More strikes in the new year as train drivers to walk out on 5 January December 20, 2022 Britain will need to brace for extra disruption in the new year as train drivers at 15 companies have announced they will strike on 5 January. Members of the union Aslef will down tools as part of a long-standing dispute over salaries, impacting services at the likes of Avanti West Coast, Govia Thameslink and London [...]
Workforce shrinkage risks roiling growth and embedding inflation December 20, 2022 A workforce squeezed by older Brits retiring earlier threatens to intensify inflation in the UK and whack economic growth, a new report out today claims. The some 565,000 people who have left the jobs market since the start of the Covid-19 crisis will drag on a UK economy that is already tumbling into an at [...]
Elon Musk: Claim that poll about quitting was to catch bots is ‘interesting’ December 20, 2022 Elon Musk has called the idea that his poll on whether to remain Twitter’s chief executive was intended to catch bots “interesting”. Musk was replying to internet entrepreneur and political activist Kim Dotcom on Twitter who said: “I’m hoping that Elon did this poll as a honeypot to catch all the deep state bots.” Since [...]
Bunzl acquires four firms and sells healthcare arm December 20, 2022 Bunzl has acquired four businesses and has agreed to sell its UK healthcare division. The specialist distribution group, which sells global businesses a variety of products from coffee cups to cafes, food wrap to supermarkets, and cleaning materials to hospitals, said the transactions would be profit neutral. The FTSE-100 firm said it would sell its [...]
Second strike: Nurses walk out again as five key London hospitals decimated December 20, 2022 Nurses in Britain will go on their second day of industrial action in the space of a week with five London hospitals to be the centre of the strikes. The hospitals to be affected include Great Ormond Street Children’s Hospital, Guys and St. Thomas’ and Imperial College Healthcare, Royal Marsden and NHS North Central London. [...]
Jeremy Hunt extends alcohol duty freeze until August December 19, 2022 Planned hikes in alcohol duty have been put off until August, afterJeremy Hunt decided to extend the current freeze a further six months. The chancellor was due to increase duty on beer, wine, cider and spirits by the annual increase in RPI on 1 February. This would have meant an average increase of 7p for [...]
FTSE 100’s winners and losers in 2022 December 19, 2022 The Christmas lull is setting in. Investors are bracing to turn off their screens and get away from the daily City grind. Trading volumes on the FTSE 100 are thinning. It’s also that time of year when financial journalists pick through the UK’s worst (and best) performing stocks over the past 12 months. Without further [...]
Brexit: European nurses don’t want to work for NHS, report suggests December 19, 2022 Brexit-induced migratory hurdles and poor wages have made Britain an unattractive destination for Europe's nurses.
Number 10: Rishi Sunak ‘deeply regrets’ Christmas strikes December 19, 2022 Rishi Sunak “deeply regrets” the strikes disrupting the Christmas period but will not bend on public sector pay demands, Number 10 has said. Sunak’s official spokesman today said it is “still in the gift of the unions to step back and reconsider the approach” as Britain suffers from a series of December strikes. Up to [...]
Binance Deals With ‘Stress Test’ as Crypto Market Leverage Drops, FTX Founder is Charged December 19, 2022 Data from CryptoCompare shows that the price of Bitcoin started this past week moving up steadily from around $17,000 to a high above the $18,000 mark, before it quickly collapsed and dropped to $16,500. Ethereum’s ether, the second-largest cryptocurrency by market cap, traded in a similar way, seeing a high of $1,350 after starting the [...]