DWP accused of attempting to hide failings on universal credit reform August 19, 2014 Parliament's public spending watchdog has accused the Department of Work and Pensions of hiding failings of the government's universal credit reform in a report published today. The Committee of Public Affairs, chaired by Margaret Hodge MP, has claimed the move to create a new category to “reset” the £2.4bn reform project could have been [...]
Julian Assange: Six things you should know about the Wikileaks founder August 18, 2014 1. The taxpayer has spent £6.5m on police officers stationed outside the Ecuadorian embassy during his two-year stay, to arrest him should he try to leave. 2. Assange has guest starred on the The Simpsons and had his own talk show on Russia Today. He was also visited by Lady Gaga while he was [...]
Julian Assange timeline: From Wikileaks’ cable-leaker to Ecuadorian embassy refugee August 18, 2014 October 2006 – Assange sets up Wikileaks as a platform for anonymous whistleblowers. February 2010 – Wikileaks publishes a leaked cable relating to the Icesave scandal – the first classified documents supplied by Chelsea (formerly Bradley) Manning. April 2010 – Wikileaks reveals a video called Collateral Murder, showing two US military teams [...]
Hic and click: Brits blow £142 during drunken online shopping sprees August 15, 2014 What connects a lobster pot, some diving equipment and a washing machine? According to a new study, these are just some of the items Brits have bought online while under the influence. “Hic-and-click” has apparently become a widespread phenomenon with nearly a quarter of people surveyed by comparison site Confused.com admitting they have spent [...]
Demand for gold plummets following last year’s rush and ongoing Chinese corruption crackdown August 14, 2014 Last year's second quarter gold rush has been followed by a slump in demand, most heavily felt in China where consumers spent 55 per cent less on jewellery, gold bars and coins than the same time in 2013. During the three months to the end of June consumers in Greater China spent $6.4bn on [...]
Could pee-power be the next energy source? Bill Gates backs scientists using urine to charge phones August 14, 2014 When explorers were filling in the 'here be dragons' gaps on maps and discovering weird and wonderful things like the potato, drinking urine was often resorted to as a means of survival. Now the BioEnergy team at Bristol Robotics Laboratory – a collaboration between the University of Bristol and the University of the West [...]
Asda steals market share as like-for-likes edge up August 14, 2014 Like-for-like sales at Asda edged up 0.5 per cent for the 10 weeks to June 30, with the supermarket building market share by 0.14 per cent year-on-year. The Walmart-owned grocer – which is currently going through a major restructure involving 1,360 job cuts – said growth demonstrated it was “continuing to deliver on its [...]
“I resign”: Russian prime minister Medvedev’s Twitter account hacked August 14, 2014 “I resign. I am ashamed for the actions of the government. I’m sorry,” Russian prime minister Dmitry Medvedev tweeted earlier today. Or so hackers would have us believe. The Russian leader's Twitter account appeared to have been successfully targeted, publishing a series of tweets this morning criticising president Vladimir Putin, retweeting opposition journalists and [...]
Brits are travelling more but spending less – while the UK attracts more overseas visitors August 14, 2014 Brits are travelling more but spending less while they are abroad, as tourists coming to the UK are flashing more of their own cash. The number of overseas visitors coming to the UK in June rose 10 per cent year-on-year to 3.2 million, according to figures published by the Office for National Statistics this morning. They spent [...]
Flybe pilot lands flight one-handed after artificial arm “detached” August 14, 2014 A pilot lost control of a passenger plane after his artificial arm became detached while attempting to land, a new investigation has found. The pilot was landing the Flybe plane, which was carrying 47 passengers and four crew from Birmingham to Belfast, during windy conditions at night. Although he checked that his [...]
