It’s a hat trick: ScottishPower to cut gas bills by 4.8 per cent January 20, 2015 ScottishPower has become the third energy company to announce price cuts, saying it will reduce its standard domestic gas prices by 4.8 per cent, saving households an average of £33 a year. It also said it will launch a new fixed-price tariff with an average dual fuel bill value of £930, which it reckons is [...]
11 times The Sun’s Page Three girls showed how deeply they cared about the UK economy January 20, 2015 The end of an era, or good riddance? However you feel about Page Three, there's no arguing with the fact it's a British institution. But today came the news that after 45 years, The Sun has apparently decided to put an end to its traditional topless model slot. The news was revealed by sister title The [...]
These are the coolest offices in the UK, according to Adzuna January 19, 2015 It's the stuff of dreams for those of us who spend our days toiling in grey offices, badly-lit offices. While we're trying to find a modicum of joy during a break-time chat around the water cooler, this lot are sliding and table-tennising their way to creative nirvana. Yep, it's "cool office" time: job search engine [...]
HP vs Autonomy: “Insufficient evidence” to convict, says Serious Fraud Office January 19, 2015 More news on the epic battle between Hewlett-Packard (HP) and UK-based software company Autonomy. The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) said today it has closed its investigation into the British company, despite accusations from HP that it had committed accounting fraud. Autonomy, then a darling of the UK's technology startup community, was sold to HP for [...]
Centrica gives in as British Gas cuts bills by five per cent January 19, 2015 British Gas owner Centrica has become the latest energy company to cut its bills, slashing household gas prices by five per cent. In a statement today, the company said the cut will reduce average household energy bills by £37, benefitting 6.8 million customers. The price cut, which will take place from 27 February, "reflects the [...]
China GDP growth falls to its lowest since 1990 January 19, 2015 After years of double-figure growth, China's GDP growth fell to its slowest in 24 years in 2014, according to figures published overnight. Growth in the country fell to 7.4 per cent last year, its slowest pace since 1990, down from two consecutive years of 7.7 per cent growth. While it was the first time it's [...]
Sweet dreams are made of this: The lying-down desk has landed January 19, 2015 For those of us who've been forced to spend hours listening to fitness-obsessed colleagues extol the virtues of the standing-up desk, here comes the ultimate antidote: the lying-down desk. That's right – while the former caught the public imagination in 2014, this year the working environment is set to be angled towards the less actively-inclined, [...]
Lloyds buys Birmingham’s NEC for £307m January 16, 2015 Brummie institution the National Exhibition Centre (NEC) has been sold along with its parent company to LDC, the investment arm of Lloyds Banking Group, in a deal valuing it at £307m. As well as a 125-year lease on the NEC itself, the deal also includes the Genting (formerly known as the LG) Arena and 25-year [...]
In a supermarket version of The Apprentice, Alan Sugar would have a whale of a time January 16, 2015 Imagine an Apprentice supermarket special – Alan Sugar, flanked by his experts, reviewing the practices of the big supermarkets each week. “[Morrisons' soon-to-depart chief exec] Dalton Phillips, you took far too long to introduce smaller convenience stores, ecommerce and a delivery service. The other supermarkets have had these things for years. Honestly, man. What [...]
Goldman Sachs revenues down 12 per cent January 16, 2015 Goldman Sachs shares fell 1.8 per cent in pre-market trading after it posted figures showing revenues had fallen 12 per cent to $7.96bn (£5.23bn) in the three months to the end of December, as revenues in its fixed income business dropped 29 per cent to $1.2bn. The investment bank said profits fell to $2.17bn or [...]
