Four London infrastructure projects that unravelled in 2019 December 23, 2019 Boris Johnson “loves infrastructure”. At least, that’s what the Prime Minister said when he was asked about the High Speed Two rail project on the campaign trail earlier this month. And it is just as well. Because some of London’s biggest infrastructure problems are creaking at the seams. If the PM were not so keen on [...]
Clashes as police try to clear Hong Kong protesters after rally December 22, 2019 Hong Kong riot police pepper sprayed protesters to disperse crowds in the heart of the city’s financial district on Sunday after a largely peaceful rally in support of China’s Uighur ethnic minority turned chaotic. Dozens of police marched across a public square overlooking Hong Kong’s harbour to face off with protesters who hurled glass bottles and rocks at them. [...]
Tesco withdraws Christmas cards from sale over forced labour claims December 22, 2019 Tesco has suspended a Chinese Christmas card supplier following reports a customer found a message written inside a card saying it had been packed by foreign prisoners who were victims of forced labour. “We abhor the use of prison labour and would never allow it in our supply chain,” a Tesco spokesperson said on Sunday. Read more: Tesco [...]
Donald Trump invites Boris Johnson to White House December 22, 2019 US president Donald Trump has reportedly invited prime minister Boris Johnson to visit him in the White House in the new year. The Sunday Times reported that Trump’s invitation to Johnson was made after the British prime minister’s recent election win. Read more: European stocks rally as Boris Johnson’s Brexit deal is approved Formal discussions [...]
EU-UK trade deal must share social and environmental standards, says Barnier December 21, 2019 The European Union want to agree common social and environmental standards in any free trade agreement with the UK to avoid a “race to the bottom”, Michel Barnier has said. The EU’s chief Brexit negotiator wrote an opinion piece on Project Syndicate published on Friday, which said the EU wanted to make the most of [...]
European stocks rally as Boris Johnson’s Brexit deal is approved December 21, 2019 European stocks came close to a record high on Friday following a vote on Boris Johnson’s Brexit deal in Parliament. The Prime Minister’s deal was passed in a second reading in the House of Commons, which now makes the UK’s exit from the EU on 31 January increasingly likely. Read more: UK stocks surge as [...]
UK approves £4bn sale of defence firm Cobham December 21, 2019 The government has agreed to allow US private equity firm Advent International to takeover the UK’s defence and aerospace company. Advent made a £4bn offer to buy Cobham earlier this year and the deal was accepted by shareholders last month. However the government held a consultation on the sale after the founding family raised possible [...]
Christmas travel disruption: everything you need to know December 21, 2019 It’s Christmas! Which means, among happier things, torturous travel planning as city-dwellers escape to the country for a few well-earned days off. But fear not – we at CityAM have put together this handy guide to make your holiday travel as pain-free as possible. Here’s a list of planned disruptions, reduced services and engineering works [...]
Broadband speeds are increasing but rural towns lag behind December 20, 2019 Rural areas of the UK are lagging behind cities and towns as Boris Johnson’ government brings the nation’s digital divide into focus. A report by Ofcom, the UK’s telecoms regulator, showed that around 155,000 UK properties can not access decent broadband. These homes will be able to request coverage from BT from March 2020, the [...]
HSBC and First Direct IT glitches leave customers unable to access online and mobile banking December 20, 2019 HSBC and First Direct have resolved issues causing intermittent problems for customers accessing online and mobile banking over the past 24 hours. Customers were unable to access their online or app banking from around 7:40pm last night and then again throughout today despite claims the issues had been resolved in the early hours of the [...]