EU job seekers will have to wait three months to claim benefits from 2014 December 18, 2013 Prime Minister David Cameron has announced that from next year EU job seekers will have to wait three months to claim out-of-work benefits. Everyone coming to Britain should contribute. So from 1st Jan 2014, EU job-seekers will have to wait 3 months to claim out-of-work benefits. — David Cameron (@David_Cameron) December 18, 2013 Yet [...]
Bank of England warns on sterling strength – as the pound jumps on unemployment data December 18, 2013 The Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) has warned that further substantial pound gains could weaken the UK's economic recovery. Here's the relevant portion from the minutes: In financial markets, there had been a slight tightening in monetary conditions, with UK longer-term market-implied interest rates rising by around 20 basis points and sterling appreciating [...]
Unemployment falls to April 2009 low December 18, 2013 Unemployment has fallen from 7.6 per cent to 7.4 per cent in the three months to October, according to the Office for National Statistics. Analysts had expected no change this month. Jeremy Cook, chief economist at World First, points out that "the strength in jobs numbers cannot and is not being replicated in wage negotiations." [...]
Germany’s Merkel wants an even bigger European Union December 18, 2013 Germany's chancellor Angela Merkel isn't going to be gaining many friends in the UK today. While the UK's politicians offer promises of potential European Union reform in a pro-market direction, Merkel's new motto for the political union may as well be "oversight, oversight, oversight". She wants more European Union integration – that's her declared focus [...]
Supermarket shares slide as customers move to discounters December 17, 2013 More than half of us shopped at Aldi or Lidl in the last 12 weeks for the first time, according to Kantar Worldpanel data. That's seen more premium supermarkets take a hit – Sainsbury's are down by over 2.8 per cent, Tesco by nearly 1.5 per cent, and Morrison has seen a fall of 1.4 [...]
Downing Street adviser wants tighter oversight of this key Chinese tech firm December 17, 2013 The national security adviser has published a report encouraging tighter oversight at the Huawei Cyber Security Evaluation Centre (HCSEC), which tests the Chinese telecoms firm’s equipment for vulnerabilities. Huawei’s technology is deeply embedded in the UK’s telecoms infrastructure after a deal in 2005 with BT led to Huawei providing parts of its extensive broadband network, [...]
Marks & Spencer are making all their toys gender neutral by Spring 2014 December 17, 2013 Retailer Marks and Spencer have committed to making all their toys gender neutral by Spring 2014. @stellacreasy Hi Stella, we’ve listened to customer feedback and by Spring next year all of our toys will be gender neutral. Thanks — M&S (@marksandspencer) December 17, 2013 The announcement follows Twitter complaints about their "Boy Stuff Marble [...]
Facebook are about to introduce autoplaying video adverts December 17, 2013 Facebook call it a "new way for marketers to tell stories" – we call it video adverts. When you start scrolling down your newsfeed you're going to have videos autoplay. Facebook says this is a "richer storytelling format". Rather than having to click or tap on the content, videos will begin to play as they [...]
2 charts that show UK house prices are approaching warp speed December 17, 2013 House prices have hit a fresh record high in the UK, and that may give some fresh cause for concern about the state of Britain's property market. Bank of England governor Mark Carney recently pledged not to allow house prices to reach "warp speed" as they continue to rocket – especially in London. They've risen [...]
UK inflation is finally near target – falls to November 2009 low December 17, 2013 Bank of England governor Mark Carney will be having a good morning. Inflation in the year to November has come in at 2.1 per cent – a fall from 2.2 per cent last month. Analysts had expected consumer price inflation (CPI) to remain unchanged. That's still above the Bank's two per cent target, but it's [...]
