence researchers signed an open letter calling for [...]
Chaos on Tube and train network as body found on line near Waterloo East and signal failures cause overcrowding at Bank and London Bridge October 2, 2015 Southeastern was forced to cancel several services into south London this morning after a body was found on the line. The body was found near Waterloo East, and police are now investigating. A spokeswoman for the train operator was unable to give any further details, although she said Southeastern was hoping to have all [...]
London house prices: The capital’s most exclusive homes are going for bargain prices October 2, 2015 Another day, another sign the top end of London's property market is in the doldrums, after figures by Knight Frank showed house prices in the capital's most exclusive areas grew just 1.3 per cent in September on the same month last year. That's the lowest rate of growth since October 2009 – and in some [...]
Government: SSI owners wanted taxpayer help for mothballed Redcar plant October 2, 2015 The government has admitted that the operators of a mothballed steel plant in Redcar requested an "open-ended funding commitment" from the taxpayer before it made the decision to shut down the plant last month, resulting in 1,700 job losses. In a statement today, the government said the Thai Steel Company, which owned the plant, made [...]
UK construction PMI: Housebuilding increases at its fastest pace in a year October 2, 2015 Housing crisis? What housing crisis? Demand may be vastly outweighing supply in the UK's housing market at the moment – but the signs are looking increasingly encouraging, after new figures showed the UK's construction sector had one of its best months of the year in September, with growth hitting a seven-month high and – housebuilding [...]
Shawbrook bank poaches Santander UK boss Steve Pateman October 2, 2015 Another sign of the challenger banks are taking over? Shawbrook, the challenger which floated on the London Stock Exchange in April, said today it had poached the head of UK banking at Santander to become its new chief executive. The bank said this morning that Steve Pateman's appointment, which will begin in January, had come [...]