Budget 2021: UK launches new Covid-19 business loan scheme March 3, 2021 Chancellor Rishi Sunak today unveiled a new loan scheme to support businesses hit by the pandemic, replacing previous emergency government funding. The Recovery Loans Scheme will offer loans from £25,000 to £10m up to the end of the year, with the government providing lenders with a 80 per cent guarantee. The programme replaces the Bounce [...]
Budget 2021: Sunak keeps VAT at reduced rate for hospitality and tourism firms March 3, 2021 The five per cent reduced rate of VAT for the hospitality sector will continue for another six months, the Chancellor has announced. As part of a new raft of measures to help the hospitality sector recover from the pandemic Rishi Sunak told the House of Commons the reduced rate would be extended until 30 September. [...]
Budget 2021: The long road to recovery March 2, 2021 With government borrowing set to top £300bn this fiscal year, there have been calls in some parts for Chancellor Rishi Sunak to start looking at measures to try and plug the gap between spending and tax revenue. While this is understandable given the size of the deficit, as well as the increase in national debt, [...]
We asked top chefs for their dream post-Covid meals – find out who ordered the brains! March 2, 2021 As we dare to dream about an end to the culinary purgatory that is Covid, we asked some of our favourite chefs to tell us where they most want to eat when the restaurant world reopens. The answers took us on an incredible gastronomical tour across the world, from the paladars of Cuba to the [...]
S&P rises as Biden’s stimulus heads to the Senate March 1, 2021 The news that Joe Biden’s $1.9 trillion stimulus bill had passed through Congress over the weekend helped give investors confidence, pushing markets up round the world. The bill will now move to the Senate, where the Democrats hold the casting vote. The S&P 500 rose 2.5 per cent and the Nasdaq jumped 2.9 per cent [...]
Jordan B Peterson interview: The unlikely conservative superstar March 1, 2021 As Jordan Peterson’s new book Beyond Order is released, we revisit our 2018 interview with the unlikely conservative superstar, discussing the high price of fame, causing offence and that interview with Cathy Newman. ••• Professor Jordan B Peterson’s apartment smells of meat. It’s 8am and his wife, Tammy, is fastidiously slicing a pile of steaks, [...]
Wagamama owner The Restaurant Group burns through £5.5m a month during lockdown March 1, 2021 Wagamama owner The Restaurant Group has said it expects to burn through £5.5m a month until lockdown restrictions are lifted. The group announced details of the cash burn rate at Christmas but today said it expected to stay at this level until the end of restrictions, which are due to be lifted no earlier than [...]
Online share of grocery sales hits record level during third lockdown March 1, 2021 The third national lockdown pushed the share of online grocery sales to a record high in January, double the level the previous month. The pandemic has accelerated the shift to online shopping with Britain’s big four supermarkets expanding their capacity during the crisis. The online share of grocery sales hit 16 per cent in January, [...]
Bringing London back to life is about more than a return to offices – the capital is fighting for its soul February 28, 2021 Everyone who has moved to London from somewhere else remembers their first night here. I remember mine. My wife and I had dinner in a tiny Indian restaurant in Wembley near the GPs surgery where she’d be working as a nurse. I didn’t have a job yet – but I had that pure excitement that [...]
Anas Sarwar elected new leader of Scottish Labour party February 27, 2021 Anas Sarwar has this morning been announced as the new leader of the Scottish Labour party after defeating Monica Lennon in a snap election. The vote was triggered when former leader Richard Leonard stepped down in January, saying it was in the best interests of the party. Sarwar’s election comes just three months before elections [...]