Top 10 most shorted UK stocks: Hedge funds bet against Metro Bank, Royal Mail and Cineworld July 23, 2020 Metro Bank, Royal Mail and Cineworld are among the UK’s most shorted stocks, new analysis has revealed, as financial uncertainty amid the coronavirus crisis continues to weigh on industry heavy-weights. How does short selling work? Short sellers place bets on stocks that they expect to fall in price. Investors pay a fee to borrow shares [...]
Petropavlovsk gold sales surge amid boardroom strife July 23, 2020 Gold miner Petropavlovsk said that total sales had risen 39 per cent in the first half of the year despite an ongoing battle for control of the Russia-focused firm’s board. Shares shot up over 20 per cent on the back of the results, which the firm said was down to the performance of a new [...]
Ofcom orders TV, phone and internet providers to stop preying on vulnerable customers July 23, 2020 Broadcasting watchdog Ofcom has ordered phone, broadband and pay-TV companies to stop threatening to disconnect vulnerable customers struggling to pay their bills amid financial uncertainty during the coronavirus pandemic. In new guidance issued this morning, Ofcom said the coronavirus pandemic has increased the likelihood of customers’ circumstances changing suddenly, making it more likely some customers [...]
Labour calls for review of Russia Today’s UK TV licence July 22, 2020 Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer has called for state-backed broadcaster Russia Today (RT) to have its TV licence reviewed on the back of fresh warnings about Kremlin interference in the UK. Starmer called on Boris Johnson at today’s Prime Minister’s Questions (PMQs) to “stop the spread of Kremlin-backed disinformation”, adding that the UK’s High Court [...]
Grant Shapps says there is ‘no evidence’ of Russian Brexit interference July 22, 2020 Transport secretary Grant Shapps has said there is no evidence that Russia interfered in the 2016 Brexit vote and therefore the UK secret services did not need to investigate the allegations. Shapps’s statement came the day after lawmakers finally released the delayed Russia report. It said the government failed to investigate possible Russian interference in [...]
Russia report: What were the key findings? July 21, 2020 A long-awited and long-delayed parliamentary report into Russia’s interference in UK politics was finally released today by Westminster’s Intelligence and Security Committee (ISC). The report was presented at a press conference by new committee chair, and now independent MP, Julian Lewis, Labour MP Kevan Jones and SNP MP Stewart Hosie. While the report did not [...]
Russia report: Russian influence in UK politics is ‘new normal’ July 21, 2020 Russian influence in UK politics has been described as the “new normal” in Westminster’s Intelligence and Security Committee (ISC)’s long-awaited Russia report. The report said that successive governments “welcomed the oligarchs and their money with open arms, providing them with a means of recycling illicit finance through the London ‘laundromat’” and “connections at the highest [...]
Russia ‘interfered with Scottish referendum’, report to say July 21, 2020 A forthcoming report into Russia’s influence on British politics is set to conclude the Kremlin attempted to influence the result of the Scottish independence referendum, it is reported. Russia tried to split the UK in the 2014 referendum, the Daily Telegraph reported ahead of the official publication later this morning. However, Russian President Vladimir Putin [...]
Time for the UK to recognise the prospect of an independent Scotland July 20, 2020 The debate on Scotland’s future is changing. Opinion polls have begun showing majority support for independence. The two most recent polls have put the “Yes” vote at 54 per cent, nearly a full inversion of the 2014 referendum result. Brexit has been the main driver of this shift. The Scottish electorate consistently rejected leaving the [...]
In allying with Iran, China signals the start of Cold War II July 20, 2020 To read the lion’s share of today’s headlines, you would think the western world is in its final days, a Rome tottering on the edge of the abyss. And yet geopolitically, for all our leaders’ unheroic bungling of the coronavirus pandemic, our primary strategic rival China has had a far worse innings. Overconfident President Xi [...]