The power vacuum in Afghanistan left by the US and the UK will draw Beijing’s watchful gaze July 7, 2021 Foreign combat operations ended in Afghanistan years ago. For the past few years, barely 10,000 NATO forces have been helping enable a force of some 400,000 Afghans with the necessary equipment and capability to build the state. Those support operations ended with the withdrawal this week. Since the abrupt departure of Western soldiers, Afghan forces have [...]
Levelling up will fail if Boris Johnson pushes for a nationwide approach July 7, 2021 The phrase “levelling up” has permeated the political lexicon over the past year or so, but few seem to know exactly what it means or how to do it. Andy Haldane, outgoing Chief Economist at the Bank of England, put some flesh on the bones at a timely Policy Exchange seminar last week. For Haldane, [...]
UK small businesses rack up £3.5bn in Amazon export sales July 7, 2021 Small and medium-sized British businesses selling on Amazon recorded over £3.5bn in export sales last year, according to figures released by the tech giant. Amazon said more than 14,000 UK SMEs surpassed £100,000 in sales in 2020, while over 1,000 reached £1m in sales for the first time. The top five categories in which customers [...]
Greensill Covid loan accreditation in line with ‘streamlined’ approval process July 7, 2021 The decision to grant collapsed Greensill Capital the ability to hand out Covid loans was in line with the approved accreditation process, but a stricter set of criteria could have identified the firm’s issues, a new report has found. The National Audit Office (NAO) also said that the British Business Bank (BBB), which administers the [...]
Brewing up a storm: Brewdog berated over hard seltzer ‘health’ claims July 7, 2021 Brewdog has been given a rap on the knuckles for making health claims in an advert for its alcoholic hard seltzer drink — despite the ad stating “we cannot claim this drink is healthy”. In an Instagram post published in January, Brewdog shared a picture of a can of its Clean & Press Hard Seltzer, [...]
Euro 2020: Over 9m pints expected to be sold in lead up to England’s semi-final July 7, 2021 Football fans are predicted to buy 6.8m pints during England’s Euro 2020 semi-final against Denmark tonight, with 9.7m expected to be sold throughout the day overall. The British Beer and Pub Association (BBPA) said it expects today’s game to draw more crowds into pubs than England’s previous quarter-final match against Ukraine. Pint half empty While [...]
Rip-off travel ads ‘rife’ on Google as scammers exploit Brexit confusion July 7, 2021 Rip-off copycat adverts for travel documents are “running rife” on search engines such as Google as unscrupulous sellers look to capitalise on confusion over post-Brexit travel arrangements. An investigation by consumer group Which found scores of copycat ads were appearing for common travel documents such as health cards, visas and international drivers’ licences. These adverts [...]
Government lacks ‘convincing’ plan to get travellers back on trains July 7, 2021 The government does not have a “convincing and timely plan for encouraging passengers back to the railway” after the pandemic, a new report from the public spending watchdog has found. The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) said that the lack of direction on this issue from the Department for Transport (DfT) risked pushing people back into [...]
Deliveroo to create 400 new tech jobs after London stock market float July 7, 2021 Deliveroo will create 400 new tech jobs over the next year as the company aims to improve its service after a troubled stock market debut in London. The delivery giant is looking to hire across a range of roles, including software engineers, product managers, designers and data scientists. The vast majority of the jobs will [...]
PR giant Teneo names Ursula Burns as new chair amid misconduct scandal July 6, 2021 Teneo has named Ursula Burns as its new chair as the PR giant looks to restore its reputation in the wake of a misconduct scandal surrounding one of its founders. The company, which describes itself as a global CEO advisory firm, today announced the appointment of Burns with immediate effect. It comes a week after [...]
