Exclusive: Sadiq Khan challenges Labour leadership candidates to sign London pledge February 16, 2020 Sadiq Khan has issued a challenge for all Labour leadership candidates to sign up to six pledges for London, including a promise to rid the party of antisemitism. The mayor of London has asked the three remaining candidates – Keir Starmer, Rebecca Long-Bailey and Lisa Nandy – to pledge to “stamp out antisemitism” within the [...]
Banknote printer De La Rue set for review of finances February 15, 2020 The Bank of England’s banknote printer, De La Rue, is set for talks with its lenders after calling in advisers to review the business. De La Rue’s banking syndicate, led by HSBC, has appointed FTI Consulting to negotiate the future of its borrowing arrangements with lenders, according to Sky News Last November, the firm said [...]
HS2: China tells UK it can build high-speed line in five years and at lower cost February 15, 2020 The UK is considering giving China’s state-owned railway builder a role in constructing the HS2 rail line. Government officials said “preliminary discussions” had taken place, but no “concrete commitments” had been made. The Chinese railway firm said it could build the line in five years and at a much lower cost, according to a letter [...]
Coronavirus: First death in Europe occurs in France February 15, 2020 A Chinese tourist has become the first person outside of Asia to die as a result of the coronavirus. An 80-year-old man from China’s Hubei province – where the outbreak occurred – has died in France, according to the French health minister. The victim arrived in France on 16 January and was placed into quarantine [...]
Scrap the TV licence, the BBC should just stick to the national news February 15, 2020 It is good that the BBC model is being disrupted by social media — allowing isolated individuals threatened by brown envelopes and sinister demands to be united in their opposition to the multi-billion pound media enterprise. Essentially, the broadcaster needs to be radically stripped down to just one channel: BBC News and Weather. All other [...]
Emily Thornberry eliminated from Labour leadership race February 15, 2020 Emily Thornberry is out of the Labour leadership race having failed to secure the required number of nominations. The shadow foreign secretary had until midnight on Friday to get the necessary 33 nominations from local constituency parties, but fell two short. The other route would have been to receive nominations from Labour Party affiliates, but [...]
Storm Dennis: UK braces for second weekend of flooding and travel disruption February 15, 2020 Just one week after Storm Ciara caused disruption across the country, the UK must now brace for Storm Dennis to wreak more havoc. There are severe weather warnings in place for most of the UK with up to a month’s worth of rainfall in some areas. The military has been deployed to provide extra support [...]
Want to buy art but don’t know where to start? Try Collect, the more accessible design fair February 14, 2020 Kicking off the calendar of high-end art fairs of 2020, Collect is still London’s only fair of contemporary craft and design presented by gallerists. This year, it’s moved from the Saatchi Gallery to its new home in the softer and more decorative venue of Somerset House, swapping stark white walls for the charm of 18th-century [...]
When is the UK Budget 2020? February 14, 2020 The UK Budget 2020 is due next month but after the shock resignation of Sajid Javid this week the government may be forced to delay the date. The official date for the Budget 2020 is 11 March but the government so far has not confirmed it will go ahead after the reshuffle which saw Rishi [...]
Vodafone’s India operation on brink of bankruptcy after court ruling February 14, 2020 India’s Supreme Court has rejected an application to delay the payment of billions of dollars in backdated taxes and penalties from telecoms firms in a ruling that threatens to put Vodafone’s operation in the region out of business. Vodafone Idea and fellow telecom company Bharti Airtel, have been ordered to pay the Indian government $13bn [...]