Chancellor George Osborne faces backbench revolt over cuts to tax credits August 10, 2015 The government is set to face its first Conservative backbench revolt over the Budget, after MPs voiced concerns about plans to reduce tax credits by up to £1,000 a year. The Times reported the chancellor will face “real anger and frustration” around the changes, which mean 3m families will lose on average £1,000 a year, [...]
Trumpmania: The odious billionaire Donald Trump’s gloom won’t win over an optimistic US August 9, 2015 “They are bringing drugs, and bringing crime, and they’re rapists.” – Republican Donald Trump, on Mexican immigrants, at his presidential announcement “With malice toward none, with charity to all… let us strive to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation’s wounds.” – Republican Abraham Lincoln, on ending the US Civil [...]
Mark Zuckerberg’s book club: These are the 15 books you need to read to catch up over the summer August 9, 2015 Mark Zuckerberg is more than half way through his ambitious goal of reading a book every two weeks – a new years challenge he set himself at the start of 2015 – and they're quickly piling up. Keeping up with his accompanying book club on Facebook may not have been at the top of everyone's [...]
Jeremy Corbyn considers Clause Four and Labour’s public ownership commitments August 9, 2015 Jeremy Corbyn, the frontrunner to become the next Labour leader, has indicated that he may bring back Clause Four, the party's commitment to public ownership scrapped by Tony Blair in the New Labour era two decades ago. “I think we should talk about what the objectives of the party are, whether that’s restoring Clause Four [...]
Russia enforces ban on Western foods by steamrolling nine tonnes of cheese August 6, 2015 The Russian government has upheld its commitment to its one-year-old ban on Western food by steamrolling tonnes of contraband cheese and destroying fruit with tractors. The government steamrolled nine metric tonnes of contraband cheese and destroyed 60 metric tonnes of peaches and tomatoes, Associated Press reported. The move has been met with protest, according to [...]
TfL Tube strike 2015: Bus, Boris bike, Overground, roads and London travel without the Underground in astonishing numbers August 6, 2015 Millions of commuters have struggled to make their way around the capital during today's strike, which has forced many passengers to discover various other forms of transport other than the Tube. Now attempting to make their journeys home by bus, bike, rail, road, Overground and on foot, here's how the transport network has fared today. [...]
Vladimir Putin gets pugnacious about prophylactics as Russia bans foreign condom imports August 6, 2015 It seems Vladimir Putin is getting serious about sex, after he rubber-stamped a new rule banning foreign condom imports. Yep – despite the fact that the number of people infected with HIV in Russia almost doubled from 500,000 to 930,000 between 2010 and 2014, Putin has added prophylactics to a list of banned foreign foreign [...]
Tesla shares fall after the company lowers its delivery guidance August 5, 2015 Tesla shares fell four per cent in after hours trading after the company put the breaks on 2015 deliveries. The figures Tesla reported a second quarter earning per share loss of $0.48 on $1.2bn (£0.77bn) in adjusted revenue, 40 per cent up from a year ago. This was, however, better than the expected $0.59 loss [...]
August 2015 TfL Tube strike: Boris Johnson still won’t commit to Night Tube launch date August 5, 2015 London mayor Boris Johnson still won't commit to the Night Tube's September 12 start date. When pressed about whether it would be delivered in time for the widely anticipated start date during an interview on London radio station LBC, Boris said: "I'm not too fussed about the start date. I've said we'll get it in [...]
Neil Woodford’s new fund surpasses Invesco Perpetual Income in fund size August 5, 2015 Just over a year after star fund manager Neil Woodford left Invesco to set up his new fund, Woodford Equity Income has overtaken the fund he previously managed in fund size. Launched in 2014, the fund is now worth £6.74bn in size to the end of July compared to Invesco Perpetual Income’s size of £6.45bn [...]