Service sector optimism grows at fastest rate on record May 27, 2021 Optimism over the future of the service sector increased at the fastest pace on record in the three months to May as the UK’s economic recovery from the pandemic gathered steam. According to the CBI’s latest quarterly Service Sector Survey, sentiment about the general outlook for the professional services sub-sector jumped from +23 per cent [...]
Car production bounces back on 12-month anniversary of factory shutdowns May 27, 2021 UK car production returned to near normality in April compared to the same month a year before as automakers continued to struggle with the shortage of semiconductor chips. Britain made 68,306 cars last month, up from 197 a year ago when factories were shuttered due to the initial Covid-19 lockdown. Compared to April 2019, the [...]
Uber strikes deal with GMB union over driver representation May 26, 2021 Union GMB will now represent Uber drivers after striking a deal with the ride-hailing firm, it was announced this evening. The firm’s 70,000 drivers will now be able to choose to be represented by the union if they wish, in a first for the sector. The deal comes months after Uber said it would treat [...]
Activist hedge fund wins Exxon board seats in seismic day for big oil May 26, 2021 The oil industry was rocked today as hedge fund minnow Engine No. 1 saw two of its nominees elected to behemoth Exxon Mobil’s famously insular board. Engine No. 1’s victory, which came after a months-long fight with the Texas-based firm, could pile pressure on the company to speed up its diversification away from fossil fuels. [...]
Exclusive: Three-quarters of London firms set for office return by September May 26, 2021 Almost three-quarters of London businesses are planning a return to the office by September, a new survey by Addison Lee has revealed. Of the 142 firms asked by the taxi firm, 74 per cent said that they would be making a return to their workplace over the coming months. And more than half of these [...]
Dom’s day out: Cummings blames PM for tens of thousands of Covid deaths as he reveals Number 10 chaos May 26, 2021 Dominic Cummings has laid the blame for tens of thousands of Covid deaths at the feet of Boris Johnson and Matt Hancock in an explosive seven-hour hearing in which the former Number 10 aide pulled the curtain back on a year of chaos inside government. Cummings told MPs that Johnson was “unfit” to be Prime [...]
Ford aims for 40 per cent electric car sales by 2030 May 26, 2021 Ford today said that it was aiming for 40 per cent of its sales to be of electric cars by 2030, sending shares up 7.0 per cent today. The announcement came as the Michigan-headquartered firm unveiled a new strategy, call Ford+, that will see it put $30bn into electrification over the next decade. That is [...]
7 weird and wonderful applications of artificial intelligence May 26, 2021 The Rewired investment fund focuses on enabling the technologies of the AI revolution by investing across five verticals including machine learning, robotics, bionics, sensors, mapping and localisation. Backed by technology investors including Tej Kohli, we believe that AI has the potential to positively impact every segment of economic activity and to improve every aspect of human life. Here [...]
FTSE 100 slides despite strong earnings but Wall Street picks up May 26, 2021 The FTSE 100 slipped today despite a strong set of corporate earnings on a slow day for Europe’s markets. Across the Atlantic, however, Wall Street showed signs of gains after another positive start for tech stocks. London’s blue-chip index fell 0.1 per cent over the course of the day, a second straight session of losses [...]
Cummings: Boris Johnson DID say he would rather see ‘bodies pile high’ than lock down a third time May 26, 2021 Dominic Cummings has claimed Boris Johnson did say last October that he would rather see “bodies pile high in their thousands” than plunge England into a third lockdown – the first person to publicly corroborate the story on-record. It was widely reported last month that Johnson was so infuriated when he was forced to announce [...]
