Government injects £23m to boost UK skills and diversity in AI jobs February 10, 2022 The government has pumped £23m into Artificial Intelligence (AI) and data conversion courses for young and underrepresented groups, as the UK aims to be the industry leader. There will be up to two thousand scholarships for masters AI conversion courses, and the aim is to create a new generation of experts in data science and [...]
Want fairness? Beware the opportunistic calls for a windfall tax on energy giants February 10, 2022 Both the Labour and the Lib Dems have proposed a “one-off” windfall tax on the profits of UK oil and gas companies to help families struggling with their energy bills. Surely it’s only fair that giants like BP and Shell, making bumper profits, should be asked to pay a little more? Not quite. For a [...]
Bailey’s wage dilemma is real, but the Bank has dragged its feet on inflation February 10, 2022 It is often argued the signal central banks’ bond buying programmes send to markets is more effective at shaping financial conditions than the purchases themselves. It is all about influencing expectations by sending the message that monetary policy will stay loose. Governor of the Bank of England Andrew Bailey’s message to workers to temper pay [...]
Margate has seen the biggest jump in house prices since 2012 February 10, 2022 A seaside town in Kent has been identified as the area where prices have leaped the most in the last decade. Asking prices of homes in Margate have more than doubled on average since 2012, according to property site Rightmove. Prices now stand at an average of £294,209, more than £100,000 higher than they were [...]
Persistent labour crunch intensifies pay pressures in sign of sticky inflation February 10, 2022 A shallower pool of available workers and growing calls among staff for employers to lift pay to offset the cost of living crunch is stoking wage tension in the jobs market, reveals fresh figures released today. Intensifying pay pressures in the jobs markets adds to the growing body of evidence indicating historically high inflation could [...]
Technology infrastructure investment will prevent the left-behind areas of the future February 10, 2022 THIS year is set to be a pivotal moment for the future of 5G in Britain. Over the last few years, both the government and Ofcom have made clear their intent to get broadband booming in Britain by incentivising major commercial investment. It has largely worked. We’ve seen the accelerated availability of gigabit broadband speeds and [...]
Go for growth to avoid economic stagnation, experts urge February 10, 2022 Going for growth by avoiding repeatedly hiking taxes to fund an ever-expanding British state is crucial to boosting the country’s economy, experts urged today. Policymakers must escape the trap of choking economic growth by financing further government spending by repeatedly hiking taxes. John O’Connell, chief executive of the TaxPayers’ Alliance, told City A.M.: “Ministers must [...]
Inflation crunch to intensify as wave of firms hike prices to survive cost assault February 10, 2022 A cost assault is forcing businesses to hike prices to protect margins in a sign the UK cost of living crisis is set to get worse before it gets better, reveals a new study published today. Around three in four firms are raising prices to weather soaring energy and staffing costs in what is being [...]
Letters: Bailey and Boris need to talk February 10, 2022 [Re: Boris Johnson lashes out at Andrew Bailey: Do not show pay restraint, Feb 5] Boris Johnson’s vocal disagreement with Andrew Bailey last week was quite a startling development. The Prime Minister was right to distance himself from the comments made by Bailey, which lacked any empathy for the plight of people trying to make [...]
ONS: Number of UK ‘high growth’ firms has fallen by 15 per cent since 2014 February 9, 2022 The number of UK firms considered to be “high growth” job creators has plummeted by 15 per cent between 2014 and 2020, according to figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS). The figures, compiled by Labour, showed that 14,190 firms were considered to be high growth at the end of 2014 and that this [...]
