Explainer-in-brief: Could Musk back out of the $44bn Twitter deal IN BRIEF What’s the most expensive mistake you’ve ever made? Booked a holiday for the wrong dates? Added an extra zero to the £260 you owed? Well, for Elon Musk, he thought it would just be $1bn to get out of the $44bn Twitter takeover. But strict merger laws, brought in after the financial crisis, could force [...]
Letters: Musk’s bot-tled Twitter takeover TO THE EDITOR [Re: Musk says $44bn mega takeover of Twitter is ‘on hold’, May 14] Musk, now unsure the $44bn Twitter takeover is worthy based on the number of bots plaguing the platform, has started the debate on how tech platforms can better verify digital identity. It’s not an issue that can ever be in the hands [...]
Explainer-in-brief: Another bump in a long road for China’s economy IN BRIEF China feels the economic bite after more lockdowns
Royal Mail set to post this week after job cuts May 15, 2022 The City will be looking out for signs that Royal Mail has made significant cost savings following substantial job cuts when it updates the market this week. Earlier this year, the company announced plans to axe 700 management jobs in a bid to reduce costs by about £40 million a year after experiencing a dip [...]
Letters: What’s wrong with renting? May 9, 2022 [Re: We should be creating a Right to Build not reviving more Thatcherite dreams, May 5] Elena Siniscalco is right to criticise the right-to-buy policy, and not just because it reduced both rented housing stock and increased house prices across-the-board: the policy was also one of the main underlying causes of the 2008 crash. The [...]
Explainer-in-brief: A very leaky Supreme Court judgment May 4, 2022 Yesterday, a leaked draft judgment from the Supreme Court suggested Roe v Wade could be overturned. The ruling has protected a woman’s right to an abortion in the US since 1973. If it is overruled, it would return the power to decide on abortion reforms to individual states. A host of states have already begun [...]
Letters: Cheap food costs us all May 3, 2022 [Re: Small businesses suffer unprecedented cost assault in sign of more economic woes, Monday 25] Amidst reports of swelling costs eating away at small businesses’ margins, agriculture has been particularly hard hit. Cheap food comes at a high price to the farming industry and now more than ever, farmers require the right kind of support [...]
Letters: London must wash itself clean April 28, 2022 [Re: Eversheds Sutherland strikes deal with Russian ‘relationship firm’ – made up of ex-employees, yesterday] London is the world’s pre-eminent city for business, but Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine has forced British firms to consider their dealings with Kremlin-linked individuals, companies, and organisations. London’s label as a laundromat for questionable funds – Russian and otherwise [...]
Explainer-in-brief: a social tariff to keep the heating on April 20, 2022 Energy bosses yesterday called for a social tariff to try and ease pressures on those hit hardest by the spike in energy prices. Such a plan would require the government to implement legislation for a tariff below the Ofgem price cap – which is subject to variability in energy prices. It would require each provider [...]
Letters: New rules for a new age? April 13, 2022 [Re: Police training documents suggest the force are unequipped to investigate Big Tech, 11 April] Matthew Lesh’s comment that the Online Safety Bill is “draconian”, and the government’s focus on it means it is “failing to educate and resource the police to tackle real crime”, fails to acknowledge the crux of the bill and what [...]
