Explainer-in-brief: Macron gears up for the first hurdle of the election April 5, 2022 France will head to the first set of polls this Sunday, with Emmanuel Macron widely expected to be re-elected – but not without a challenge. He currently sits with a projected 27 per cent lead, followed by right-wing Marine Le Pen who has around 20 per cent, hard-left Jean-Luc Melenchon with 15 per cent and [...]
Supermarket till sales down four per cent last month as online shopping and cost of living hit hard April 5, 2022 Supermarket till sales continue to feel the impact of online buying brought about by the pandemic, with a four per cent fall last month. A new study indicates that online sales also fell almost 20 per cent from last year, as the cost of living crisis continues to change consumer habits. The report by NielsenIQ [...]
March car production falls to lowest in 24 years as markets feel supply chain squeeze April 5, 2022 The UK’s automotive production in March fell to the lowest since 1998 as markets continued to feel the supply chain squeeze. According to data from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT), new car registrations fell by 14.3 per cent to 243,479 units while overall the first quarter of 2021 reported a 1.9 per [...]
Letters: Housing, interrupted April 5, 2022 [Re: House price growth hits highest level since 2004 with record average of £265.3k, March 31] New figures released by the Nationwide house price index defy premature predictions of slowing prices in early 2022. An increase in average house prices of 20 per cent in the last two years is a shocking figure which coincides [...]
As consumer confidence plummets, we face a cultural reckoning over British pubs April 5, 2022 In the months ahead, people across the country will be tightening their belts and doing all they can to maintain their quality of life despite rising costs all around them. So it wasn’t completely surprising when yesterday, PwC’s new consumer sentiment survey reported the steepest decline in consumer confidence since their tracking began, 14 years [...]
Giving crypto the ministerial seal of approval comes with responsibilities April 4, 2022 As Rishi Sunak is finding out, value can be volatile. Last year he was the odds-on favourite to replace Boris Johnson in Number Ten, popular with Tory party members and (for a Cabinet minister, at least) the public at large. Alas this year, though Sunak has done very little differently, his stock isn’t quite flying [...]
80 organisations pull out of government LGBTQ conference post-conversion therapy backlash April 4, 2022 A growing tally of organisations have pulled out of the government’s LGBTQ+ conference this summer, as part of growing backlash towards it looking to ditch its promise to ban conversion therapy. More than 80 LGBTQ+ and HIV organisations, including Stonewall, in the UK have bailed out of the international conference. Conversion therapy attempts to change [...]
French election: Macron’s lead over Le Pen cut days before first vote April 4, 2022 Polling for the French Presidential race has drastically tightened with less than a week before the first round of voting. Emmanuel Macron’s large lead over far-right challenger Marine Le Pen has shrunk over the past month, with a recent IFOP poll showing the incumbent ahead 53-47 in a head-to-head run-off. Macron and Le Pen are [...]
Three out of four Brits consider new job or career change as cost of living crisis messes up their lives April 4, 2022 New research shared with City A.M. this morning suggests that a record three out of four workers are considering a new job because of the cost-of-living crisis. Jobs site CV-Library said its study indicated that pay was now the main driver for people thinking of finding different work. Its survey of more than 4,000 professional [...]
Gold holds up amid looming fears of recession April 4, 2022 Gold prices have stabilised as fears of a recession mount, with continued geopolitical tensions and the growing expectations of an interest rate hike.