Post-Christmas shopping to rise as bargain-hunters ’emerge’ – analyst December 28, 2024 Post-Christmas shopping is expected to pick up on Friday after data showed there were fewer consumers hitting the high streets for Boxing Day bargains. By midday on Friday, footfall at shops across the country was eight per cent higher than the same day last year, according to retail analysts MRI Software. It follows refreshed figures [...]
Badenoch urged to apologise or face ‘action’ from Farage over Reform row December 28, 2024 Nigel Farage has urged Kemi Badenoch to apologise or face “action” after she accused Reform UK of “fakery” over its membership numbers. The Reform UK leader will spend the weekend weighing up what action to take if the Conservative leader ignores his calls for an apology over the “crazy conspiracy theory”. Farage pushed back against [...]
Disruptive fog to stick around into weekend, forecasters say December 28, 2024 Fog which has caused disruption to flights at some of the UK’s busiest airports will persist into the weekend, forecasters have said. The murky weather has shrouded much of the country over the past few days and shows little sign of abating yet. In some areas, thick fog patches could reduce visibility down to just [...]
Ref Coote won’t appeal contract termination December 24, 2024 David Coote will not appeal against the termination of his contract by referees’ body PGMOL, PA reports. Coote was sacked earlier this month after the emergence of a video in which he made derogatory remarks about Liverpool and their former manager Jurgen Klopp. Professional Game Match Officials Limited (PGMOL) said that a thorough investigation had [...]
Mayor Khan: London will be capital for women’s sport in 2025 December 23, 2024 London will be the “undisputed global capital for women’s sport” next year, the city’s Mayor Sadiq Khan has said. The Women’s Rugby World Cup final at Twickenham on September 27 will round off an exciting series of events in the city. England go into that tournament hoping to topple world champions New Zealand, and will [...]
Shop staff ‘facing Christmas crime wave’ with more shoplifting cases unsolved December 23, 2024 Shop staff are facing a “Christmas crime wave”, an MP has warned as new figures revealed an average of more than 650 shoplifting offences a day went unsolved in the past year. In the year to March 2024, 245,500 investigations were closed without a suspect being identified – an average of 672 a day – [...]
Bank of England governor to visit China with Chancellor December 21, 2024 Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey will accompany Chancellor Rachel Reeves to China next month, Sky News said on Saturday, a visit intended to revive high-level economic and financial talks that have been frozen since 2019. Sky News said Bailey was expected to hold talks with Pan Gongsheng, the governor of the People’s Bank of [...]
FTSE 100 logs worst week in more than a year December 21, 2024 The FTSE 100 touched a more than one-month low on Friday and logged its sharpest drop since October 2023 for a week filled with a raft of central bank policy decisions. The FTSE 100 dropped 0.3 per cent, hitting its lowest since 13 November, though the mid-cap FTSE 250 was up 0.3 per cent, after [...]
Nigel Farage ‘hasn’t got a clue’ how to fix the economy, says Rachel Reeves December 21, 2024 Nigel Farage “hasn’t got a clue” how to grow the economy or make people’s lives better, Rachel Reeves has claimed. The Chancellor also urged the public to be patient with her plans to turn around the economy in an interview with the Guardian. As the public’s view of Labour falters, and Reform makes gains in [...]
US Senate passes government funding bill to avoid shutdown December 21, 2024 The US Senate has rushed through the final passage of a bipartisan plan that would temporarily fund federal operations and disaster aid. Facing a government shutdown deadline, the restructured bill dropped President-elect Donald Trump’s demands for a debt limit increase into the new year. House Speaker Mike Johnson had insisted Congress would “meet our obligations” [...]
