Happier than the Italians but not as cheery as the Danes: How satisfied with life are we? June 18, 2014 Britons are happier than the Italians, but still some way off the Nordic countries in how satisfied they are with life. According to a national wellbeing comparison of EU countries published by the Office of National Statistics (ONS) today, 72 per cent of adults aged 16 and over in the UK rated their satisfaction with [...]
Premier League fixtures 2014-2015: How does your team do in the first game? June 18, 2014 Champions Manchester City will kick off the defence of their Premier League crown with a trip to Newcastle, while newly promoted Burnley host Chelsea in their first game back in the big time. Louis Van Gaal's opening match in charge of Manchester United sees him come up against Swansea at home, while Arsenal welcome Crystal [...]
What is 5G? What you need to know about the new mobile technology June 17, 2014 According to the EU's digital technology chief, Neelie Kroes, it will be the "lifeblood of the digital economy and digital society". But what do we know about 5G, the fifth generation of mobile connectivity? In truth, not much – yet. While the UK tries to grapple with 4G, 5G has been [...]
UK has highest rate of property tax in the EU June 17, 2014 The UK has the highest level of tax on immovable property as a share of country GDP in the European Union, latest figures reveal. According to Eurostat's annual analysis of the Union's taxation trends, property tax in the UK amounted to 4.1 per cent of GDP in 2012, the most recent year the data is [...]
Lavazza has built a coffee machine to send an espresso into space June 16, 2014 As capsule-based espresso machines have taken over the world, one Italian coffee company plans to take its coffee to space. Italian coffee manufacturer Lavazza has announced it is working with the Italian Space Agency (ISA) and engineering firm Argotect to take the authentic Italian espresso into orbit. Following numerous complaints by Italian astronauts [...]
London lowest in the UK for sick days June 16, 2014 London and the south east have the lowest sickness rates in the UK, with 3.5 days per person lost annually according to the latest edition of the Sickness Absence Survey. Overall levels of absence across the UK are at a record low of 2.1 per cent, equivalent to 4.9 days, with London and the [...]
World Cup penalties: Less luck, more psychology June 11, 2014 The lottery of the penalty shoot-out. It’s unlikely that you will go the next month without hearing that phrase, but to what extent is this oft-repeated football cliche actually true? Is luck really a factor? Taking a look at the data, luck only really comes into it in during the coin toss to decide who [...]
It’s not just Nintendo’s share price that’s crumbling June 10, 2014 The news that Sony has overtaken Nintendo in terms of total number of console games for the first time in eight years has struck another blow to the House of Mario. While these figures reported by Japan's Nikkei business news site are no cause for celebration at Sony either – they are only ahead [...]
London hotel prices are high – but there are seven cities in the world where they are even higher June 10, 2014 Getting a cheap hotel in London is not easy – but it's even harder in Geneva, Dubai, Hong Kong or even Edinburgh. All these cities rank above London for average hotel room price according to Bloomberg’s World Cities Hotel Index. London is in eighth place overall, with the average daily cost of a double [...]
Rafael Nadal’s French Open win: How does the King of Clay rate among the greats? June 9, 2014 It may have come a few days after one Spanish monarch announced his abdication, but Rafael Nadal was in no mood to relinquish his crown as the King of Clay yesterday. The world number one came back from a set down to beat Novak Djokovic in four sets to claim his fifth consecutive French Open [...]