Provident Financial resolves regulation issues with City watchdog March 6, 2019 Doorstep lender Provident Financial has said it has "substantially resolved" recent regulatory issues as it revealed that it has hired a new boss to lead its Vanquis Bank business. The company, which has rejected a £1.3bn takeover bid from rival Non-Standard Finance (NSF), revealed that the Vanquis refund programme was more than 99 per cent [...]
Theresa May is delusional if she thinks she can win over Labour MPs March 6, 2019 Has the Prime Minister been reading “How to win friends and influence people”, by Dale Carnegie? It would make a change from “The bluffer’s guide to negotiating”. The thought came to mind when I read of Theresa May’s latest attempt to get Labour MPs to support her withdrawal agreement in the vote next week – [...]
Like the myth that the Earth is flat, the socialist conspiracy theory never dies March 6, 2019 The idea that the Earth is flat is a rapidly growing trend on social media. The Flat Earth Society’s Twitter feed has the best part of 100,000 followers. The fact that the planet is a sphere has been known since at least the time of the ancient Greeks. The astronomer Eratosthenes demonstrated it with a simple [...]
WPP needs to revamp culture to attract the best people, says boss March 5, 2019 WPP must create a more open culture if it is to attract the best people in the industry, chief executive Mark Read said today. “WPP is really just about people at the end of the day,” he said at the Incorporated Society of British Advertisers (ISBA) conference this morning. Read more: Brands have ‘Netflix envy’, [...]
Brexit: Geoffrey Cox and Stephen Barclay head to Brussels for final backstop push March 5, 2019 Brexit secretary Stephen Barclay and attorney general Geoffrey Cox will today head to Brussels in a bid to win changes to the Irish backstop in the run-up to another crunch Commons vote on Theresa May's Brexit deal. The two ministers are hoping EU officials will agree to a time limit to the backstop – the [...]
The high street can be saved if physical shops and online retailers collaborate and use data March 5, 2019 In January, affiliate marketing company Awin released research showing that 39 per cent of Britons wouldn’t really mind if we lost all high street stores altogether, with over a third of respondents saying that they “almost never” shopped there anyway. News stories about high street stalwarts being in the doldrums have become a recurring theme, from [...]
DEBATE: Will the European Research Group’s three legal tests help pass Theresa May’s Brexit deal? March 4, 2019 Will the European Research Group’s three legal tests help pass Theresa May’s Brexit deal? Olivia Utley, deputy editor at TheArticle, says YES. The three tests proposed by the European Research Group (ESG) have been rejected by the European Union. But, although they are now off the table, the very fact that they were mooted will help Theresa [...]
Theresa May accused of ‘Brexit bribe’ over launch of £1.6bn fund for Leave-voting areas March 4, 2019 Theresa May has been accused of "bribing MPs" with a £1.6bn government fund for pro-Brexit towns in England in a bid to secure their backing for her deal when it is voted on later this month. £1bn of the pot will go towards less well-off towns in England while £600m will be available for communities [...]
Sadiq Khan’s junk food advertising ban will hurt TfL and marketers, but fail to fight childhood obesity March 4, 2019 Last week, a divisive political leader brought an end to a scourge that threatened our everyday society. No, I’m not talking about Donald Trump, whose summit with Kim Jong-un unfortunately failed to achieve the denuclearisation of North Korea. I’m talking instead about London mayor Sadiq Khan, whose ban on junk food advertising on the Transport [...]
Mike Ashley’s Sports Direct makes offer for Findel March 4, 2019 Sports Direct tycoon Mike Ashley is looking to continue his retail spending spree after announcing a £139m offer to buy Findel this morning. Sports Direct, which is currently Findel’s largest shareholder, said in a note to the London Stock Exchange that it has offered to purchase the remaining shares in Findel that it does not already [...]