“Result for Britain”: UK’s £1.7bn EU bill halved and payment deferred, says chancellor George Osborne November 7, 2014 George Osborne has negotiated to halve the £1.7bn bill being demanded by the European Union, adding that the rules are to be changed so “this never happens again”. The chancellor had travelled to Brussels to get the surcharge, which was calculated by statistical authority Eurostat, dropped. The government had spoken out against the [...]
George Osborne heads to Brussels to argue against £1.7bn EU bill November 6, 2014 George Osborne is today expected to argue that the UK will not accept an instalment deal to pay the £1.7bn bill Brussels has demanded in full over the course of 2015, after a spokesman for the Prime Minister said that this would be “unacceptable”. The chancellor has been sent to negotiate a reduction in the [...]
Euro falls to two-year low on disappointing ECB speech November 6, 2014 The euro fell to its lowest level against the dollar in two years today after much-anticipated comments by European Central Bank (ECB) chief Mario Draghi disappointed markets. The currency dipped below $1.24 and fell to £1.27, before rallying slightly. Although European stocks spiked immediately after the speech, Germany's Dax closed down 0.92 per cent, while [...]
Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg is hosting a Q&A tonight and will answer questions from the public November 6, 2014 Famously private tech top dog Mark Zuckerberg is opening up to the public for the first time in a question and answer session online. The Facebook founder, and more recently Chinese language student, is taking an hour out of his busy schedule to field questions from, basically, anyone who asks. Much like Reddit’s famous AMAs [...]
Obama dealt blow by Republican victory November 5, 2014 BARACK Obama was dealt a significant blow yesterday when the Republican Party won control of the Senate in the US mid-term elections, increasing their power in the final two years of his presidency. The Republicans also increased their grip on the House of Representatives and now control both chambers of Congress for the first time [...]
M&S boss Marc Bolland puts the focus on womenswear and a five gold rings chocolate Christmas cake November 5, 2014 Everyone knows Marc Bolland is a bit of a charmer. The M&S chief has been under pressure all year with disappointing clothes sales and a finance chief who decided every little really did help and hopped over to Tesco. But yesterday, at the retailer’s half-year results event, the suave Dutchman came out fighting, with compliments. [...]
Battle of the Nigels: Farage vs Askew as Ukip to take on the Reality party in South Thanet November 5, 2014 Russell Brand has been making the headlines as a pop culture icon-cum-political revolutionary lately, but he certainly isn’t the only one. Let’s not forget Bez from the Happy Mondays and his Reality party. Someone who is unlikely to forget is Ukip’s Nigel Farage, as he’ll be up against one of its candidates in [...]
Barack Obama faces the press after Republicans triumph over Democrats in US midterms November 5, 2014 President Obama has finished his first press conference since his party's shellacking in America's midterm elections. Republicans strengthened their control over the House of Representatives gaining ten seats. However, the big story of the night was the GOP takeover of the Senate going from 45 to 52 seats so far. Furthermore, Republicans won governors' races [...]
Why Draghi may opt against full QE – CNBC Comment November 3, 2014 As one major central bank – the US Federal Reserve – closes the quantitative easing door, markets are hoping that another – the European Central Bank (ECB) – will throw it wide open again. Many economists now expect that ECB president Mario Draghi will usher in a quantitative easing policy, involving buying up countries’ debt, [...]
Boris Johnson welcomes report calling for more Commonwealth immigration November 3, 2014 The UK is missing a huge economic and cultural opportunity because of anachronistic and counterproductive restrictions on immigration from the Commonwealth, easing pressure created by its ageing population. So concludes a new report published today by think tank the Commonwealth Exchange, with a foreword written by London mayor Boris Johnson. Johnson wrote: We should welcome [...]