ICAS publishes public finances accountability guide May 13, 2022 ICAS has published a new guide to help you understand how the UK and Scottish governments are held to account for their decisions on public finances, where the money comes from, how it is spent and prioritised and the results of audits of public accounts. There is currently no consolidated source available to explain the [...]
Windfall tax would be sticking-plaster policy for a short-sighted government May 13, 2022 Nothing is certain but death and taxes, goes Benjamin Franklin’s famous quip. As war grinds on in Ukraine, we have no shortage of the former. The question occupying the Treasury today is whether one should lead to the other. Should the energy giants’ huge recent profits – a direct result of the war in Ukraine [...]
Credit inclusivity must go beyond buy now pay later to cater for those in need of access May 13, 2022 Credit has a huge inclusivity problem in the UK. It’s encouraging to see buy-now-pay-later (BNPL) firms make moves to share their data with credit referencing agencies (CRAs) ahead of regulatory deadlines. However, there’s much more to be done to help millennials improve their credit, and a real risk in advising consumers to increase BNPL usage [...]
We have lift off: UK and US pen landmark partnership to drive space growth May 13, 2022 Future spaceflight is set to be made easier and cheaper, following a landmark partnership with the US to help cut red tape and boost opportunities in the UK, signed by the Transport Secretary this week in Washington.
Big data: what is it and who is using it? May 13, 2022 As the capabilities of analytics technology become ever more sophisticated, how are organisations mining and using this information and what are they doing with it? The value of information has been described as on par with and, depending on the information and how it is used, exceeding that of precious metals and fossil fuels. Although [...]
Musk has a delicate balance to strike between the perils and protections of anonymity May 13, 2022 Elon Musk’s acquisition of Twitter has had the world speculating over the direction of the social media giant – which is used by over 200 million people every day. The billionaire was in the spotlight again this week, as he claimed that the removal of Donald Trump from Twitter was “foolish in the extreme”, sparking [...]
OakNorth boss Rishi Khosla is braced for the next economic crisis May 13, 2022 Rishi Khosla has become rather used to dealing with economic crises over the past seven years.
Activist investor prepares to take on Shell over climate targets May 12, 2022 Shell is preparing for a shareholder showdown at its upcoming AGM, as activists push for more stringent environmental targets.
Crypto crash: Gains wiped out as host of coins collapse May 12, 2022 The prices of Bitcoin, Ethereum and other cryptocurrencies plummeted to 16-month lows yesterday in a major crash that wiped out the gains made during the past year’s bull market. The past week has seen the price of Bitcoin drop by more than a fifth and the price of Ethereum drop by more than a quarter, [...]
Disney dodges subscriber slump but needs to keep fairytale alive May 12, 2022 Appearing to buck streaming giants' downward trend in the last few weeks, Disney+ announced that it had picked up 7.9 million new subscribers in the last quarter, taking its total user base to 44.4 million.
