Coronavirus dividend cuts produce £4.4bn hit to investor portfolios March 27, 2020 With more UK firms announcing coronavirus-fuelled dividend cuts this week, the total loss of investor income so far this year is now £4.4bn. The pace of dividend cuts is accelerating as coronavirus wreaks havoc on world economies. In March 116 companies have suspended their dividends totalling £4.2bn, according to investment fund AJ Bell. That compares [...]
Prime Minister Boris Johnson tests positive for coronavirus March 27, 2020 Prime Minister Boris Johnson has tested positive for coronavirus, he confirmed today, as he urged Brits to stay home to combat the UK outbreak. Johnson revealed his coronavirus diagnosis on Twitter, where he said he has experienced “mild” symptoms since yesterday. “Over the last 24 hours I have developed mild symptoms and tested positive for [...]
Shaun Bailey: Three steps London must take to protect key workers on the Tube March 27, 2020 Imagine being a key worker taking the Tube tomorrow morning. A 20-minute wait for the next train — if you manage to get on. A carriage so overcrowded that you’ve got no hope of social distancing. And then a rush to your hospital, your police station, your school. We’re asking key staff to put their [...]
Domino’s Pizza switches to ‘contact-free delivery’ but suspends dividend payments March 27, 2020 Domino’s Pizza Group has announced it will continue to trade by providing “contact-free delivery” but has stopped its collection service due to the coronavirus pandemic. Britain’s biggest pizza delivery firm said it had seen increased demand and would now only be making contactless deliveries amid the coronavirus crisis. In a trading update released this morning, [...]
UK coronavirus: Firefighters to recover dead bodies if crisis worsens March 27, 2020 British firefighters will help the UK government recover dead bodies should the UK coronavirus outbreak lead to mass casualties. The London Fire Brigade will also deploy firefighters to drive ambulances. And they will deliver food to the elderly and vulnerable amid the UK coronavirus lockdown. The emergency service will continue to respond to fires and [...]
Menzies puts majority of 17,500 staff on wage bailout scheme March 27, 2020 John Menzies has been forced to reduce its global workforce by 17,500 jobs as it tries to stay afloat amid the fallout caused by the coronavirus outbreak. In a trading update released this morning, the aviation services firm said it had seen “significant ongoing reductions in activity for our core operations”. It said that the [...]
UK coronavirus: Government warns Brits not to move house March 27, 2020 The government has told people not to move house amid the UK coronavirus crisis as the housing market enters a standstill. Last night the government said: “We urge parties involved in home moving to adapt and be flexible to alter their usual processes. “There is no need to pull out of transactions, but we all [...]
Asian stocks climb after Wall Street’s record rise on $2 trillion US stimulus March 27, 2020 Asian stocks climbed again today as traders bet on even more economic stimulus to tackle the fallout from the coronavirus outbreak. Japan’s Nikkei index surged 3.9 per cent overnight while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index also climbed 0.6 per cent. MSCI’s broadest range of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan gained 3.3 per cent. Asian stocks posted [...]
Climate activists: Prepare to win the peace after the coronavirus war March 27, 2020 Winston Churchill may have won the war, but Clement Attlee won the peace. The pill that Churchill swallowed was bittered by the fact that his victory had paved the way for Attlee’s. Without the spirit forged by the collective efforts of wartime, there would have been little appetite to build Attlee’s welfare state when peace [...]
We need Alan Turing’s innovative mindset to make it through coronavirus March 27, 2020 Alan Turing designed the curiously named Bombe machine during the early stages of World War II. A forerunner to the computer, the Bombe was able to rapidly intercept messages, quickly decode them, and thereby allow allied forces to react within hours rather than weeks. Stories from the world of codebreaking today bring to vivid life [...]