RAPID RESPONSES July 4, 2012 Systemic failure [Re: Crisis threatens UK’s entire politico-financial establishment, yesterday] This crisis is not essentially about greed or malfeasance by commercial banks, but about the toxic environment created by decades of misconceived policies by governments, and enablors and abettors in central banks. The Barclays’ affair is potentially explosive, so let’s hope the media start asking [...]
YouView…. Well, you might. July 4, 2012 Digital TV service YouView was finally unveiled by Lord Alan Sugar yesterday, albeit long after its slated 2010 release date. The joint venture between the BBC, ITV, BT, Channel 4, Channel 5, Arqiva and TalkTalk offers a host of catch-up, on demand and streaming services and it promises more partners are ready to join. But [...]
YOUVIEW’S RIVALS July 4, 2012 Freeview Freeview might be a slightly spurious inclusion, but YouView has to convince people they need to shell out a pretty big sum to upgrade their current set-top box. Lots will stick with what they already have. Google TV Google TV has been something of a disaster in its native US, with the major networks [...]
Entwhistle named as new BBC director general July 4, 2012 The BBC named George Entwistle, currently director of vision, as its new director general on Wednesday. Entwistle will take up his new role in August from outgoing director general Mark Thompson but at a lower salary – 450,000 pounds a year as opposed to Thompson’s 671,000. Entwistle beat his BBC colleague and the corporation’s chief [...]
Diamond: Traders’ actions were reprehensible July 4, 2012 Barclays former chief executive Bob Diamond has called the behaviour of those responsible for rigging the rates at which the bank said it was borrowing money “reprehensible”. Diamond, who resigned over the Libor scandal, said the traders responsible were not a true reflection of the bank’s culture. He was facing a grilling from MPs over [...]
Eurozone sales improve in May July 4, 2012 Shoppers in the Eurozone spent a little more freely in May, but not enough to make up for big falls in retail trade the month before and sales were down sharply on a yearly basis as households struggle through the bloc’s debt crisis. Sales at shops in the 17 countries sharing the euro rose 0.6 [...]
Mercedes sales growth slows July 4, 2012 June sales of Mercedes-Benz luxury cars grew at the slowest monthly rate so far this year as sales in the key market of China continued to increase at a tepid rate. Daimler (DAIGn.DE) said volumes of its premium brand rose 0.9 per cent in June, translating to a cumulative rise of 6.9 percent in the [...]
FTSE edges down as Libor crisis deepens July 4, 2012 The FTSE 100 edged down with trading subdued as the US was closed for business because of a public holiday. Investors remained glued to the crisis in the banking sector with former Barclays chief Bob Diamond, who quit over the bank’s rate fixing scandal, prepared to be grilled by MPs today. Meanwhile Britain’s service sector [...]
UK service sector weakens July 4, 2012 Britain’s dominant service sector grew at a much weaker pace than expected last month despite firms cutting prices and running down existing orders, a business survey showed on Wednesday. The latest round of gloomy data will solidify expectations the Bank of England will restart its printing presses and support the economy with another round of [...]
Carillion boosted by council work July 4, 2012 Support services and construction firm Carillion said its pipeline of potential work had grown to £35bn in the first half of 2012 as British local authority work and private finance projects in Canada increase. The group, which maintains railways and military bases and has a strong construction presence in Canada and the Middle East, said [...]
