Tory MP failed to declare £70,000 shares in Shell while environment sec August 11, 2023 A Conservative MP failed to declare that she held shares valued at more than £70,000 in Shell while she was environment secretary. Theresa Villiers admitted her shareholding in the oil and gas company via her latest update to the register of members’ financial interests. Under the section “other shareholdings, valued at more than £70,000”, Ms [...]
Biden declares ‘national emergency’ as he bans US investment in Chinese tech August 10, 2023 President Joe Biden on Wednesday signed an executive order that will prohibit some new U.S. investment in China in sensitive technologies like computer chips and require government notification in other tech sectors. The long-awaited order authorizes the U.S. Treasury secretary to prohibit or restrict U.S. investments in Chinese entities in three sectors: semiconductors and microelectronics, quantum information technologies [...]
ULEZ: ‘Unreasonable’ scrappage schedule means daily charges for ‘quite some time’ after expansion August 9, 2023 Many drivers will be charged daily fees “for quite some time” because London’s car scrappage scheme is not being extended until eight days before the expansion of the ultra low emission zone (ULEZ), a motoring services company has said. The RAC, which issued the warning, described the timings as “extremely frustrating”. The area covered by [...]
Virgin Galactic is set to fly tourists to the stars – but can space tourism become more than a hobby for the super rich? August 7, 2023 Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic is set to launch its first tourists to space on Thursday this week. The Galactic 02 mission, which follows the successful launch of the companies’ first commercial flight in June, will carry three paying customers – an 80-year old Olympian and a Caribbean mother-daughter duo. Launching from Spaceport America in New [...]
Musk says fight with Zuckerberg will be live-streamed on X August 6, 2023 Elon Musk said in a social media post that his proposed cage fight with Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg would be live-streamed on social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter. The social media moguls have been egging each other into a mixed martial arts cage match in Las Vegas since June. “Zuck v Musk fight will be live-streamed on [...]
Musk’s X to pay legal bills of people ‘unfairly treated’ for posting on platform August 6, 2023 Elon Musk has said his X social media platform will pay the legal bills and sue on the behalf of people who have been treated unfairly by employers because of posting or liking something on the site formerly known as Twitter. “If you were unfairly treated by your employer due to posting or liking something on this [...]
City regulator responds to Hunt’s de-banking letter and will report back by September August 4, 2023 The City regulator will outline the scale of the so-called ‘de-banking’ scandal next month, in response to a letter from the Chancellor last night. Writing to Jeremy Hunt, the Financial Conduct Authority acknowledged his “request of areas to cover” in an investigation into the row, and that it was “in line with our plans”. The [...]
Sadiq Khan expands London ULEZ scrappage scheme in wake of Uxbridge by-election loss August 4, 2023 The Mayor of London has announced a major expansion of financial support designed to ease the impact of the capital’s ultra low emission zone (Ulez) on people’s pockets. Sadiq Khan said every Londoner with a polluting car facing charges under Ulez will now be able to receive a grant of up to £2,000 to support [...]
London nannies’ pay rises to £43,000 as parents fail to secure nursery places August 3, 2023 London parents are having to pay more for nannies because of a lack of nursery places, according to Nannytax, with salaries on average now at £43,000. The government has been urged by the firm to amend its “nonsensical” approach to childcare payments set out in the spring budget, with demand for nannies skyrocketing as early [...]
Monzo staff comms reveal anti-Tory messages as de-banking scandal grows August 3, 2023 Monzo staff made multiple disparaging remarks about the Conservative party, according to reported internal company messages, as a growing row about lenders closing individuals bank accounts engulfs the banking sector. The internal communications, reported by The Telegraph, show staff describing Tories as “evil”, and called for Conservative MP Jacob Rees-Mogg to “do the human race [...]