Breaking: Self-isolation period slashed to 10 days from Monday December 11, 2020 The self-isolation period for contacts of people who have tested positive for coronavirus will be cut from 14 days to 10 days from Monday. The change will also apply to people forced to quarantine after returning to the UK from high-risk countries. It means people across the four nations who have already been self-isolating for [...]
Astrazeneca to test combining Covid-19 vaccine with Russia’s Sputnik jab December 11, 2020 Astrazeneca has announced it will experiment with combining its Covid-19 vaccine with Russia’s Sputnik V jab, in a move that scientists believe could significantly boost efficacy. In its statement this morning, Astrazeneca said it was considering assessing combinations of different vaccines, and would soon begin exploring with Russia’s Gamaleya Institute, which developed Sputnik V. Peer-reviewed [...]
FTSE 100 falls back as Brexit negotiations drag on December 3, 2020 The FTSE 100 fell back this morning after the French government threatened to veto a Brexit trade deal if EU negotiators gave further concessions to the UK. London’s premier index dropped 0.4 per cent start as trading opened, while the FTSE 250 of midcap companies picked up 0.1 per cent. Brexit talks are ongoing between [...]
Snakes and Ladders: Who is moving jobs in the City this week? December 3, 2020 Snakes and Ladders provides a roundup of the most important hires and job moves across the City, every Wednesday afternoon. Email citymoves@cityam.com to be featured. Firms are continuing to adapt to the challenges and opportunities presented by the pandemic as they vie to be in prime position to recover from the economic fallout of the crisis. This week, [...]
Boost the UK’s space power now — or risk a catastrophic cyber strike December 3, 2020 At the start of this year, the coronavirus pandemic took the world by surprise, and the UK was ill-prepared to deal with it. Now, as we head towards 2021, the end of Covid-19 appears to be in sight. But there are other threats on the horizon that Britain is not ready for. As the defence [...]
Covid-19: Who is winning the global vaccine race? November 30, 2020 Large global trials of several Covid-19 vaccine candidates involving tens of thousands of participants are well underway with some having gathered sufficient data to seek emergency use authorisation. The following is what we know about the race to deliver vaccines to help end the coronavirus pandemic that has claimed more than 1.45m lives worldwide: Who [...]
Is Opec+ fraying at the edges? November 30, 2020 As the Opec summit gets underway in Vienna, there are signs that the consensus about overproduction levels may be fading. The UAE and other major producers have indicated frustration at the current state of production. They see Saudi Arabia and Russia, two of the world’s largest producers, determining energy policy bilaterally, apart from the rest [...]
Solving the crypto-fiat conundrum: how banks can offer a premium and trusted crypto-fiat service November 30, 2020 PayPal recently announced that it will enable US users to buy and sell crypto currencies in early 2021. This has immediately fueled the interest of traditional banks in the cryptocurrency market, convincing many that it is simply impossible to ignore the record-high investor interest in digital assets. Financial institutions see the hunger for legal crypto [...]
Before the bell: Equity sentiment slips while all eyes are on OPEC November 30, 2020 Equity markets had a positive run last week on the back of more progress being made with respect to developing a Covid-10 vaccine. In addition to that traders are more optimistic that President Trump will leave office quietly in January. The main story of the week was that the drug being developed by AstraZeneca and [...]
Antony Blinken and the tragedy of America’s foreign policy establishment November 30, 2020 I was recently speaking to an DC-insider friend of mine about the appointment of Antony Blinken as America’s next secretary of state. My old colleague — a veteran of my seminal struggles with the neo-conservatives around the time of the Iraq War, a passionate Republican Never-Trumper and card-carrying member of the Washington establishment — summed [...]