The European Union wants to give robots “electronic persons” status June 22, 2016 Say what you like about the European Union, but its timing is impeccable. The EU – yes, the organisation currently on trial by the population of its third-largest member – has just issued a draft report on robotics. Spoiler: it's nuts. The report, designed to provide recommendations to the EU's Commission on Civil Law Rules on Robotics, [...]
City A.M. Unregulated podcast: Failing well – or how we learned to stop worrying and love failure June 22, 2016 This week we're talking about when it all goes wrong: how to embrace failure, or at least learn from your mistakes. Emma and Zak are joined by Black Box Thinking author Matthew Syed and Luciana Lixandru from Accel to learn about failing gracefully – and what James Dyson and David Beckham have in common. You [...]
Peter Thiel’s Valar Ventures invests $11m in London startup Lystable June 22, 2016 Peter Thiel's Valar Ventures has ploughed more cash into a startup founded in London which boasts Google among its clients. Lystable has landed $11m (£7.5m) from Thiel's fund, Goldcrest Capital and Spring Partners to fund its expansion in the US. The year-old startup provides software for companies to easily manage their contract and freelance workers, [...]
Sir James Dyson on EU referendum: “To remain would be an act of self-harm” – as Tate & Lyle boss Gerald Mason backs Leave June 22, 2016 Hours before the polls open, Sir James Dyson has renewed his support for a Brexit, saying remaining in the EU would be an "act of self-harm". In a column for The Times, Dyson – who has already been a vocal supporter of the Leave camp – said tomorrow's vote was "about control of our future". "As the [...]
Cash is still king: Why hard cash continues to be a vital asset class for investors June 21, 2016 To many, cash represents an opportunity cost, an opportunity lost. These investors believe cash is a temporary holding medium between risk-assets, held unwillingly, often for a lack of better ideas. That is a limiting, myopic view. Cash is a core asset class, not a blank canvas from which to create an investment. Sometimes – even [...]
Do you work for one of the UK’s 25 most attractive employers? June 21, 2016 It's causing fevered debate in offices. Politicians are clashing over it. The cats of social media are up in arms about it. Yep, LinkedIn's list of the UK's top 25 most sought-after employers is out – and the good news is that City institutions are faring pretty well. The list, based on analysis of the site's 20m members, [...]
Whether you see this colour as blue or green depends on how your brain processes information June 21, 2016 It's a quandary which has left philosophers scratching their heads for centuries: do we perceive colours in the same way, or is one man's yellow really another's green? Last year's #thedress phenomenon, which divided the world as they tried to figure out whether a dress in a photograph was blue and black or white and [...]
#CatsAgainstBrexit: It’s happening, and they’re fur-ious June 21, 2016 By now, pretty much everyone, David Beckham included, has made their views known on Brexit. Except, that is, the animal world (well, except sheep). Did you really expect our four-legged friends to stay silent on such an important issue? No, obviously not. Now the cats of Twitter are giving us all paws for thought by making their voices known [...]
Ultimate hangover cure? Struggling Stock Spirits just announced a special dividend June 21, 2016 Stock Spirits, the struggling vodka maker whose shareholders have demanded a massive shake-up of the board, today unveiled a special dividend to calm investors' nerves. In a statement this morning it said it will award shareholders a special dividend of 10p per share, as part of plans already announced. "The board [has previously] stated that its [...]
Say what? EU referendum week gets off to a stonking start as sterling and FTSE close higher – pushed up by banking and housebuilding shares June 20, 2016 Investors may have been bracing themselves for a disastrous pre-referendum week – but things got off to a pretty good start today, with sterling hitting its highest since May, and banking shares bouncing back after a less-than-impressive performance last week. The FTSE 100 closed three per cent per cent higher – soaring above 6,000 points to hit 6,204. Meanwhile, the pound [...]
