Millions of commuters may be hit as national rail strike looms over job cuts and living costs January 4, 2022 A national rail strike looms this week as one of the leading rail workers’ unions is warning it may urge its members to pause work over job cuts. The Transport Salaried Staffs Association (TSSA) said rail workers faced losing their jobs this year just as the cost of living crisis spirals. The union is calling [...]
Higher roaming bills for millions of Brits from this week as Brexit allows EE and Vodafone to slap steep new fees on trips to Europe January 4, 2022 Two of the UK’s four biggest networks – EE and Vodafone – are reintroducing roaming charges for customers travelling to Europe from this month, with Three also set to reintroduce them in May 2022. Since Saturday, customers who joined or upgraded with EE after July 7 2021 will face a £2 daily charge for using [...]
Priti Patel’s new year resolutions: Home Secretary promises ‘relentless’ crackdown on eco-protesters, immigrants and asylum claims January 4, 2022 Home Secretary Priti Patel has promised to be ‘relentless’ this year as she intends to “crack down” on eco-protesters and end the “legal merry-go-round” of “spurious” asylum seeker claims in 2022. In a new year message posted on social media, Priti Patel said she was proud of many things the Government had achieved in 2021, [...]
South Africa offers the world a way out of Covid as Omicron is in full retreat: New infections down and death rate dropping January 3, 2022 As Covid infection rates are dropping rapidly and tens of thousands of South Africans recovering from Omicron without having to go to hospital, it seems the country is heading for a healthy start of the year. In fact, Covid experts are all saying the same: the Omicron wave has passed and other countries can expect [...]
SME crisis: Late payment of invoices and spiralling costs threaten survival of more than 400,000 small businesses January 3, 2022 Paying invoices too late is threating the survival of hundreds of thousands of small firms, a businesses group warned this morning. The Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) fears that late payments, high inflation and mounting administration for firms that trade internationally could see numbers shrink if something is not done about these issues. Of the [...]
4,000 people held on cruise ship outside Lisbon after Covid outbreak despite none of the passengers testing positive January 3, 2022 More than 4,000 people are being held aboard a cruise ship in the Portuguese capital Lisbon after a Covid-19 outbreak infected crew members, according to multiple media reports in the Spain and Portugal. Portuguese media reported that 52 members of the crew of more than 1,000 workers tested positive. However, none of the nearly 3,000 [...]
100 Tory seats at risk: Voters abandon Boris Johnson en masse as Keir Starmer makes Red Wall comeback and leads nationwide January 2, 2022 A majority of Brits doubt Boris Johnson will be Prime Minister this time next year, as Keir Starmer has won voters’ hearts back in the Red Wall, according to a new poll. The Deltapoll survey of the 57 constituencies the Tories gained in the 2019 General Election, most of which could be considered part of [...]
The Royal Family in 2022: Queen’s extravagant Platinum Jubilee, Prince Andrew’s lawsuit and Harry’s tell-all memoirs January 2, 2022 The Queen is set to become the first-ever British monarch to celebrate 70 years on the throne in 2022, as she will reach her historic Platinum Jubilee this year. The national Jubilee festivities are taking place in June over a four-day holiday weekend. But the Queen is actually set to pass the milestone on February [...]
First-time buyers to borrow more and for longer this year as wage growth will fail to keep pace January 1, 2022 First-time buyers face the biggest financial hurdle to homeownership causing them to borrow more in 2022. However, it is existing homebuyers that are now more stretched when it comes to their earnings and the amount they are required to borrow. Analysing 2021 data from the Office for National Statistics, shared with City A.M. by estate [...]
Half of all UK small businesses to raise prices this year while a third plan redundancies now furlough has ended January 1, 2022 Half of small and medium-sized enterprises in the UK plan to raise their prices this year, with supply chain disruption being the key driver. Moreover, one in three owner-managed businesses plan to make redundancies now the safety net of furlough has been removed, according to new research shared with City A.M. this morning. Those businesses [...]