How Iceland found the perfect Christmas campaign formula December 11, 2019 Twas the month before Christmas (in 2018), and the festive cheer was seemingly “cancelled” for British frozen food giant Iceland. “We’re absolutely gutted,” a defeated Richard Walker, Iceland’s managing director, told the BBC. “We wanted to share this message far and wide.” Well, for Richard, Christmas miracles are very much real. This particular miracle began when [...]
Corbyn defends leaked NHS documents amid ‘links to Russia’ December 7, 2019 Jeremy Corbyn has defended his party’s decision to release leaked documents detailing UK-US trade talks despite apparent links to Russia. Reddit revealed on Friday that the documents were posted on its platform by an account linked to a campaign “originating from Russia”. The site said it had suspended 61 accounts that were part of a [...]
Russia’s Sberbank moves into driverless cars with joint venture November 28, 2019 Sberbank, Russia’s largest lender, is moving into driverless cars with a new investment in AI transport startup Cognitive Technologies. Read more: Uber partly to blame for driverless car death, says US watchdog The state-owned bank will take a 30 per cent stake in a new company, Cognitive Pilot, while Cognitive Technologies will take a 70 [...]
48 Hours In Tbilisi: How to get the most out of a trip to the capital of Georgia November 28, 2019 Things to do Tbilisi is easy to navigate on foot and by metro. Explore the old part of the city, from the museums on Rustavelli Avenue to the cobbled back streets of the old town, ducking into art galleries, churches, cafes or enjoying a scrub down in the sulphur baths. Head to Narikala Fortress for [...]
Don’t panic, China is nowhere close to overtaking America November 25, 2019 There has been far too much doom-mongering of late about America’s structural position in the world. While there is no doubt that the US is in relative decline, it is as if the commentariat does not really understand what these words actually mean, focusing only on the “decline” part of the phrase. So for all [...]
B&Q owner Kingfisher’s new CEO blasts ‘disappointing’ like-for-like sales slump November 20, 2019 B&Q owner Kingfisher saw like-for-like sales sink 3.7 per cent over its third quarter, as its new chief executive admitted he has “much to do” to improve the business. Sales sank 3.1 per cent to £2.96bn over the quarter to the end of October, with the UK seeing a one per cent decline in like [...]
Keep calm, and don’t get carried away by lurid rumours about the Russia report November 20, 2019 One of the great mysteries of this election campaign to date has been why an unpublished report should be the cause of great and sustained political hysteria. This document has been cited by numerous sources as of pivotal significance to national security. Even Hillary Clinton — remember her? — has popped up to opine solemnly [...]
The emerging hipster capital of Germany, Leipzig’s history is rooted in revolution November 15, 2019 Look down on the quietly affluent pedestrianised streets of central Leipzig from the unparalleled heights of the Panorama Tower, and you would probably never guess that this is a city where the death knell was rung on the Cold War division of Germany. But this year Leipzig commemorates 30 years since a series of demonstrations [...]
DEBATE: Is it worrying that the report on Russian interference has not yet been published? November 13, 2019 Should we be concerned that the government’s report into Russian interference has not yet been released? Liz Jarvis, a writer and a Liberal Democrat parliamentary candidate in Southampton Itchen, says YES. In just over four weeks, voters will go to the polls without knowing whether or not they can trust the Conservatives on the issue [...]
Labour suffers second cyber attack in 24 hours November 12, 2019 Labour has been hit by a second cyber attack in two days, after hackers reportedly targeted the party’s web services this afternoon. Hackers tried to force its web services offline from around 1pm today, according to a Labour source. Read more: Labour experiences a ‘sophisticated and very large’ cyber attack A Labour spokesperson said: “We [...]