Thomas Cook falls into liquidation as rescue talks collapse September 23, 2019 Thomas Cook has collapsed into liquidation after failing to find the £1.1bn required to keep it afloat. Talks collapsed overnight to sink the holiday firm, leaving around 150,000 British holidaymakers stranded abroad. Read more: Thomas Cook teeters on the brink as 11th hour talks look set to fail The government will now charter dozens of [...]
Boris Johnson blames Iran for drone attack on Saudi oil September 23, 2019 Boris Johnson this morning pointed at Iran for the drones that struck Saudi Arabia’s oil infrastructure, the first time the UK has assigned blame after the attack on 14 September. Johnson said that Iran was likely responsible for the attack, which took out about half of state producer Saudi Aramco’s oil production, while causing oil [...]
Mike Ashley kicks off £4m takeover for Goals Soccer Centres September 23, 2019 Goals Soccer Centre has said it is discussing a takeover bid with high street tycoon Mike Ashley after his Sports Direct said it wanted to take the company private, valuing it at £3.76m. Sports Direct, of which Ashley is the main shareholder, said it was offering 5p a share for the just over 80 per [...]
Advertisers need to get in on the streaming revolution September 23, 2019 TV consumption habits have undergone a revolutionary shift. It started with the arrival of players like Netflix, and a decade later, it’s rapidly accelerating as new platforms like Amazon Prime Video and BritBox enter the space. These new entrants are being spurred by consumer demand – 63 per cent of UK consumers stream today, with [...]
Debate: Should rail firms be rewarded for running trains on time? September 23, 2019 Should rail firms be rewarded for running trains on time? Yes – Matt Gillow is a research associate at the Adam Smith Institute. Transport secretary Grant Shapps isn’t just offering incentives for operators to deliver an agreed service, but repercussions if they fail. If big rail monopolies commit to a service and fail to deliver [...]
No business is an island in the fight against climate change September 23, 2019 Last Friday, adults joined forces with students to inspire a call to action on the Earth’s climate and ecological emergencies. More than a thousand Amazon employees planned a walkout, and we saw the Trade Union Congress urge their members to support climate strikers. Regardless of what you think of people taking time off work to [...]
Fintechs are moving at such break-neck speeds that they’re struggling to mitigate the risks September 23, 2019 The “challenger” moniker has been given to a new generation of financial brands because they are disrupting the status quo set by the financial institutions of the past. But it may be that the speed at which these tech-focused firms are expanding will leave them open to significant risk in the near future. In fact, [...]
How Kapten is trying to take Uber’s ride-hailing crown September 23, 2019 Uber has an image problem. The ride-hailing app’s popularity has declined on complaints that its drivers are contributing to congestion and pollution on London’s streets. Uber took a big PR hit last year when Transport for London (TfL) took away its operating licence due to issues with the company’s approach to safety and regulation. The [...]
The UK’s lead in the forex market is the envy of the world September 23, 2019 The UK’s foreign exchange market is the backbone of international trade and investing. It is vital to support exports and imports, which in turn give Britain access to resources. Without the ability to trade in different currencies, the UK’s prospects would be limited, and economic growth would suffer. A recent survey by the Bank for [...]
Britain’s Goldilocks moment has arrived in the nick of time September 23, 2019 Not too hot, and not too cold. It’s time for the three bears to move over and take the porridge with them, because the temperature of the UK economy points to a Goldilocks moment arriving just in the nick of time. A low-inflation fairy tale has come to the aid of a nation grappling with [...]