To seed a food secure future for our nation we need technology on our side June 8, 2022 An oven-ready roast chicken in your local supermarket will probably cost you more than it did last month. As will eggs, pasta and bread. And they’re likely to cost you even more next month, as world food prices hit an all-time high. The crisis in Ukraine has had a domino effect, but food prices have [...]
A windfall tax raised by a money-hungry government will scare off our businesses June 8, 2022 Rishi Sunak’s windfall tax on energy firms – what he called a “temporary targeted profits levy” – has gone down well with voters. The tax makes it look like money is raised from someone else and given to them through subsidies to their bills. Despite claims that the tax will yield an additional £5bn in [...]
Small businesses should ask what’s in a name and protect their intellectual property June 8, 2022 If David were to take on Goliath today, it would likely be an altogether different type of confrontation. An army of lawyers fiercely arguing over whether David’s slingshot was a proprietary design and an eventual out-of-court settlement from which Goliath would ultimately walk away unscathed. Large corporations flexing their legal muscle to defend their market [...]
‘Misleading’: Watchdog bans Tesco Plant Chef ads after lacking environmental evidence June 8, 2022 Adverts for Tesco’s plant-based burgers ‘Plant Chefs’ have been banned for its “misleading” claims about its environmental impact compared to meat. In October and November 2021, Tesco ran ads which featured a woman about to eat while hearing the words on TV about the benefits of the Tesco Plant Chef burger. “The planet is continuing [...]
Letters: Making an entrance June 8, 2022 [Re: Apple launches buy-now-pay later offering, yesterday] The fact that Apple has officially entered the buy-now pay-later space brings an appetite for ecommerce to the forefront. From a surge in online shopping to an increase in edtech, owing to physical restrictions, the pandemic has accelerated the already burgeoning space of e-commerce. As a result, the [...]
Slow revenue climb for Aveva as the IT firm grapples with higher costs June 8, 2022 Losses widen for Aveva Group as the pandemic demand continues to subside for the software firm.
Female founders face greater risk of equity dilution than men June 8, 2022 Female founders are significantly more vulnerable to the dilutive effects of equity funding than their male counterparts, according to new research from JP Morgan, which shows women, on average, give away much larger stakes in their businesses than men. The UK’s 10,647 female led businesses raised a record £5.05bn in equity investment in 2021, whilst [...]
MPs accuse government of wasting billions on levelling up agenda June 8, 2022 The government has wasted billions of pounds through poor allocation of its Levelling Up Fund, according to a Westminster committee of MPs. A new report from the Public Affairs Committee (PAC) said the way money had been spent for the government’s flagship policy to improve the North and Midlands had been “unsatisfactory”. The government set up [...]
MPs call for lower taxes as UK marks latest annual Tax Freedom Day since the early-1980s June 7, 2022 MPs have called on the UK government to cut the burden on UK taxpayers after new figures showed working people spent a higher proportion of their incomes on taxes than at any other point since the early-1980s. The calls come after the Adam Smith Institute (ASI) published new figures, for Tax Freedom Day, showing UK [...]
World Bank slashes global growth forecast after warning the world is teetering on the edge of ‘stagflation’ June 7, 2022 THE WORLD Bank yesterday slashed its forecast for global growth this year by more than 1 per cent due to increasing inflation and the economic after-effects of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The body had anticipated global growth of 4.1 per cent at its last update in January, but cut that in an announcement yesterday to [...]