Klarna rival Laybuy turns its attention to the UK’s buy now pay later market May 27, 2021 The buy now pay later market has exploded in recent years and now a New Zealand company is trying to make its mark in the UK. Laybuy was set up by Gary Rohloff, his wife and his two sons in 2018 and launched in the UK in early 2019. The likes of Klarna and Clearpay [...]
Ben Whishaw goes off the deep end in tense debut feature Surge May 27, 2021 Debut features from new directors are exciting prospects. They can be unfiltered, rough and ready works that jump out of the screen and smack you across the face. They can also be derivative junk whose name you forget before the credits have even rolled. For Aneil Karis, an award-winning short filmmaker, Surge falls firmly into [...]
AstraZeneca boss: Digital innovation vital to equipping health systems for next pandemic May 26, 2021 AstraZeneca boss Pascal Soriot has said healthcare systems need greater flexibility and digital innovation to enable remote treatment if they are to better deal with future pandemics. Soriot’s firm has been at the forefront of the fight against Covid-19, producing a cheap, easily-shipped vaccine against the novel coronavirus. But Soriot said one of the most [...]
Cruella is a fabulous origin story for Disney’s most enduring villain May 26, 2021 “Cruella de Vil, Cruella de Vil, if she doesn’t scare you, no evil thing will…”. This ditty in Disney’s 1961 animation 101 Dalmations leaves little room for nuance as it introduced one of its most enduring villains. Whether hand drawn, or in the form of Glenn Glose’s 90s portrayals, Cruella de Vil is a narcissistic, [...]
Sir Alex Ferguson: Never Give In is a personal tale of greatness May 26, 2021 In the world of football, few men have dominated quite like Sir Alex Ferguson. Even if you are a supporter of one of the teams his Manchester United side made miserable, the numbers speak for themselves. Thirteen Premier League Titles, 2 Champions Leagues, 5 FA Cups, and a lifetime of memories for those whom he [...]
Airbnb boss banks on long-term shift to remote working May 26, 2021 Airbnb is “not just a travel company anymore”, boss Brian Chesky has said, as he threw his weight behind a long-term shift to home working. The rental booking chief has unveiled a string of changes to the platform aimed at capitalising on new travel habits in the post-pandemic age. Chesky said Covid-19 had sparked the [...]
Lack of workplace flexibility will prompt a third of workers to leave, survey shows May 26, 2021 A third of UK employees would look for a new job if their company did not allow flexible working, according to a new survey. Findings from UK consultancy Barnett Waddingham, which surveyed more than 2,000 workers, showed that hybrid working has become imperative for employee retention. Of the 33 per cent who would seek a [...]
Less than half of small businesses will ask staff to return to the office full-time May 25, 2021 Fewer than one in two of small business owners plan to advise their staff to return to the office after 21 June, when government restrictions on home working will be lifted, according to new survey results. Financial services company Hitachi Capital Business Finance polled over a thousand UK-based small business owners to find out how [...]
Flight is a touching, socially distanced diorama play May 25, 2021 As lockdown one bled into lockdown two, which quickly became lockdown three, theatre companies realised they were going to have to do something drastically different to keep audiences engaged and bring in a little income. For some that meant socially-distanced recitals that could open and close without an outlay on sets and ensemble casts. Others [...]
Europa League final: Why stakes are high for Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and Manchester United against Villarreal May 25, 2021 By reaching the Europa League final and finishing second in the Premier League, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has delivered the necessary progress to keep his job. But that doesn’t mean that the stakes aren’t high for both Solskjaer and Manchester United when they meet Villarreal in Gdansk on Wednesday night. Like a lot of people, I [...]