Young’s swings to a loss in ‘toughest period’ of 189-year history November 12, 2020 Pub chain Young’s swung to a loss in what it called one of the “toughest years” in its 189 years of trading, but said it has the resilience to survive the coronavirus crisis. The company this morning said it has the resources and funds to “see through the very worst that this pandemic can throw [...]
Some 19,000 jobs for 16-24s created under government Kickstart Scheme November 12, 2020 More than 19,000 placements for unemployed young people have been created under the government’s £2 billion Kickstart Scheme so far. The Kickstart Scheme began last week and, according to HMRC, is expected to produce “tens of thousands” more placements in the coming months. The scheme provides funding to create new job placements for 16 to [...]
Why are vulnerable working-age adults like me at the back of the vaccine queue? November 12, 2020 The last few days have been filled with the exciting news of one — at least — vaccine being made available in as little as a few weeks. After almost nine months in the grips of a pandemic, it is the news that the UK population has been desperately waiting to hear. Yet, while the [...]
Could ditching the office make us all poorer? November 12, 2020 While we have in many ways adjusted to life in a pandemic, the profoundly disorientating changes we’ve seen since the initial nationwide lockdown are stark. The “death of the office” narrative has persisted through the easing and then reimposing of lockdown restrictions, and while no one can predict exactly how this will play out, it [...]
Number of Tesla cars on UK roads triples in past year November 11, 2020 The number of Tesla cars on UK roads has more than trebled in the last year, new data from accountants UHY Hacker Young has shown. As of March, there were 90,900 models of the electric car in this country, up a whopping 336 per cent on the previous year. The rise in ownership comes on [...]
Government mulls plans to introduce Tier 4 when lockdown lifts November 11, 2020 Ministers are mulling plans to add Tier 4 to regionalised coronavirus rules when England exits the nationwide lockdown on 2 December. Prime Minister Boris Johnson has insisted England will return to a local lockdown approach when current measures automatically expire in three weeks. However, reports that a fourth tier could be rolled out in virus [...]
Fifty rebel Tory MPs form anti-lockdown Covid Recovery Group November 11, 2020 Dozens of rebel Conservative MPs have formed a new backbench group to protest the imposition of new lockdown restrictions across the country. Former chief whip Mark Harper and ex-Brexit minister Steve Baker will head up the new Covid Recovery Group (CRG) as chairman and deputy chairman. Harper has also recruited prominent senior backbenchers including Sir [...]
The public are not to blame for the second lockdown November 11, 2020 Justice secretary Robert Buckland last week blamed the public for England’s new lockdown. In particular, the fault was with people failing to self-isolate properly. Of course, in a purely technical sense Buckland is right. The virus spreads by contact with an infected person. If people do not self-isolate, Covid-19 will continue to percolate across the [...]
FA chairman Greg Clarke resigns after using racial slur in diversity meeting November 10, 2020 Greg Clarke has resigned as Football Association chairman after using the term “coloured” to refer to black football players when talking to MPs about diversity. Clarke described black players as “coloured footballers” when talking to members of the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) select committee via video link this afternoon. The FA chairman [...]
Direct Line premiums stabilise as insurance market climbs back November 10, 2020 Direct Line today posted flat trading for the third quarter as shopping habits began to recover after a decline sparked by the coronavirus outbreak. The insurance group said its total written premiums slipped a marginal 0.8 per cent to £851.5m in the three months to the end of September. The performance was primarily driven by [...]