Britain enters talks with Japan to fill Huawei vacuum as trade deal deadline looms July 20, 2020 The British government has entered talks with Japan to help build the UK’s 5G infrastructure after it last week banned Huawei technology from the network over national security concerns. British officials held talks with their counterparts in Tokyo last Thursday about the future of the UK’s 5G networks, according to Japanese newspaper Nikkei, with businesses [...]
Johanna Kyrklund: Are markets paying enough attention? July 20, 2020 Like home-schooled children during the Covid crisis, markets seem to be struggling to pay attention for long. For parents, one of the most difficult parts of lockdown has been home-schooling their children. My social media feed has been full of people tearing their hair out as long-forgotten concepts such as subordinate clauses or trigonometry have [...]
Carlos Ghosn labels Renault ‘pathetic’ as sales tumble 35 per cent July 20, 2020 Carmaker Renault revealed that worldwide sales of its vehicles had fallen 34.9 per cent in the first half after disgraced boss Carlos Ghosn labelled the recent performance of the Renault-Nissan partnership as “pathetic”. The French auto giant said that the fall in sales was due to its “high exposure to countries that have undergone a [...]
Time for the UK to recognise the prospect of an independent Scotland July 20, 2020 The debate on Scotland’s future is changing. Opinion polls have begun showing majority support for independence. The two most recent polls have put the “Yes” vote at 54 per cent, nearly a full inversion of the 2014 referendum result. Brexit has been the main driver of this shift. The Scottish electorate consistently rejected leaving the [...]
Finance chiefs expect slow business recovery from coronavirus pandemic July 20, 2020 Finance bosses do not expect business to bounce back quickly after the coronavirus pandemic, with many forecasting that demand will not recover until the second half of next year. Research by Deloitte found that 49 per cent of chief financial officers do not believe that demand for their business will return to pre-pandemic levels until [...]
Report to show Russia tried to interfere in Scottish and Brexit referendums July 19, 2020 A long-delayed report on Russian interference into UK politics is expected to show the Kremlin tried to influence the results in both the Brexit and Scottish independence referendums. The Intelligence and Security Committee (ISC) will release the Russia report next week before parliament rises for a six-week summer break. The report comes as it was [...]
Met Office mistakes huge swarm of flying ants over London for rain July 17, 2020 Flying ants have once again taken to the skies of London, with swarms so big that the Met Office weather radar has mistaken them for rain. On Sunday, millions of the bugs filled the skies across the country on what is known as “Flying Ant day”. Undeterred, the winged insects have returned in huge swarms [...]
Green fingers: How cannabis can fuel a British agri-tech revolution July 17, 2020 Since time immemorial, the human race has slashed and burned its way through wilderness to fuel its rapacious growth. Food, medicine and building materials have required more and more deforestation, with the resultant decline in biodiversity and rise in the emission of greenhouse gases. Finally, comprehension is dawning about the impact of climate change and [...]
Real estate investment firm Castleforge Partners closes third fund at over £270m July 17, 2020 London-based real estate investment firm Castleforge Partners has today announced the close of its third commercial fund at over £270m. Castleforge Partners III exceeded its predecessor by 15 per cent, even in the face of looming Brexit uncertainty and the global coronavirus pandemic. The investment fund received support from existing investors, with around 60 per [...]
Privacy Shield ban ‘hurts’ UK’s chances of post-Brexit data deal July 16, 2020 Industry figures have warned that a decision today to ban Privacy Shield, a data-sharing deal between the EU and the US, will compromise the UK’s hopes of securing its own data-sharing agreement at the end of the Brexit transition period. Judges at the European Court of Justice (ECJ) today banned the Privacy Shield data-sharing agreement [...]