Christmas day 2015 is looking more and more likely to be a white Christmas as bookies slash their odds October 22, 2015 Everybody dreams of a white Christmas, don’t they? This year, it’s become far more probable that’s what the UK is going to get. The Met Office says “for most parts of the UK, Christmas is right at the beginning of the period when it’s likely to snow. Looking at climate history, wintry weather is more likely [...]
Virgin Media hits out at BT and Sky over Premier League football TV rights deal October 21, 2015 Virgin Media has fired the latest shot in the battle of the broadcasters over the way TV rights for football games are sold. Research commissioned by Virgin showed that just six per cent of football fans said they were able to watch every match they wanted to on TV at home. Media watchdog Ofcom launched an [...]
Sky shakes off competition with profit rise despite Champions League loss October 21, 2015 Sky has shaken off rivals with a 10 per cent rise in profits while a 77 per cent surge in broadband subscribers was its biggest quarterly growth in four years. Operating profit across Sky Europe of £375m was slightly ahead of expectations for the three months to the end of September on revenue of £2.8bn, [...]
City executives including Trinity Mirror’s Sly Bailey plan exchange for real estate October 21, 2015 A team of high-profile City executives is preparing to launch the world’s first exchange to trade shares in companies that own single commercial property assets, opening up commercial property investment opportunities to a wider range of investors. The venture, London Real Estate Exchange Limited, has been working on plans for months to allow the owners [...]
London property prices: Business bears the cost of the government’s housing failures October 20, 2015 London's housing crisis is a human tragedy. The London Poverty Profile, released today, shows that housing costs are the major driver of a big increase in the number of Londoners who are in work but still living in poverty. But the housing crisis is also an economic tragedy. It is damaging the competitiveness of businesses, [...]
2015 Orionid Meteor Shower: When is it, what is it and where can I see it? October 20, 2015 The Orionid meteor shower happens every year and is connected with Halley’s Comet; it's the debris from its most recent passage, back in 1986, hitting the Earth’s atmosphere. The meteors are the debris left behind by Halley's Comet, which last whizzed past the Earth in 1986, and are the particles from that last passage that slammed against the [...]
Jinping Kerching: David Cameron and Chinese President expected to announce several deals October 19, 2015 Prime Minister David Cameron and Chinese President Xi Jinping are hailing a “golden era” of Sino-British relations on the eve of Jingping’s four-day state visit to the UK, as investors await confirmation of billions of pounds worth of trade and investment deals. Among the expected announcements is a multibillion pound deal to build the controversial new nuclear [...]
Public finance numbers could be back on track – London Report October 18, 2015 THE LATEST public finance figures, due out on Wednesday, are expected to have seen renewed year-on-year improvement in September after a particularly disappointing August. An improved September performance would help get the public finances back on track to reach George Osborne’s targets after taking a hit the previous month. Economists expect public sector net borrowing [...]
Christopher Bailey’s sky high pay is hard to justify as Burberry’s profits sink October 16, 2015 Burberry, the luxury fashion brand popular with Romeo Beckham and Yanis Varoufakis, must be getting pretty bored with criticism over the size of its executives’ pack packages. Annual eight-figure payments to former boss Angela Ahrendts attracted attention in the wake of the global financial crisis, while current chief Christopher Bailey faced a shareholder revolt before [...]
Is the tech industry pushing up property prices in London? October 15, 2015 Residents in San Francisco have fallen out of love with the tech sector. They blame its success for driving up house prices and rents. Tensions are rising amid claims of a gentrification led by tech workers. Yet right now, London is in love with tech. Google has committed to King’s Cross, while around Silicon Roundabout [...]