Scottish independence revisited: Scots may be more sympathetic, but the SNP don’t seem confident about a second referendum September 17, 2015 The victory speech that Alex Salmond would have made if Scotland had voted ‘Yes’ to independence last year was released yesterday. As well as providing an insight into how the early days of a newly independent country would have felt, it allowed a timely opportunity to consider whether we are any closer to a [...]
Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership: Who will be the first Labour MP to defect – and which party will they move to? September 17, 2015 It's still the first week of Jeremy Corbyn's life as Labour leader, but the honeymoon period is definitely over. It's no secret that he's been upsetting the media – not least when journalists get hospitalised while reporting on him – and the same thing seems to be happening with his own party members. Pundits and [...]
King’s Cross train crash: Four people taken to hospital after Cambridge train collides with buffer at London rail station September 17, 2015 Four people have been taken to hospital after a train collided with a buffer at King's Cross station this afternoon. National Rail has confirmed the incident took place just before 12:20pm. Only minor injuries have been reported so far. London Ambulance Service's tactical adviser Chris Hawkswell tweeted about the incident this afternoon, saying [...]
EU migrant crisis: The European Parliament has approved a relocation plan for 120,000 refugees September 17, 2015 The European Parliament has approved plans to relocate 120,000 refugees throughout the trading bloc, in a bid to help the countries most under pressure from the millions of displaced people crossing their borders. An emergency vote was called today after interior ministers rejected the scheme – designed to help "frontline" states Greece, Hungary and [...]
Most expensive cities in the world: Londoners work longer than people in New York, Los Angeles, Luxembourg and Geneva to buy an iPhone 6 (and a Big Mac) September 17, 2015 We all know that London life can be expensive, not least when you factor in the cost of housing, but it turns out we have to slog it out at work to afford that most prevalent possession: our iPhones. Londoners have to work an average of 41.2 hours to be able to buy an iPhone [...]
Uber taxi protest brings London to standstill (again) as black cab drivers demonstrate outside Boris Johnson’s Question Time at City Hall September 16, 2015 Mayor's Question Time was shut down after police were called to City Hall today, after a security guard was apparently knocked out in scuffle outside the building. Black cab drivers were demonstrating outside (and inside) the Southbank venue over ongoing criticism of Transport for London's handling of regulation for private hire car companies, in particular [...]
Six fire engines and 30 firefighters attending blaze in 22-storey building near 02 Arena September 16, 2015 Update: Fire crews are still at the scene of a blaze that broke out in the ground floor flat within a 22-storey building under construction near to the O2 Arena this morning. Six fire engines and 30 firefighters from the London Fire Brigade tackled the fire on Millenium way, Greenwich. The Fire Brigade was first [...]
Energy price decline dampens Eurozone inflation as ECB boss Vitor Constancio hints at greater stimulus September 16, 2015 A steep drop in energy prices held down prices in the Eurozone in August, according to figures released by Eurostat this morning. Energy prices fell 7.2 per cent in July, dampening overall annual inflation to 0.1 per cent in August, down from 0.2 per cent in July. The biggest price fall was in Cyprus [...]
Crossrail 2: Hundreds of thousands of homes, jobs will be created by major new project – and here is the team behind it September 16, 2015 The first Crossrail is still more than two years away from completion, but the government is already planning for Crossrail 2, which it claims could "unlock up to 200,000 new homes and support 200,000 jobs across London and the South East". The government has just unveiled the team that is being charged with ensuring [...]
Alkane Energy share price soars 41 per cent as Balfour Beatty Investment Partners reveals £61.4m takeover September 16, 2015 Alkane Energy's share price has soared more than 40 per cent this morning after Balfour Beatty revealed it was buying the smaller firm out for around £61.4m. Balfour Beatty Infrastructure Partners (BBIP) is buying Alkane – which runs mid-sized gas to power electricity plants and has onshore petroleum licences that allow it to run coal [...]
