EU referendum: Brexit makes winning a Scottish independence referendum more difficult January 7, 2016 Former foreign secretary William Hague made one of the more bizarre arguments for remaining in European Union when he asserted that a United Kingdom vote to leave the EU would “increase the chances … of Scotland leaving the UK.” It is true the Scottish National Party (SNP) says that a UK vote to leave the EU [...]
Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn finalises shadow cabinet reshuffle after resignations January 7, 2016 Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has finalised his shadow cabinet after three shadow ministers resigned yesterday, leaving spots on the front bench open. Jonathan Reynolds, Stephen Doughty and Kevan Jones all quit yesterday over a number of issues with Corbyn's reshuffle. Read more: How this week has defined what politics in 2016 will look like Corbyn has [...]
Eurozone economic confidence at its highest since 2011 as unemployment edges down January 7, 2016 Consumers and businesses in the Eurozone are feeling more confident on the economy, according to figures released this morning. The European Commission's economic sentiment indicator climbed 0.7 points to a score 0f 106.8 in December – the highest since 2011. Its average since 1990 is 100. Consumer confidence is being helped by a falling unemployment rate, which [...]
The Ehang 184 Jetsons-style drone can carry people in ambtious plans for driverless flying cars January 7, 2016 We've already had a batmobile-style car, now CES has delivered a drone that can carry people, turning the famous flying car from cartoon The Jetsons into reality. The futuristic, if slightly terrifying sounding vehicle, has been unveiled by Chinese tech company Ehang and manages to combine the top two trends predicted to dominate this year's biggest tech show – drones and [...]
Is this the best resignation ever? Billabong boss Ed Leasure steps down so he can “surf more” January 7, 2016 Leasure by name, leisure by nature: Billabong boss Ed Leasure has handed in his notice, the Australia-listed company announced today – because he wants to "surf more". "After getting into the business to surf more, I'm now stepping back from the business to surf more," Leasure – president of the Americas at the company – said in a statement [...]
Sterling drops to five-year low against the dollar January 7, 2016 The pound hit a five-and-a-half-year low against the dollar today, as markets tumbled in the wake of turbulent trading in China. The pound was buying $1.4568 in mid-morning trading, after falling 0.42 per cent. It was also 8.2 per cent below its 2015 peak of 1.5883. Sterling was also down 1.16 per cent against the euro and [...]
US Republican presidential hopeful Donald Trump threatens to pull £700m of investment from UK over calls for him to be banned from entering the country January 7, 2016 US presidential candidate Donald Trump has threatened to withdraw millions of pounds of investment into the United Kingdom if he is banned from entering the country. The billionaire has said that he will not invest any more money into his two golf courses in Scotland if he does end up prevented from coming to the UK. [...]
Work-life balance isn’t working: 40 per cent of us feel life is skewed towards work and many businesses don’t want to help change that January 7, 2016 For all the talk of work-life balance being better for business and technology making flexible working easier than ever, 40 per cent of workers in Britain feel their lives are still skewed towards work – and many businesses are reluctant to change that anytime soon. Two thirds of employers do not offer flexible working, workers [...]
Career success wired into you from birth January 7, 2016 When it comes to climbing the career ladder, hard work will only take you so far, because job success is wired into us at birth. That's according to an academic study by the Erasmus University's Rotterdam School of Management and the University of Ljubljana in Solvenia, which studied the brain scans of participants working on [...]
EU referendum: Majority of Britons would vote to leave the EU, according to new poll January 7, 2016 A majority of Britons who have made up their minds would vote for the United Kingdom to leave the European Union, according to a new poll. An ORB opinion poll found that while 21 per cent of voters were still undecided, 43 per cent want to leave the EU, against just 36 per cent who [...]