In pictures: Here’s what Amazon’s massive new London office will look like September 11, 2014 Tech giant Amazon announced this morning it has signed a deal to open a huge office just around the corner from Silicon Roundabout. The new office will provide space for more than 5,000 employees, it said. Amazon's new home will be Principal Place, a massive development between Liverpool Street and Shoreditch High Street stations, which [...]
Robocop already exists (although it looks more like a Dalek) September 11, 2014 There has been a lot of talk lately about the likelihood of people's jobs being stolen by robots – at the beginning of this month, a report by Microsoft showed bankers' and analysts' jobs could be under threat. And while we all know robot police have been on sci-fi writers' radars for years, it turns out [...]
Ana Botín named new chairman of Banco Santander September 10, 2014 Ana Botín has been appointed to lead Banco Santander after her father, Emilio Botín, died of a heart attack last night. The move makes her arguably Europe's most powerful female banker. Following a meeting of its appointments and remuneration committee the bank announced this afternoon that Ana, who is currently chief executive of its UK [...]
Oil, childcare and mortgages: Last hurrah for Scottish independence campaigns as leaders go head to head on Mumsnet September 10, 2014 The two faces of the Scottish independence campaigns got their final chance to go head-to-head today – on women's networking site Mumsnet. While Alex Salmond and Alistair Darling kept references to "Darling Son" and "Darling Daughter" to a minimum, they did broach topics including the impact separation would have on mortgages and childcare. There was [...]
Shock as Britain’s Lord Hill gets senior EU financial services job September 10, 2014 New EU president Jean-Claude Juncker has appointed relative unknown Lord Hill of Oareford to oversee Europe's financial services sector – one of the most prized jobs on the European Commission. The announcement came as rather a surprise – the UK government had expected Hill to be given a relatively junior economic role. It [...]
Is this the UK housing market’s new “normal”? Barratt share price up as revenues rise 21pc September 10, 2014 The UK housing market has returned to "normal seasonal trends" in 2014 after the frenzy created by the launch of Help to Buy last year, Barratt Developments said this morning while posting a 21.1 per cent rise in annual revenues. Revenues at the housebuilder rose to £3.1bn for the year to the end of June, up [...]
Santander share price falls as it announces chairman Emilio Botín has died September 10, 2014 Emilio Botín, executive chairman of Banco Santander, has died of a heart attack the company has announced. Shares in Spain's largest lender fell more than 2 per cent in early trading as the bank said its remuneration would meet later today to start the hunt for a new chairman. Botín, known to employees as 'El Presidente', [...]
London property: 12ft wide house that hasn’t even been built yet goes on sale for £500,000 September 9, 2014 After last week's 7ft house (a snip at £235,000) comes a new competitor for the title of "most number of rooms squeezed into smallest amount of space" – this 12ft wide house in South London. It isn't due for completion until the beginning of next year, but that hasn't stopped its developers from putting it up [...]
Why Richard Branson isn’t afraid to fail: Four Virgin businesses that didn’t work out September 9, 2014 It was only a year ago that Richard Branson was prancing around in a red kilt at the launch of Little Red, his domestic airline for the UK, which was designed to provide competition after British Airways owner International Airline Group acquired BMI. Since its launch, though, Little Red has been dogged by rumours [...]
Is this the end of Little Printer? Berg announces it’s “wrapping up” September 9, 2014 Little Printer is one of those most products your most design-obsessed friends own: launched in 2012, it sits on their desks spitting out a miniature daily "newspaper" of tweets, headlines, puzzles, analytics – and whatever else they want it to. A bit like those old stock tickers, but with a cute face. At £150, though, its [...]