Beazley delivers best combined ratio since 2015 despite profit decrease July 22, 2022 Beazley has delivered its best half-year combined ratio since 2015 despite a decrease in profit. In the six months ended 30 June, the insurance firm posted a profit before tax of £18.6m ($22.3m) – down 87 per cent on last year – while its returns on annualised equity went down by 14 per cent. Gross [...]
Our public services are losing money to haphazard ‘social value’ procurement July 22, 2022 Public procurement is a third of all government spending, a tenth of the entire economy, yet it is a topic that attracts almost no media attention. Discussions of procurement are rare and typically only get attention when something goes wrong, like the controversy around PPE contracts during the pandemic. Think of it this way, for [...]
Green levies are a form of defence spending to ease Russia’s hold on our energy market July 22, 2022 SINCE Boris Johnson announced he would resign, the Conservative party split itself into different camps for their leader. Now we have the final two: Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss. After an ideologically-light leader, the party has tried to reshape itself over its policy on tax cuts and the cost of living. On the one hand, [...]
Truss or Sunak will need to deliver ‘shot in the arm’ of UK economy July 22, 2022 Rishi Sunak or Liz Truss will need to deliver a “shot in the economic arm” of the country to lift Brits’ confidence out of the doldrums after one of them wins the Conservative leadership race, two closely watched surveys published today reveal. Scorching inflation, the highest interest rates in 13 years and tax hikes have [...]
Hawkish policy on investments in British tech to only tighten, says Alphawave boss July 22, 2022 The government’s hawkish policy on foreign investments in British technology is only going to tighten, the boss of chip maker Alphawave has told City A.M. Computer chip manufacturers have fallen under increasing scrutiny in recent months. The potential takeover of Newport Wafer Fab by Nexperia, which is owned by a Chinese state-backed company, has raised eyebrows in [...]
A post-industrial Britain has stark lessons for net zero July 22, 2022 LAST week our cities were hotter than they have ever been, and many people suffered. On average they were 3-4 degrees hotter than the surrounding countryside. Had more people commuted into workplaces, it would have been worse. But why are London and cities across the UK so hot? There are three connected explanations. First, they [...]
Letters: Food threats are heating up July 22, 2022 [Re: Innovation can save our food system from climate threats, 21 July] Extreme heat, droughts and floods were all mentioned in an IPCC report earlier this year as threats to food production. This week’s heatwave is yet another reminder. With the challenges posed by climate change only intensifying, we face a very real issue of [...]
HSBC sets up Communist Party cadre in China business July 21, 2022 Britain’s biggest lender and Asia-focused HSBC has set up a Chinese Communist Party (CCP) cadre in its China investment bank. The bank has become the first outside China to install a CCP committee, according to reports today in the Financial Times. Chinese law enforces domestic finance firms to have party officials in positions of authority. The [...]
BT Sport and Sky Sports consult on freelancer day rates as watchdog continues probe on ‘cartel’ July 21, 2022 BT Sport and Sky are said to have consulted on day rates for freelancers just as the UK competition watchdog continues its investigation into potential collusion in sports broadcasting.
Blockchain.com lays off a quarter of staff as fallout from crypto crash worsens July 21, 2022 Blockchain.com cut 25 per cent of its workforce, about 150 people, as the impact of the “crypto winter” and the Three Arrows Capital collapse worsens. The crypto exchange blamed the sharp crash in the crypto market and high financial losses for the decision, according to CoinDesk. Blockchain.com will lose $270m from a loan to bankrupt [...]
