From Southern rail’s backfiring poster to Google’s April Fool prank gone wrong: Six of the most memorable business blunders of 2016 January 1, 2017 2016 has been an interesting year to say the least. There has of course been a plethora of notable political events over the past 12 months, but there’s also been plenty going on in the business world. With that in mind, here are some of the most memorable company clangers from over the year – from [...]
John Lewis hits out at Labour MP over Christmas jingle December 20, 2016 The John Lewis Partnership has hit out at a campaigning Labour MP after she produced a Christmas jingle criticising the retailer for how it treats its staff. Labour MPs, led by Siobhain McDonagh, recently recorded a song – titled "National Living Rage" – to highlight how retailers are cutting staff benefits in response to the national living wage. Read more: [...]
Tyrie calls for national cyber centre to ensure finance is “high priority “ December 19, 2016 An influential MP has called on the government's intelligence agencies to ensure cyber security within the financial services industry is a top priority in the wake of several high profile banking data breaches and failing legacy IT systems. Andrew Tyrie, the chair of the Treasury Select Committee, has written to the chief executive of the National Cyber Security [...]
Payments regulator sets out vision for industry-wide approach to protect consumers December 16, 2016 Financial regulators have promised to stamp out payment scams which have cost Britons hundreds of millions of pounds. The Payment Systems Regulator (PSR), a special branch of the Financial Conduct Authority that focuses on banking payments, said today the financial services sector needs to do more to protect consumers. "In a short space of time [...]
BAE Systems to boost top UK cyber security talent as a third of graduates recruits to train in countering digital threats December 15, 2016 Almost a third of the 235 graduates joining BAE Systems next year will be hired to work in the firm's cyber security arm as digital threats to government and businesses soar. The blue-chip defence giant said the new emphasis in its graduate programme was prompted by an online survey it conducted with business heads, in [...]
Consumers are going to spend a record amount on supermarket premium ranges this Christmas December 13, 2016 Consumers have been preparing to taste the difference this Christmas as they stock up on supermarkets' premium own label brands. Data from Kantar Worldpanel showed that during the three months to the end of 4 December, shoppers spent 13 per cent more on brands such as Tesco Finest and Asda Extra Special than they did the year before. Read more: These [...]
How will Christmas dinner be different after Brexit? Here are 2016’s best alternative Christmas cracker jokes December 13, 2016 With Brexit, Donald Trump and mad political party leadership races dominating the nation’s attention, 2016 will be remembered as a year when people really got interested in politics. The final piece of proof? Brexit – surely no laughing matter – has won a joke competition, narrowly beating Sports Direct and BHS (proving that it has even [...]
Half of us will buy Christmas dinner at discount supermarkets this year December 7, 2016 Nearly half of us are going to buy our Christmas meal from one of the discount supermarkets this year. Aldi and Lidl have steadily being growing their share of the grocery market as shoppers looking for cheaper and cheaper prices. Read more: Iceland Foods wants "peaceful coexistence" with Iceland (the country) But, the discounters have [...]
Wanted: A bold government housing strategy that delivers for the young rather than the old December 6, 2016 If Brexit wasn’t dominating British politics, then one other issue would be: the lack of housing. If you know someone under 30, living in London and able to afford their first home, then your friend belongs to the country’s richest percentile. For most people, even for those on what used to be a decent median income, owning [...]
Have yourself an analogue Christmas: Vinyl outsold digital downloads for the first time last week December 6, 2016 It's going to be a crackly, scratchy sort of Christmas this year, after new figures showed sales of vinyl outstripped those of downloaded music for the first time since the advent of digital downloads last week. The Entertainment Retailers Association (ERA) said £2.4m was spent on vinyl albums in week 48 of 2016, compared with £2.1m [...]