Downton Abbey and Strictly Come Dancing beaten by Queen’s message to top of Christmas TV ratings December 26, 2015 Downton Abbey pipped Strictly Come Dancing to the title of most watched Christmas Day TV show this year – although neither programme could match the audience for the Queen's speech. The final of hit ITV period show Downton Abbey received an audience of 6.6m from its 8.45pm showing, beating competition from the hour-long EastEnders Christmas special which was [...]
Boxing day sales 2015: UK shoppers expected to spend over £3bn as John Lewis and Selfridges enjoy strong starts December 26, 2015 British shoppers are expected to spend heavily in this year's Christmas sales, with stores such as John Lewis already boasting of strong trading figures. According to figures from the Centre for Retail Research and vouchercodes.co.uk, around 22m shoppers will spend £3.74bn in sales this festive period – a six per cent increase on last year. Department [...]
Little festive cheer for investors as FTSE 100 finishes flat December 24, 2015 It seems Santa didn't have much in his sack for equities investors this year, after the FTSE finished the day's session flat at 6,254.64 points, just 0.22 per cent higher. It was a disappointing outcome, after the bluechip index showed signs of a late Santa rally yesterday, closing 2.6 per cent higher as mining stocks rebounded. But trading during this morning's [...]
The Christmas Dinner Index: Your Christmas dinner will cost one per cent less this year as mince pie prices fall December 24, 2015 Some festive news from RBS analyst Richard Ramsey, who has pointed out that the economics elves at Mintec have been hard at work figuring out how much the good people of Britain will shell out for their supper on Christmas day – and it turns out the price has fallen. The Christmas Dinner Index, which takes into account the costs of all [...]
Here’s how much you’re going to eat, drink, watch and unwrap on Christmas Day December 24, 2015 Wizzard might wish it could be Christmas everyday, but it's probably just as well, because you'd end up an obese, bankrupt shell of your former self within… let's say a couple of weeks. That's not us being Scrooge-like, but looking at the evidence it's clear any more than one Christmas Day a year would put [...]
All I want for Christmas is…: Christmas gift requests on Twitter reveal Apple, Nike and Victoria’s Secret as most popular brands December 24, 2015 What did you put on your wishlist this year? Thanks to the wonders of technology, we may be able to guess. Santa may be making his list and checking it twice, but as for the rest of us, we seem to be making our lists and then tweeting them twice. As social media analytics firm [...]
Police investigation launch as dead body found on tracks by East Croydon train station December 24, 2015 Police have launched an investigation after a dead body was found on the tracks near to East Croydon train station this morning. The British Transport Police were called at 9:11am on Christmas Eve, and are still on the scene, a spokesman told City AM. The investigation is still at the "early stages" he added, and it [...]
Mortgage approvals dip in November – but are still 25 per cent higher than the same period last year December 24, 2015 It may be hours before the great Christmas getaway begins, but the British Bankers' Association (BBA) hasn't let that get in the way of bringing you Serious News. This morning the organisation said the number of loans dished out to homebuyers has dipped, falling to 44,960 in November, down from 45,463 in October. No festive frivolities there… The [...]
Christmas traditions return: Boxing Day is going to outperform Black Friday to be the biggest shopping day of the year December 24, 2015 Christmas is a time for traditions, and Boxing Day is expected to return to its position as the UK's biggest shopping day. All those predictions that Black Friday would be the busiest shopping day of 2015 have fallen wide of the mark: experts are now saying Boxing Day will smash records this year. Sales are expected to [...]
Christmas Eve fly-by: An asteroid will travel past the Earth this afternoon, while the International Space Station will look just like Santa and his sleigh December 24, 2015 Today, an asteroid is going to fly past the Earth as it zooms through space. Called asteroid 2003 SD220, it was spotted by scientists at Nasa's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, who noticed that it moved considerably closer to us between 17 and 22 December. Thankfully, it's going to pass at a distance that poses no threat – [...]