Death of cash? British Retail Consortium says the imminent arrival of a cashless society has been “greatly exaggerated” July 1, 2015 Cash was used in just over half of retail transactions last year – but the sector's trade body has heralded this as a sign of suprising strength. "The death of cash has been greatly exaggerated," the British Retail Consortium said today. Consumers used 4.5 per cent less cash on high street and supermarket shopping [...]
Hottest day of the year: Britons can’t stand the heat when it goes above 28 degrees (that’s eight degrees lower than it is today) July 1, 2015 Today's heatwave will push temperatures several degrees above what Britons consider acceptably warm. Today is expected to be the hottest day of the year, with the Met Office confirming temperatures rose as high as 36.7 degrees at Heathrow. https://twitter.com/metoffice/status/616252404267393024 Despite spending the vast majority of the year complaining about the cold, it [...]
John Lewis to start charging for click-and-collect orders under £30 from this month July 1, 2015 Grave news for middle England: John Lewis is about to start charging for click-and-collect orders. The department store's managing director Andy Street revealed the plans – to charge £2 for orders worth less than £30 from the end of July – during last night's Christmas in July preview. There will be no charge [...]
RMT and TSSA workers vote to strike over Night Tube June 30, 2015 Workers for transport unions RMT and TSSA have voted “overwhelmingly” in favour of strike action over the Night Tube. Nearly 92 per cent of members voted in favour of strike action over both London Underground pay and the transition to running the Tube night. Some 96.5 per cent voted for action short of a [...]
Taxi protest shuts down more London roads as black cab drivers block TfL office over Uber regulation June 30, 2015 It's becoming something of a familiar site: yet another taxi protest has brought London streets to a standstill. Yet again the black cab drivers are protesting outside TfL's offices, meaning that areas around from Blackfriars Bridge, stretching as far as Waterloo, are jammed. https://twitter.com/AndrewNickolls/status/615881341821931520 Cabbies are demonstrating against what they see as [...]
Crowdfunding Greece: This Indiegogo Grexit bailout crowdfund has reached a six-figure sum June 30, 2015 Sceptical of the power of people? Us too. But you can't help but be impressed by the fact this crowdfunding campaign to help Greece meet its debts has already reached a six-figure sum. At 2pm on Tuesday the total raised had reached nearly €125, 000 from donations made by 7,743 people in just one [...]
Interview with a robot: Life, love and everything as seen by a sentient machine June 30, 2015 Do androids dream of electric sheep? Actually, they are far more concerned with their own mortality. That’s how it is with Bina48, at least. She's a humanoid robot and, just like us humans, she suffers from the occasional nightmare. One, where she is back in her box having been disassembled and used to build other [...]
Tesco’s share price is falling on the back of Kantar figures showing sales are dropping again June 30, 2015 Tesco was the biggest loser on the FTSE 100 this morning, with the share price dropping like a stone after Kantar's latest market update. Sales at the troubled supermarket fell 1.3 per cent for the 12 weeks to 21st June – underperforming the sector average, which slipped back into a decline of 0.1 per [...]
London weather: Network Rail imposing speed restrictions as UK heatwave raises chance of buckling tracks June 30, 2015 Network Rail may be suffering from a corporate meltdown, but it turns out the train group is worried about a different kind of overheating as the mercury rises. The UK is expected to see a heatwave this week, with temperatures soaring into the mid-to-high 30s, with the Met Office forecasting a peak tomorrow, when [...]
South London commuter misery as Kennington “river” and Elephant & Castle roadworks combine to create travel chaos June 30, 2015 South London commuters faced another morning of misery as yesterday's burst water main in Kennington and ongoing road works combined to create travel chaos. Routes around Stockwell, Vauxhall, Elephant & Castle, Camberwell, Peckham, Borough and – of course – Kennington itself have been “curtailed”, TfL said. https://twitter.com/TfLTrafficNews/status/615784044253478912 Those buses that did make [...]
