Astrazeneca partners up with Thailand for vaccine manufacture in Southeast Asia October 12, 2020 Thailand has announced it will partner up with Astrazeneca to scale up production of its potential coronavirus vaccine, as the pharmaceuticals company seeks to strengthen manufacture of the drug further afield. The Thai Ministry of Public Health today said it will roll out “large scale manufacturing” of the potential Covid vaccine at Siam Bioscience in [...]
More than 1,300 arts organisations to share £257m survival fund October 12, 2020 The London Symphony Orchestra and the Young Vic are among more than 1,300 arts organisations across England that will share a £257m coronavirus survival fund. The funding is the latest tranche of the government’s £1.6bn Cultural Recovery Fund, which is designed to support theatres, museums and music venues that have been forced to close during [...]
Charles Hoskinson Talks Poets And Cuneiform Beauty And Blockchain October 7, 2020 The first law of podcasting is to ensure that the record button is on, the second law of podcasting is to ensure that the record button is on… et cetera, et cetera. That’s why in June 2020 the world was robbed of the best-ever conversation not recorded on a podcast between yours truly and Cardano [...]
Tesco sees profit drop despite surge in lockdown sales October 7, 2020 Tesco’s operating profit fell 15.6 per cent in the first six months of the year in new chief executive Ken Murphy’s debut set of results. Profit at the supermarket dropped from £1.23bn to £1.04bn, with a jump in sales due to the coronavirus pandemic weighed down by a hefty loss at Tesco Bank. On a [...]
See A Film Out To Help Out: Five ways to save the film industry October 7, 2020 In this uncertain and unnerving year, there seems to be little light at the end of the tunnel, particularly for people working in the UK’s film industry. This week, Cineworld confirmed its plans to place all of its own cinemas and those of its Picturehouse brand in an unprecedented winter hibernation — meaning the loss [...]
Reverse new rules on hospitality – or businesses will be lost forever October 5, 2020 David Abrahamovitch is founder and CEO of GRIND The very last thing that the hospitality industry needed was a set of new rules, especially ones that undermine consumer confidence and set the entire sector back even further. It’s incredibly difficult to understand the 10pm curfew and the ‘rule of six’ in the context of the [...]
Technical glitch in UK’s coronavirus testing system fixed, minister says October 5, 2020 A technical problem in England’s coronavirus testing data system has now been fixed and should not happen again, Work and Pensions Secretary Therese Coffey said this morning. The UK reported a record daily jump of 22,961 Covid-19 cases yesterday after authorities said a technical issue had meant that over 15,000 test results had not been [...]
Coronavirus: Tory MP slams local lockdowns as ‘devastating’ October 5, 2020 A prominent Tory backbencher has slammed the government’s introduction of local lockdowns across the UK as “devastating”, claiming they infringe on the public’s freedom and should be swapped for a “risk-based” approach. Tory MP and former Brexit minister Steve Baker told the Conservative party conference today that local lockdowns “aren’t working”, while dwindling hopes for [...]
UK PMIs: Business activity slowed less than thought in September October 5, 2020 Britain’s economy proved more resilient than initially thought last month, with business activity continuing to grow despite the introduction of fresh lockdown restrictions and the end of the Eat Out to Help Out scheme, a major survey showed. The IHS Markit/CIPS Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) for the services sector dropped to 56.1 in September from [...]
Why a second lockdown could turn the lights out on the UK economy October 5, 2020 We have reached a crucial flexion point in the fight against Covid-19, and with this comes new, tighter rules to curb a possible second wave. There is now rising concern that a second wave may result in a second national lockdown, and businesses are urgently seeking reassurance from the government that they will be able [...]