John Lewis sales bolstered by final Black Friday promotions December 6, 2016 John Lewis' sales over the past week received a boost from the final Black Friday promotions on offer. Sales for the week to 3 December increased 3.9 per cent year-on-year, the department store said, reaching £172.1m. Read more: Nespresso is teaming up with John Lewis to open two new boutiques Year-on-year, fashion and home sales [...]
OECD Pisa education report: Reading and science scores climb as maths struggles December 6, 2016 The UK is climbing the world rankings in both reading and science according to the latest Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) international student assessments. The Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) is undertaken once every three years and tests 15-year-olds' abilities in the core academic disciplines of reading, maths and science. It found the [...]
Wanted: A bold government housing strategy that delivers for the young rather than the old December 6, 2016 If Brexit wasn’t dominating British politics, then one other issue would be: the lack of housing. If you know someone under 30, living in London and able to afford their first home, then your friend belongs to the country’s richest percentile. For most people, even for those on what used to be a decent median income, owning [...]
Widening US trade deficit gives Donald Trump a challenge to fulfil campaign reduction promise December 6, 2016 Rising imports pushed up the US trade deficit by over $6bn in October and factory orders increased faster than expected, as domestic demand continues to stay strong in the world’s biggest economy before the arrival of Donald Trump in the White House. Trump has promised to reduce the trade deficit when he takes office, but [...]
Have yourself an analogue Christmas: Vinyl outsold digital downloads for the first time last week December 6, 2016 It's going to be a crackly, scratchy sort of Christmas this year, after new figures showed sales of vinyl outstripped those of downloaded music for the first time since the advent of digital downloads last week. The Entertainment Retailers Association (ERA) said £2.4m was spent on vinyl albums in week 48 of 2016, compared with £2.1m [...]
Donald Trump takes aim at Boeing for expensive Air Force One contract December 6, 2016 President-elect Donald Trump has called for Boeing’s contract to build Air Force One to be cancelled because it’s too costly. The Republican tweeted today that the contract costs were “out of control” at “more than $4bn”. Boeing is building a brand new 747 Air Force One for future presidents, but costs are out of control, [...]
Samsung Vs Apple: US Supreme Court rules in favour of the South Korean giant December 6, 2016 The US Supreme Court has backed Samsung in the latest round of its patent bout with Apple. The decision to throw out an appeals court ruling means the South Korean company won't necessarily have to pay the $399m (£313m) penalty to Apple for copying the design of the iPhone. The US justices were unanimous in their decision, ruling eight to zero in [...]
Demand for homes has only increased in these two London boroughs in the past year December 6, 2016 NULL