David Cameron denies lobbying for genetics firm to get £123m contract August 11, 2021 David Cameron has denied lobbying Matt Hancock on behalf of a genetics firm that won a £123m government contract. Cameron works as a paid adviser for US-based gene sequencing firm Illumina, who won the contract after the former Prime Minister wrote to Matt Hancock about attending a conference with him. The Times reports that Cameron [...]
Pandemic stretches gender pension gap to nearly £200,000 August 11, 2021 Women’s retirement prospects and savings have been dragged down by the pandemic much more than men’s, widening the gap between their pensions pots by almost £200,000. On average, the difference between the average pensions of women and men aged over 55 widened to £184,000 in in the last year – up £26,000 on 2020, according [...]
Heathrow passenger numbers begin to rise as restrictions ease August 11, 2021 The most passengers travelled through Heathrow in a single month since the beginning of the pandemic in July, the UK’s largest airport said today. In total, 1.5m passengers used the airport in July, up 74 per cent on last year. It said that the easing of travel restrictions was beginning to improve consumer confidence after [...]
Employers shun offering remote working to new candidates August 11, 2021 Few firms are offering new candidates remote working despite many predicting changes to working practices triggered by the pandemic are here to stay, according to new figures. Recruitment site Reed said just 5.6 per cent of jobs advertised on their website mentioned hybrid working in the job description. The proportion mentioning remote working is down [...]
Work on last stage of Tower Bridge to Greenwich cycle route to kick off August 11, 2021 Work on the final stage of a new cycle route which will connect the City of London to Greenwich will start on Monday, Transport for London (TfL) today said. The third section of Cycleway 4, on Evelyn Street in Deptford, is expected to be completed in the spring. Once it is finished, the cycle lane [...]
City Moves: Who’s switching jobs in the Square Mile this week? August 11, 2021 City A.M.’s Millie Turner provides a roundup of the most important hires and job moves across the City, every Wednesday afternoon. Email citymoves@cityam.com to be featured. Former Tesco director joins London’s Interpath as special advisor London-headquartered firm Interpath Advisory has appointed former Tesco director and retail veteran Christine Cross as a special advisor for the business. Cross’ extensive non-executive and advisory board [...]
Germany detains British man suspected of spying for Russia August 11, 2021 British police have confirmed that a 57-year-old British national has been arrested by German authorities on suspicion of his involvement in “intelligence agent activity” with Russia. It comes after German prosecutors announced that they had detained the British citizen on Tuesday in Potsdam on suspicion of spying for Russia while working at the British Embassy [...]
Virgin Atlantic launches raft of new Caribbean routes for winter sunseekers August 11, 2021 Virgin Atlantic has today announced a raft of new routes serving the Caribbean as it bets on increased customer demand for sun-soaked getaways after the pandemic. The carrier is launching its first direct flight to Barbados from Edinburgh, as well as adding extra flights to the island from Manchester and Heathrow. In total, it will [...]
Cardano surges with smart contract upgrade imminent August 11, 2021 Crypto at a Glance The cryptocurrency markets continue to climb today, with the Bitcoin price up another 2 per cent over the past 24 hours to more than $46,300 at time of writing. Ethereum is also up around 4 per cent to more than $3,200. Can they keep the upward momentum today? The market’s resurgence [...]
Podcast: The plastic problem facing investors August 11, 2021 Read the full transcript Part one: The weight of plastic worth all the fish in the sea Ashleigh Cowie (AC): In doing research for this podcast I came across this astonishing fact. Are you ready for it? David Brett (DB): Go on then. Hit me with it. AC: Right now, there are more than 5 trillion pieces of [...]