As the election campaign draws to a close, has it fundamentally damaged America’s moral standing? November 7, 2016 Brian Klaas, a fellow in comparative politics at the London School of Economics, and author of The Despot’s Accomplice, says Yes. Whether Donald Trump wins or loses tomorrow, he has already done tremendous damage to America’s moral standing in the world, and its ability to promote Western liberal democracy globally. His sexist, racist, and xenophobic rhetoric [...]
British businesses say they are losing out thanks to our failure to build enough new homes November 7, 2016 The failure to build homes is hurting the ability of British businesses to recruit and retain staff, according to the CBI, who are calling for a dramatic shift in housebuilding policy Last summer, the government unveiled a prominent goal of building 1m new homes by 2020, but the CBI today warned the government is at [...]
A “hard Brexit” could undermine the very things driving GDP growth, according to this think tank November 7, 2016 Dramatic new migration barriers in the aftermath of Brexit could hit the UK's prospects for future growth, according to foreign policy experts. The UK recorded more than double the growth of Eurozone peers between 2010 and 2015, with Chatham House attributing the difference to aggressive monetary policy, rapid interventions into the financial sector and a [...]
Spotify rival Electric Jukebox set to raise £7m on Aim November 7, 2016 Stars including Robbie Williams, Stephen Fry and Sheryl Crow are among the investors in an up and coming music streaming service that will raise £7m when it becomes an Aim-listed company this week. The service, Electric Jukebox, allows a year’s free access to 29m songs simply by plugging a gadget straight into a TV. It [...]
Chinese firm to offer £90m for walkie-talkie maker Sepura November 7, 2016 Walkie-Talkie maker Sepura will reportedly receive a £90m takeover bid from Chinese company Hytera Communications. The Chinese telecoms giant is expected to offer more than 25p a share for the business in the coming weeks, according to the Sunday Times. The move would come just months after a series of profit warnings led Sepura to [...]
BT investor calls for talks over Openreach arm November 6, 2016 A major BT shareholder, Aviva Investors, has called for the telecoms giant to open discussions about a possible sale of its infrastructure arm Openreach. BT has been fighting for control of its network division for the past 18 months, following repeated calls from its rivals that Openreach should be split out of the group. Aviva is [...]
Clinton emails: no criminality found November 6, 2016 The FBI announced this evening that it had found no evidence of criminal behaviour in its latest investigation into Hillary Clinton's emails. The director of the FBI, James Comey wrote to Congress to update politicians on his findings. The letter was released on Twitter by Californian Democrat Adam Schiff. As expected, the review of the additional emails [...]
Convicted Libor traders hit back at fraud squad boss for “misleading” comments November 6, 2016 Two convicted Libor traders have launched fresh attacks against the head of the fraud squad for presenting "misleading" stories about their trials. The scathing criticism comes after David Green, director of the Serious Fraud Office (SFO), gave evidence to the Justice Select Committee last month on, among other things, his agency's performance in the Libor [...]
Cigarette firms fear minimum price tax plans November 6, 2016 The tobacco industry is concerned that chancellor Philip Hammond could introduce a so-called tax floor on cigarettes in the autumn statement this month. It’s thought the chancellor could bring in plans first floated by his predecessor George Osborne that could see the cost of even the cheapest pack of cigarettes rise to £8.68 — a [...]
Premier Oil battling to hit deal deadline November 6, 2016 Struggling oil explorer Premier is battling to hit its deadline of the end of the year to secure a full-scale financial restructuring package. Premier is wrestling with the daunting task of finalising the £2bn deal with a team of 40 banks and advisers that has been pushed back from a previous deadline of September. Premier [...]