Hammond spies end of UK’s deficit despite Budget spending increase November 5, 2018 Chancellor Philip Hammond has said he believes the government’s target of eliminating the UK’s deficit is “within touching distance”, despite ramping up public spending and tax cuts in the Budget. Appearing before the Treasury Select Committee this evening, Hammond denied his 2016 plans to reach a budget surplus by the mid-2020s had been abandoned. However, he [...]
FAANGs come out to play in Halloween shares surge October 31, 2018 Technology's biggest players, lumped together as the so-called FAANG stocks, have ended their October losing streak which had left investors spooked with just one day to go. Netflix's share price saw the biggest gains out of the FAANGs grouping, rising almost seven per cent this afternoon off the back of better-than-expected results for Facebook last night. The social [...]
Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg invited again to appear before MPs investigating fake news October 31, 2018 Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg has been summoned to a special meeting of UK and Canadian MPs to give evidence about ‘fake news’. Conservative MP Damian Collins, chair of parliament’s digital, culture, media and sport committee, has joined forces with his Canadian equivalent, Bob Zimmer, to propose a one-off hearing on 27 November. The social media billionaire [...]
Hammond’s digital services tax puts UK competitiveness at risk October 31, 2018 The government has long been scratching its head for ways to address the current tax treatment of global tech platforms. Our tax code – all 10m words of it – has been struggling to keep up and adapt to a new economy that is being driven by technology, innovation, and digitalisation. On Monday, Philip Hammond [...]
Facebook hit by user drop as European growth falls for a second quarter October 30, 2018 Social media giant Facebook failed to live up to estimates for monthly user growth in its third quarter, as growth remained flat in North America but fell across Europe for the second consecutive quarter in the wake of massive data breaches and tightened regulations. Despite this, its profits outperformed expectations, the firm said tonight. Shares [...]
Philip Hammond chooses to splash the cash in his Budget rather than pay down the deficit October 29, 2018 Chancellor Philip Hammond declared “austerity is coming to an end” as he unveiled a raft of spending increases and tax cuts on Monday. Hammond used better-than-expected tax revenues of £12bn to pour extra cash into the NHS and bring forward by a year an increase in the 40p tax threshold to £50,000. The new level will [...]
Going it alone: Tech giants to be hit by UK digital services tax October 29, 2018 Technology giants operating in the UK will be served with a narrowly-targeted digital services tax, chancellor Philip Hammond announced today. With consultations to occur before the tax goes live in April 2020, the chancellor said the move is to ensure "the UK continues to be the best place in the world to start and scale [...]
The ASA watchdog is regulating the Wild West of online marketing and advertising October 29, 2018 It goes without saying that the web has revolutionised the global economy. As a source of knowledge and information, as well as a marketplace for trade, it has created jobs, fuelled innovation, and accelerated productivity (well, it has when we’re not browsing Twitter or watching Netflix). The internet has also changed advertising. The digitisation of [...]
Killing Eve: A cautionary tale on privacy October 29, 2018 Villanelle: “What’s your pin?” Eve Polastri: “1…2…3…4” How many of us could relate to this scene in the popular BBC series Killing Eve? Whether it’s 1,2,3,4, a date of birth, or an easily guessable passphrase – our cavalier attitude to passwords is well-documented. The fact that an MI6 officer (albeit a fictitious one) had such [...]
Facebook revenue growth to be hit by data breach record October 28, 2018 Facebook is expected to report a continued growth slowdown for revenue and profits in its third quarter earnings on Tuesday, as a string of major data breaches weigh heavily on the firm. Facebook finance chief Dave Wehner predicted the deceleration at its last earnings call in July, with consensus estimates as collated by S&P Global [...]