Human ingenuity and working together will pull us through the coronavirus crisis March 9, 2020 Last week, Bank of England governor Mark Carney gave his economic view of the possible consequences of coronavirus: he expects it to cause “disruption” and not “destruction”. In saying this, he follows the measured words of the health secretary, Matt Hancock, who made the point that preparing for the worst is the job at hand. [...]
City Moves for 9 March — Who’s switching jobs at Quintet, Leo Burnett and R3? March 9, 2020 Today’s City Moves includes Quintet, Leo Burnett and R3 Quintet Quintet Private Bank has announced the promotion of Rachel Macfarlane to group head of legal, with immediate effect. Macfarlane joined Brown Shipley in 2018 with responsibility for legal, corporate secretarial and corporate governance work. Prior to that, she served as legal manager at Santander UK [...]
Coronavirus: Milan among cities quarantined in mass Italian lockdown March 9, 2020 Italy took the extraordinary step yesterday of quarantining 16m people in one of the country’s most prosperous regions as it ramped up its battle to halt the spread of Coronavirus. All 10m people from the region of Lombardy, including Italy’s financial capital Milan, have been placed into lockdown until 3 April, along with cities including Venice, Padua, Modena, Piacenza, Reggio Emilia and [...]
Chancellor faces tough job as virus fears grow March 9, 2020 Sajid Javid never got to deliver a Budget, and now his successor will this week unveil one of the most important in decades. Wednesday’s statement was meant to be a showpiece for a government determined to “level-up” the economy and flex its newly-won Commons majority. While ministers are still hoping to regain some political initiative [...]
Gender on the agenda: There is still a long way to go March 9, 2020 It might come as a surprise to some that we have been celebrating International Women’s Day (IWD) for over a century now. Since the 1900s, we have been fighting to forge a gender-equal society, where a woman’s achievements are valued as much as those of men. Women and girls represent half of the world’s population [...]
On the brink of a pandemic, does your firm need a plan? March 9, 2020 Time magazine has described the outbreak of coronavirus across the globe as the “world’s largest work-from-home experiment”. With many Chinese businesses forced to close down to prevent further spread of the virus, it no surprise that the World Economic Forum suggests global pandemics cost the world $570bn every year. It is not just viruses that [...]
London economy’s post-election bounce continues March 9, 2020 London’s private sector grew strongly in February, survey data has shown, even as the coronavirus outbreak took its toll on tourism. The Natwest/IHS Markit London purchasing managers’ index posted 56 in February, down slightly from 56.5 in January but stronger than the long-run average. A score of above 50 indicates that the private sector expanded. [...]
UK small businesses gloomy about coronavirus and Brexit March 9, 2020 Worries over the impact of Brexit and coronavirus mean more than 70 per cent of the UK’s small and medium-sized businesses do not expect the country’s economy to grow during the rest of 2020, according to new survey data. The pessimism about growth means firms 57 per cent of firms are unlikely to invest in [...]
Trial over downing of flight MH17 begins without suspects March 9, 2020 A trial against the four individuals charged with the murder of 298 people and the downing of flight MH17 will begin in the Netherlands today. Last year, arrest warrants were issued for three Russians and a Ukrainian identified by a Dutch-led joint investigation team. Russians Sergey Dubinsky, Oleg Pulatov and Igor Girkin, and Ukrainian Leonid [...]
Retail woes continue as high street footfall drops eight per cent March 9, 2020 The fragility of the British high street was laid bare last month as severe and ongoing rain led to a drop in high street footfall. February saw a drop in footfall of 7.8 per cent as shoppers stayed away from high streets, according to the latest figures by Springboard. However shopping centres and retail parks [...]