How to write a lockdown novel – from a man who did just that November 4, 2020 Thierry Macquet, a Mauritian ex-at living in London, found himself stranded on the paradise island of his childhood when coronavirus rampaged across the globe. To stay sane, he decided to write a lockdown novel, Messages From an Adventurous Ancestor. Here’s how he did it, and some advice on how you can do the same as [...]
Boris Johnson promises businesses new lockdown will end on 2 December November 4, 2020 Prime Minister Boris Johnson reassured British businesses that the new lockdown in England will end on 2 December during a speech to the CBI today, but later said it would “depend on us all doing our bit”. Johnson announced a new month-long lockdown at the weekend. It will come into place tomorrow and will see [...]
John Lewis axes 1,500 head office jobs November 4, 2020 John Lewis has announced it will axe a further 1,500 jobs as part of its plan to return to profit. The retailer said this morning that it will cut the head office roles by April next year, in a move that will save £50m as it targets £300m in cost reductions by 2022. It will [...]
Oxford Covid-19 vaccine trial results due before New Year November 4, 2020 The Covid-19 vaccine developed by the University of Oxford could present late-stage trial results before the year end, the chief trial investigator for the vaccine has said. Working out whether or not the vaccine worked would likely come this year, according to Oxford Vaccine trial chief investigator Andrew Pollard. After that the data would have [...]
Marks & Spencer posts first loss in firm’s history November 4, 2020 Marks & Spencer posted its first loss in 94 years as a publicly listed company as clothing sales collapsed due to the coronavirus crisis. The high street stalwart reported a £87m pre-tax loss for the first half of the year. In the same period last year it made a profit of £158.8m in the same [...]
Coronavirus: NHS boss confirms health service is preparing for vaccine by Christmas November 4, 2020 The NHS is preparing to distribute potential Covid-19 vaccines in time for Christmas, the head of the health service announced today. Simon Stevens, chief executive of the NHS, said medical chiefs were drawing up plans for wide-scale rollout of a potential vaccine over the next two months, in case one of them is ready in [...]
Lockdown: M&S rolls out shopping slot booking service to stop queuing chaos November 3, 2020 Marks & Spencer (M&S) has completed the rollout of its online reservation service to allow customers to book a shopping slot before visiting a physical store
Online shopping boom could cause Christmas chaos, Post Office warns November 3, 2020 A boom in online shopping and parcel deliveries could cause Christmas chaos this festive season, the Post Office said as it warned the public to send their gifts earlier than usual to avoid a last-minute rush. More than a fifth of Brits have already decided to send presents through the post rather than give them [...]
Whole of Liverpool to be offered coronavirus tests in new trial November 3, 2020 Everyone in Liverpool will be offered free coronavirus tests on a regular basis as part of the UK’s first mass testing scheme. All those living and working in the city will be offered tests regardless of whether they have symptoms or not. It comes after the announcement of a new national lockdown in England over [...]
CEOs, take note: Hygiene is now a boardroom issue November 3, 2020 The history of business is full of inflection points. Some are instantly easy to recognise, and fatal for non-innovators: the iPhone surpassed and killed the once ubiquitous Blackberry, while digital streaming rendered Blockbuster obsolete. Others are more gradual and harder to see. Entertainment venues, for example, took anti-smoking legislation in their stride and transformed, while [...]