Commercial radio pulls in record audience ahead of Covid-19 lockdown May 14, 2020 UK commercial radio stations attracted their largest ever audience in the first three months of the year as Brits tuned in ahead of the full coronavirus lockdown. Roughly 36.3m people tuned in to commercial radio each week in the first quarter — the highest figure ever recorded. The sector’s average listening time was also up [...]
Uber to spend $50m on safety kit as it tells drivers and passengers to wear masks May 13, 2020 Uber has set aside $50m (£41m) to buy personal protective equipment for drivers as it introduces new rules requiring all users to wear face masks. Chief executive Dara Khosrowshahi today told reporters that the ride-hailing app will roll out a string of new safety measures as it looks to address concerns about the Covid-19 pandemic. [...]
Tencent revenue rises as Covid-19 lockdown drives mobile gaming boom May 13, 2020 Tencent today posted a rise in revenue and profit for the first quarter as global coronavirus lockdowns boosted demand for its blockbuster mobile games. The Chinese tech conglomerate posted revenue of 108bn yuan (£12.4bn) in the first three months of the year — up 26 per cent year on year. Profit attributable to equity holders [...]
Interserve hit by cyber attack as hackers target hospital construction firms May 13, 2020 Outsourcing group Interserve has been left reeling from a cyber attack earlier this month as criminals target construction firms involved in the UK’s coronavirus response. Hackers broke into an HR database and stole details of current and former employees, the Telegraph reported, citing a company insider. It is not clear exactly what data was stolen, [...]
Boris Johnson urges commuters not to crowd onto public transport May 13, 2020 Boris Johnson has urged commuters not to crowd onto public transport as some workers began returning to their offices today. Speaking in parliament, the Prime Minister said: “I don’t want to see crowding on mass transit or public transport in our capital or anywhere else”. Johnson’s words come after a number of images were released [...]
494 more UK coronavirus deaths in last 24 hours May 13, 2020 Another 494 Brits have now died from coronavirus, according to government count of confirmed cases released this afternoon. The new figures bring the total to 33,186 UK coronavirus deaths since the outbreak hit British shores. And another 3,242 people tested positive for coronavirus yesterday to bring the total to 229,705 cases in the UK. The [...]
Public support for government handling of coronavirus falls May 13, 2020 Public support for the government’s handling of the coronavirus crisis has fallen, according to research published today. A survey by polling firm Kantar found 49 per cent of respondents thought the government was doing fairly or very well on coronavirus, down from 61 per cent in April. Forty three per cent said its handling of [...]
Starling and Funding Circle to provide £300m in small business loans May 13, 2020 Starling Bank and Funding Circle today said they have teamed up to provide £300m in loans to small firms under the coronavirus business interruption loan scheme (CBILS). Starling will lend through Funding Circle alongside other institutional investors, granting access to funding for more than 4,000 small businesses across the UK. Both fintech firms have been [...]
Exiting lockdown: where’s ready, where’s not, and where risks a second wave? May 13, 2020 | City Talk In collaboration with Schroders’ Data Insights Unit, we’ve looked into the global state of lockdown and compared this with estimated reproduction numbers (R) to identify who is ready to exit lockdown, who is not and who is potentially exiting prematurely. Here’s what we found in summary: While China and Korea were the first to exit [...]
Coronavirus public transport advice: What do lockdown rules say? May 13, 2020 The government has released new public transport advice for would-be commuters as the UK takes its first tentative steps out of seven weeks of lockdown. Although it once again stresses that people should avoid travelling it is totally necessary, the measures lay out steps people can take to keep themselves and others safe when making [...]