Bloomsbury says increased reading here to stay as Harry Potter publisher eyes £240m yearly sales July 20, 2022 London publishing house Bloomsbury has said it is confident a new cohort of book lovers are here to stay, posting elevated growth for the year so far. The Covid-19 pandemic inspired many consumers to pick up paperbacks, with lockdown giving rise to TikTok reading trends. According to the Harry Potter publisher, increased reading is “here [...]
Underground back to normal after days of heatwave-induced delays July 20, 2022 London Underground returned to normal as temperatures in the capital dropped more than 10 degrees overnight. All lines were fully operational on Wednesday morning, with the Jubilee the only one to be experiencing major delays due to signal failures. Overnight, temperatures plummeted from the mid-30s to the mid-20s, as warnings about flash floods in the [...]
Consumers turn to instant noodles in cost of living crunch, says Premier Foods boss July 20, 2022 Shoppers are increasingly turning to budget meals amid the cost of living crisis in the UK, the boss of consumer goods giant Premier Foods said today. The popularity of its instant ramen brands Nissin and Batchelors, which own Cup Noodle and Super Noodles respectively, in the second quarter of this year have jumped, as household [...]
Tax and spend? We can’t save public services without a unified tech policy July 20, 2022 There are numerous ways in which to judge a potential leadership candidate. Their sheer electoral appeal, their reputation within the party, their communication style and authenticity, their experience, or their policy agendas. Or often all of the above. In regards to the latter, the candidates are unsurprisingly fixated on the same old conventional arguments about [...]
It’s hot, sure but we don’t need the health bureaucrats to tell us to open the windows July 20, 2022 Phew, What A Scorcha! No, not a tabloid headline from this week, but from 1976. As many have pointed out already, in that distant summer Britain experienced a prolonged heatwave. The temperature was over 30 degrees for several weeks, without respite. We survived without the hysteria of the Met Office or the pronouncements of the [...]
British music exports hit record high as big hitters dominate charts July 20, 2022 The value of British music exported overseas has hit a new annual high, up 13.7 per cent to £590.8m in 2021.
FTSE finance chiefs brace for recession July 20, 2022 Britain’s top finance chiefs are bracing for a recession driven by inflation crimping consumers and thinning businesses’ margins, a new survey published today reveals. Chief financial officers (CFO) at the UK’s largest listed companies think there is a 63 per cent chance of the economy swinging into reverse over the next 12 months, according to [...]
It would be madness to arm the unions with acquiescence July 20, 2022 THE continuing rail disputes are understandable given that two years of on-off lockdown have disrupted normal pay settlement processes. But the railways have been massively subsidised by the taxpayer over this period, and cannot expect such largesse to continue. Revenue is down to less than 80 per cent of pre-Covid levels, and patterns of use [...]
Average UK household owns £1.2m less than richest July 20, 2022 The wealth of the richest UK households is on average £1.2m higher than typical Brits, a new report released today shows. Wealth inequality has hovered around the same level since the mid-1980s, albeit from an already elevated footing, with the richest consistently owning around half of the UK’s stock of assets, according to the Resolution [...]
Letters: Who gets a vote, anyway? July 20, 2022 [Re: The dizzying tax promises of the Tory campaigns aren’t enough for the City, July 18] The dizzying tax promises as Eliot Wilson calls them are geared towards the Conservative members who are a unique group of people who should not be given a mandate to pick our next Prime Minister. Who gave them the [...]
