Government ‘does not expect’ UK social distancing measures to be eased April 13, 2020 Foreign secretary Dominic Raab has confirmed the government “does not expect” to lift its social distancing measures at this week’s review. Boris Johnson put the UK into effective lockdown last month and said it would be reviewed on a three-weekly basis. Speaking at today’s daily press briefing, Raab said: “This week Sage (the Scientific Advisory [...]
NMC Health administrators appoint new board of directors April 13, 2020 NMC Health’s administrators have replaced the board of the scandal-hit healthcare chain in a bid to improve governance. Consultancy firm Alvarez and Marshal have dismissed the previous board and replaced them with four non-executive directors to “provide more robust governance and oversee the work with the management teams”. Alvarez and Marshal were appointed as administrators [...]
Firms rush to 3D print face masks to meet NHS PPE demand April 13, 2020 Amid a shortage of personal protective equipment (PPE) to keep frontline NHS staff safe in the ongoing coronavirus crisis, hospitals have turned to the 3D printer community for vital safety gear. The UK’s 3D printing firms and the wider 3D printing community have had orders for hundreds of thousands of PPE gear, such as face [...]
Coronavirus: U-turn on Huawei’s 5G involvement would be ‘disservice’ to UK April 13, 2020 Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei has said the government would be doing a “disservice” to Britain if its role in the country’s 5G rollout was disrupted. Boris Johnson decided in January to allow Huawei to supply non-core elements of the UK’s 5G network, going against decisions made by fellow Five Eyes security partners Australia and the [...]
UK GDP could fall by 30 per cent in second quarter April 13, 2020 Chancellor Rishi Sunak has reportedly told ministers to expect GDP to fall by as much as 30 per cent between April and June. The government’s draconian social distancing measures will be reviewed next week, with an extension considered a formality. The coronavirus lockdown has already begun to bite the UK economy, with activity in the [...]
Exclusive: Sadiq Khan says Londoners neglected by coronavirus self-employed package April 13, 2020 Sadiq Khan has written to chancellor Rishi Sunak to demand more financial help is given to the capital’s self-employed workers amidst findings that one-in-three self-employed Londoners will not receive any assistance. The London mayor’s letter, written to Sunak and business secretary Alok Sharma, claims that up to 290,000 Londoners, 12 per cent of the capital’s [...]
Businesses still waiting on £10bn of coronavirus grants April 13, 2020 Thousands of UK businesses are still waiting for £10bn of government grants to be handed over as calls grow louder for the Treasury to expand its set of coronavirus relief measures. Figures from the Local Government Authority show that £1bn of grants have been awarded to 100,000 small businesses, but that many more are still [...]
Oil price rises after Opec+ seals deal on record production cut April 13, 2020 Oil prices rose on Monday after the world’s largest producing oil nations agreed to the largest ever production cut in history to end a price war between Russia and Saudi Arabia. Opec+, consisting of oil cartel Opec and its allies, agreed to cut production of oil by 9.7 million barrels per day, translating into a [...]
Long read: Advertisers look to esports as gamers flock to virtual stadia April 13, 2020 Advertisers might find rich pickings in the world of esports, writes James Warrington Over the last few days, a meme purporting to show a model of a stadium that would seat 1 million people has circulated on social media. The image is probably fabricated and certainly ludicrous — even North Korea has only managed to [...]
