Christmas gift ideas 2015: Bad news, no one likes getting charity donations and socially responsible gifts for Christmas December 24, 2015 Did you get sick of consumer madness and opt to give your friends a donation to charity instead this year? Choosing to give a charity donation might seem like a great antidote to consumer mania – not least because you avoid having to battle it out with other frenzied last-minute shoppers over the final pair of Star [...]
More holiday, flexible working and telecommuting: What employees really want for Christmas December 24, 2015 Guessing what another person wants to receive for Christmas is an impossible task, and one many people do badly. This is an assertion that's backed up by economics. In "the deadweight loss of Christmas" Joel Waldfogel finds gift-giving can knock up to a third off the value of an item because the recipient doesn't really want it. [...]
People really do listen to Chris Rea when they’re driving home for Christmas – but Maria Carey is still festive top of the pops December 24, 2015 It turns out the nation's drivers are a pretty literal bunch when it comes to choosing their playlist for the car journey home. A survey by government body Highways England has found 20 per cent of people listen to Chris Rea's Driving Home for Christmas on the way home – more than The Pogues' Fairytale of New York, [...]
Quiz of the Year: How well do you remember 2015? December 24, 2015 It's been a long year, and we are just hours away from a well-deserved break. But before you skip off merrily into the sunset, awaiting a visit from Father Christmas, we need to ask: just how much attention were you really paying? That really important thing that happened in the middle of February. You still [...]
Currys PC World prepares for record-breaking sales rush from Christmas Eve to Boxing Day December 24, 2015 Currys PC World is expecting a record number of shoppers to snap up electrical deals between Christmas Eve and Boxing Day. The retailer estimates that 4.9m people will shop online between lunchtime today and 11am Boxing Day. The business, which broke records on Black Friday this year, believes there will be a spike in mobile phone shoppers [...]
UK weather: Army to be deployed as Storm Eva rolls in, while government issues more advice for flood victims December 24, 2015 Hundreds of military personnel and Environment Agency staff are being deployed to parts of the UK as further flood warnings have been issued ahead of Storm Eva's arrival today. Armed forces are being brought in on standby to parts of the Scotland and the North of England, which have already been hard hit by Storm Desmond. [...]
Christmas gifts 2015: Hoverboards, drones and onesies top our list of holiday searches December 24, 2015 The last and biggest day of the Christmas shopping season is officially upon us now. If you haven't found anything yet, and starting to get antsy about what to get our loved ones – don't panic, you aren't alone. Christmas Eve is still the single busiest day to buy gifts, and as we’re increasingly using our [...]
David Cameron uses Christmas speech to thank armed forces, doctors, nurses, carers and volunteers working over festive period December 24, 2015 David Cameron has used his Christmas message to praise the UK's armed forces engaged in airstrikes against Islamic State (Isis). The Prime Minister thanked "our brave armed forces [who] are doing their duty" both "in the skies of Iraq and Syria" and "on the ground, helping to bring stability to countries from Afghanistan to South Sudan". [...]
Presents delivered to Tim Peake and the other ISS astronauts just in time for Christmas December 23, 2015 Time Peake and his team at the International Space station (ISS) have received their presents just in time for Christmas Day. A Progress 62P vehicle, loaded with gifts and equipment for experiments, docked this morning with the Pirs section of the station. It was launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan two days earlier aboard [...]
Beatles back catalogue confirmed for music streaming from midnight on Christmas Eve on Spotify, Apple Music, Deezer, Amazon, Google December 23, 2015 The back catalogue of hit songs from the Beatles such as Hey Jude will be available on music streaming service for the first time, giving a Christmas treat to music fans. The fab four's music will be available on Spotify, Apple Music, Google Play, Amazon Music, Deezer, Tidal, Groove and Rhapsody. On Spotify, both free and premium users will be able to [...]