PwC to be investigated over audit of collapsed company Connaught October 12, 2015 * caption could read: Connaught's property management arm, which maintained social housing, went into administration The Financial Reporting Council (FRC) has decided to act on complaints against PwC and its senior statutory auditor Stephen Harrison over Connaught's auditing. Connaught is the social housing maintenance firm that went into administration in September 2010 and it is “alleged that [...]
Self-balancing “hoverboard” scooters are illegal on UK roads and pavements October 12, 2015 Bad news for all you Marty McFly wannabes out there: the Crown Prosecution Service has ruled that those “hoverboards” – or balancing scooters – are illegal on the UK's roads and pavements. Even if you don’t own one yourself, you’re sure to have seen them, as the self-balancing scooters similar to Segways have begun flooding [...]
The Volkswagen scandal rolls on: VW recalls nearly 2,000 cars in China October 12, 2015 Volkswagen is recalling almost 2,000 cars in China with the 'defeat device' that allowed the car-maker to cheat emissions tests. The German car maker said 1,946 Tiguan SUVs and four Passat B6 sedans were affected, and all had been imported from abroad with the device. Volkswagen's two joint Chinese ventures that produce cars domestically said the [...]
Email etiquette: This tool tells you how polite (or impolite) your emails are October 12, 2015 Let's all admit it, communicating by email can be a psychological minefield. One person's clear reply is another person's passive aggression. Buzzword-filled managementese fills up inboxes and sometimes firing off a quick response to a request from someone senior can leave you wondering which words to choose. Now there's a new tool to help you navigate the [...]
Employers to workers: Please stop dragging yourselves into work when you’re sick October 12, 2015 As the nights draw in and the temperatures drop, it turns out employers are living in fear of an unusual trend: workers slogging into work when they're sick. A survey by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) has found a third of employers have noticed an increase of people coming into work this year, [...]
It turns out 11.17am on Monday is the most miserable time of the week October 12, 2015 Even those of us who tend to head to work with a spring in our steps can't deny that on occasion, getting out of bed on a Monday morning can be tough. But it turns out that 7am alarm isn't the worst time of the week: according to the new survey, that accolade belongs to 11.17am on a [...]
What makes a Nobel prize winner? How many Nobel laureates are women, how old was the youngest winner – and how many Americans? October 12, 2015 The 2015 Nobel Prize for Economic Sciences will be announced at midday today, rounding up this year’s Nobel Prize announcements after last week’s flurry of winners including the Tunisian National Dialogue Quartet, which took home the controversial Peace Prize and Belarussian author Svetlana Alexievich, who was awarded the Literature Prize. To mark the event, we’ve [...]
London house prices: Why fried chicken is a useful guide to where to invest in property October 12, 2015 The Coffee: Fried Chicken Shop Index started quite literally as a joke, forming part of a stand-up comedy routine I did. But the results highlight a wider aspect of the London property market, and one which many may have subconsciously considered when walking the streets of the city. When looking to invest in a particular property and, [...]
London airport expansion: Heathrow claims expansion would “supercharge” northern powerhouse as mayoral candidates Zac Goldsmith and Sadiq Khan condemn plans as “madness” October 12, 2015 Heathrow has said its expansion would "supercharge" plans to build a northern powerhouse, as critics of the plans for a third runway swell. The west London airport is going all-out to win government support for expansion, claiming it would be a "driving force in rebalancing the UK's economy". The third runway would create a further 180,000 jobs, 95,000 of which [...]
Tesco launches “immediate” price match guarantee against Sainsbury, Asda and Morrisons October 12, 2015 Tesco has launched a new "immediate" price match service, promising to give money back to customers if they could have bought branded goods cheaper elsewhere. Tesco's Brand Guarantee will enable customers to receive money off their bill at the checkout – both in person and online – if the overall cost of their branded grocery shop [...]