Boris Johnson promises Theresa May ‘full-throated support’ if she beats Brexit backstop with a ‘freedom clause’ January 28, 2019 Boris Johnson today upped the pressure on Prime Minister Theresa May by calling on her to persuade the European Union to ditch the so-called Irish backstop. May’s widely unpopular Brexit deal – the result of two years of negotiations with the EU – was resoundingly rejected by parliament before Christmas, largely over concerns created by [...]
DEBATE: Will the new Franco-German pact help heal the EU’s divisions? January 28, 2019 Will the new Franco-German pact help heal the EU’s divisions? Dr Andrew W M Smith, historian of modern France at the University of Chichester, says YES. From its inception, European integration revolved around the axis of Franco-German unity. In 1963, Charles de Gaulle and Konrad Adenauer tied the knot at the Elysee palace, and Emmanuel [...]
JD Sports owner heads list of the UK’s top 50 taxpayers January 27, 2019 Financiers, hedge fund managers and housebuilders dominated a new list revealing the UK’s biggest taxpayers, published on Sunday. The Sunday Times tax list, which also includes high profile names such as David and Victoria Beckham, estimates the amount of tax paid to HMRC by the UK’s wealthiest people based on publicly available information. Read more: The [...]
Kier Group negotiating sale of its housing maintenance business in a bid to reduce debt January 27, 2019 Kier Group, the troubled outsourcing company, is nearing an agreement to sell its housing maintenance division. The deal, if agreed, would be part of a previously announced plan to shore up the balance sheet of the construction and building services provider by selling non-core assets. Read more: Short sellers release pressure on construction outsourcing giant Kier [...]
Gospel Oak to Barking line users to receive a month of free travel following train delays January 27, 2019 Users of the troubled Gospel Oak to Barking route will receive a month's worth of free travel after suffering sustained periods of disruption from the delayed introduction of new trains on the line. Software issues with manufacturer Bombardier have meant that a new fleet of Class 710 trains, which were due to be introduced last [...]
Imposing martial law in a no-deal Brexit is ‘on the statute book’, says Matt Hancock January 27, 2019 Health secretary Matt Hancock has said imposing martial law in the event of a no-deal Brexit was "on the statute book" and that the government was looking at "all possibilities". The UK is on the brink of declaring a state of emergency in case disorder breaks out if the UK leaves the EU without a deal on [...]
The Daily Telegraph apologises for false statements about US First Lady Melania Trump January 26, 2019 The Daily Telegraph has apologised for a number of false statements made in its Saturday Magazine cover story: “The Mystery Melania”. The newspaper printed an apology on Saturday and also agreed to cover Melania Trump’s legal costs. The original article had claimed that the US First Lady was struggling in her modelling career before meeting [...]
Shutdown back down: Trump faces backlash from conservatives as government reopens without border wall funding January 26, 2019 US President Donald Trump faced criticism from disappointed supporters last night as he announced a deal which would allow government employees back to work. A 35-day impasse over funding for Trump’s much-touted wall to run across the southern border with Mexico. Read more: Trump orders thousands of employees back to work during government shutdown The $5.7bn [...]
Facebook is set to merge messaging services across Instagram, Whatsapp and Messenger January 25, 2019 Facebook is planning to streamline its messaging services by integrating Whatsapp, Instagram and Facebook messenger. All three will remain separate apps, but underneath the surface they will all be inter-linked, allowing messages to travel between services, according to a report in the New York Times. The paper claims it is the personal project of the [...]
Inquiry into Deutsche Bank links with Trump launched by US House Committees January 25, 2019 Deutsche Bank confirmed that it had received an inquiry from two US House Committees last night, in a development that comes at the height of Democrat interest in investigating links between Trump and the bank. "The bank has received an inquiry from the House Financial Services and Intelligence Committees," Deutsche Bank said today. "Deutsche Bank is [...]