West Ham install ‘Covid tunnels’ at training ground – could fans be next? October 7, 2020 Premier League club West Ham United have installed sanitisation tunnels at their academy training ground to protect staff and players. The tunnel operates initially as a temperature scanner before misting individuals with a controlled, odourless, water-based solution to disable bacteria and viruses. Taking just three to five seconds in total, the technology could in theory [...]
Banking industry group UK Finance names David Postings as new boss October 7, 2020 UK Finance, the banking lobby group, has appointed David Postings as its new chief executive to help steer the industry through the Covid-19 crisis. Postings, who recently stepped down as global chief executive of Bibby Financial Services, will take up the role at the start of next year, UK Finance said. He had previously held [...]
Consumer survey sees Netflix on top of Covid-19 satisfaction rankings – with Ryanair grounded October 7, 2020 A consumer ranking of how businesses performed for their customers during the Covid-19 pandemic has seen Netflix and Amazon take first and second spot. At the other end of the scale, power companies were seen to be thoroughly underperforming – with more of the bottom five responsible for gas and electricity. Read more: The businesses [...]
Citigroup fires employee who ran QAnon conspiracy website October 7, 2020 Citigroup has sacked an employee in its technology department after it emerged he ran a popular website dedicated to the QAnon conspiracy theory. Jason Gelinas, who worked as an information technology specialist, was identified by fact checking website Logically.ai as the operator of the website QMap.pub. He was initially placed on leave from the investment [...]
Fall in German factory output a temporary setback, economists say October 7, 2020 German factory output unexpectedly fell in August, raising alarm bells about the health of Europe’s biggest economy. But economists have backed the sector to resume its mixed recovery in September. Industrial output fell 0.2 per cent in August after rising 1.4 per cent in July, the Federal Statistics Office said today. The August figure was [...]
Banking sector warns against irresponsible lending after PM’s low deposit mortgage pledge October 7, 2020 The banking sector has cautioned against irresponsible lending after the Prime Minister announced plans to help millions of potential buyers onto the housing ladder by allowing low deposit mortgages. Boris Johnson yesterday said he wants to turn “generation rent” into “generation buy” by allowing people to purchase homes with a five per cent deposit. The [...]
Be brave Mr Sunak… and keep spending October 7, 2020 Since Rishi Sunak stepped into the suddenly vacant 11 Downing Street back in February, he’s proved a fleet-footed chancellor, earning praise for the speed at which he launched the furlough programme, provided cash support to struggling companies, and stood behind the economy as the pandemic took hold. He quickly realised that extraordinary times required extraordinary [...]
Mike Ashley’s Frasers Group urges investors to back employee bonus scheme October 7, 2020 Mike Ashley’s Frasers Group has urged shareholders to back an employee bonus scheme, which would require the retailer’s share price to triple before workers receive a payout. Ahead of this morning’s annual general meeting, the firm, which has come under fire recently over reports that staff were asked to work while on furlough, called on [...]
Heathrow Airport begins third runway Supreme Court appeal October 7, 2020 Heathrow Airport will today begin a Supreme Court appeal over the decision to block the building of a third runway on the grounds that it did not take into account the UK’s climate pledges. Back in February, the Court of Appeal ruled that the government had failed to take the 2015 Paris climate agreement into [...]
Tesco sees profit drop despite surge in lockdown sales October 7, 2020 Tesco’s operating profit fell 15.6 per cent in the first six months of the year in new chief executive Ken Murphy’s debut set of results. Profit at the supermarket dropped from £1.23bn to £1.04bn, with a jump in sales due to the coronavirus pandemic weighed down by a hefty loss at Tesco Bank. On a [...]