How can Silicon Roundabout compete with Silicon Valley? London’s digital edge depends on diversity December 19, 2015 This year I have attended and hosted events in Bangalore, Copenhagen, Berlin and New York all with a single purpose – to celebrate London’s thriving digital sector. Speaking to technology professionals abroad it is clear that London’s reputation is built on innovation, cultural openness and diversity. London’s diversity sparks ideas, welcomes new thinking and encourages [...]
Panic Saturday is here: 12.6m Britons hit the shops for busiest day of Christmas shopping as sales start early at M&S, Sports Direct, H&M, Argos and Sainsbury’s December 19, 2015 Brace yourselves, Panic Saturday is here. If you still haven’t bought your Christmas presents, be prepared for crowds. A stampede of last minute Christmas shoppers are bearing down on UK retailers today, making it the busiest day of this year’s Christmas shopping. 12.6 million Britons are forecast to hit the shops, spending over £1.1bn on [...]
Cirque le Soir fire: London Fire Brigade sends 50 firefighters to tackle Soho nightclub blaze December 19, 2015 Dozens of firefighters worked to tackle a blaze that broke out overnight on the dancefloor of a well-known London nightclub. The fire is thought to have broken out on the dancefloor and in the basement of Cirque Le Soir on Soho’s Ganton Street, from where it spread to office buildings nearby. Firefighters were called to [...]
Syria crisis: Security Council adopt UN resolution for Syria peace process December 19, 2015 The UN’s Security Council has reached a rare agreement backing an international plan for a Syria peace process. The council adopted a resolution late last night, having previously been divided on the issue of the civil war that has ravaged the country for nearly five years, with China and Russia vetoing a number of Western [...]
From Star Wars and the Fed rate rise and UK housing crisis to Chelsea’s crisis and Sports Direct’s working practices: Here’s what got us talking this week December 19, 2015 There were some outrageous predictions for 2016. Our homes got a bit smarter. And somewhere, floating over our heads, there was a British man in space. Here's what got us talking this week 1) We learned where you can buy a home And for those on less than £43,000, London is out of bounds. And things are [...]
Top business books of 2015: From Walter Isaacson’s Innovators to The Untold Story of Bitcoin, here’s your Christmas reading list December 19, 2015 It’s been another roller-coaster year for businesses in 2015. From plummeting oil prices to an impending interest rate hike, authors have done their best to educate their readership on… well, pretty much anything. Here are our favourite reads of 2015. You’ll find a little bit of everything for everyone – from advice on time-management to inspiration on becoming the next big entrepreneur. Innovators: [...]
Xbox down: Hacker group Phantom Squad takes responsibility for attack December 18, 2015 A group of hackers known as the Phantom Squad have claimed responsibility for taking Xbox Live down earlier today. The Microsoft gaming network suffered an outage early Friday morning, which the group said it was behind, claiming that the gaming giant doesn't "bother working on security", according to ZDNet. Xbox services were running normally within a [...]
No kidding: Britons feel ripped off at Christmas December 18, 2015 The holiday season is a time for cheer, but it’s also a time for scepticism, impulse decisions and stress, if new figures are to be believed. More than half of Britons feel that they’re more likely to be ripped off when buying Christmas presents, according to the study by Trustpilot, a global online review community. The report also found [...]
Britain’s A&E departments aren’t prepared to deal with higher demand in winter months, report finds December 18, 2015 Hospitals across the UK are struggling to keep up with rising demands placed on their A&E departments, figures from the Royal College of Emergency Medicine show. Currently, more than one in 10 patients waits for four hours or more to be seen in A&E – 14 per cent in total, which is above the NHS [...]
Storm Desmond cost £520m – as insurers shell out £2.6m in emergency payments December 18, 2015 Almost two weeks after the event, the Association of British Insurers (ABI) has finally put a price tag on the havoc wreaked by Storm Desmond: the flooding is likely to cost insurers £520m, it said today. Thousands were evacuated, with thousands more left without power as Storm Desmond passed through Cumbria and the Scottish borders at the beginning [...]