Manufacturers warn new National Living Wage will increase costs and uncertainty October 1, 2015 The new National Living Wage (NLW) stands to give 2.5m British workers a pay rise, but half of British manufacturers are worried about the impact compulsory higher wages will have on their business. According to a new survey out today from the EEF, 45 per cent of manufacturers say they are concerned the NLW – set to go into [...]
Google Nexus launch event September 2015: Here’s what we learned from Tuesday’s announcement October 1, 2015 As part of Google's latest operating system, Marshmallow, it has introduced Google Now On Tap, aimed at making the company's contextual search service smarter by allowing users to access information without opening the app. This is an extension of Google Now, which was first launched in 2012 to help people make decisions in the context [...]
Could Nicky Morgan be the next Conservative leader? Women and equalities minister says she is considering the top job when David Cameron steps down October 1, 2015 A woman should be in the running to become the next Conservative leader, education secretary Nicky Morgan has said, hinting that she may throw her own name into the hat for the top job. Morgan, who has risen quickly through the Tory ranks to sit on Cameron's front bench, said in an interview published today [...]
VW emissions scandal: Will Volkswagen’s costly mistake put more alternative vehicles on London’s roads? October 1, 2015 With air quality pollution responsible for the deaths of 3,400 Londoners every year, action must be taken to clean up the capital’s roads by both policy makers and manufacturers. The emissions scandal has only heightened this crisis. Volkswagen has now revealed that nearly 1.2 million vehicles within the brand in the UK have been affected [...]
Productivity gap closing? UK’s output reaches record high – but it’s still considerably down on where we should be October 1, 2015 Is the productivity gap closing? Figures out this morning show that labour productivity in the UK – as measured by output per hour – grew 0.9 per cent between the first and second quarter this year. That has taken it to the highest level ever recorded by the Office for National Statistics – [...]
Rexam share price jumps 25 per cent on £4.29bn takeover talks with US-based rival Ball Corporation October 1, 2015 Rexam's share price soared today after the can maker said it was in talks over a potential bid by US rival Ball Corporation in an offer valuing the company at £4.29bn. FTSE 250-listed Rexam's share price leapt as much as 29 per cent to 576 pence per share in early afternoon trading. The announcement came [...]
The graduate gender pay gap: Gender assumptions must be cast aside if we are to bring about equal pay October 1, 2015 Recently, the Institute for Fiscal Studies, Cambridge and Harvard Universities found that women earn, annually, 23 per cent less than men 10 years after graduating. The Office for National Statistics had estimated it at around 33 per cent. So, we're 10 per cent to the good. Unfortunately, we're still 23 per cent to the bad. That’s not good. The overall UK gender [...]
Nearly one in five Londoners think over-50s are too old to do their jobs October 1, 2015 Life begins at 50. Unless you work in London, in which case you'd better keep your head down and hope no one notices your age. Because not only do professionals in our capital consider an "older worker" to be full decade younger than the national average perception, a sizeable number of people think once you [...]
University rankings 2015: These are the 10 best places to study in the UK October 1, 2015 The latest global university rankings are out, and once again a number of UK institutions appear at the very top of the list. Times Higher Education puts Oxford, Cambridge and Imperial in the top 10 for 2015-2016, with each climbing up one place compared to the previous year. Oxford, which received an overall score [...]
Tesla Model X SUV price and release date UK : Everything you need to know about Elon Musk’s new electric car priced at £90,000 October 1, 2015 Three years after it first unveiled the prototype, Silicon Valley electric car makers Tesla have finally launched the Model X. It's the company's third car and has arrived two years later than initially planned due to difficulties posed by the ambitious design behind the world's first luxury electric SUV. Tesla are now taking reservations with [...]