Brits optimistic about returning to work despite safety concerns August 13, 2020 British workers are largely optimistic about returning to the office, though concerns remain over whether employers will put the right safety measures in place. Just under half of UK employees said they felt positive about going back to work, while less than one in five said they felt negative, according to a new survey. The [...]
Our university sector was broken long before Covid-19 August 13, 2020 UK higher education has reached a dead end. In the short term, the Covid-19 pandemic has created a huge hole in the current income of institutions, amounting to several billion pounds. In the longer term, Covid will probably result in a sustained decline in several sources of university income, above all fees from overseas students. [...]
We cannot let workers’ rights evaporate just because we’re working from home August 13, 2020 Are we working from home, or sleeping at the office? It’s a question that captures the love-hate relationship many workers (and, indeed, employers) have with remote working. This relationship has only become more strained as the pandemic has forced thousands of us to reconfigure our homes into makeshift offices with dining tables doubling up as [...]
With five months to prepare, the A-level results fiasco is a scandal of the government’s own making August 12, 2020 A-level results day is always fraught with drama. Whether its moral panic of grade inflation, handwringing about the relative value of a university degree, or outrage over news stories being illustrated by delighted blonde girls jumping into the air with joy, results day “scandal” it’s a staple of the August news calendar. This year is [...]
Tesla shares spike on five-for-one stock split August 12, 2020 Tesla’s move to split its stock into smaller chunks caused its share price to jump more than eight per cent as markets opened this afternoon. Analysts said the split had the potential to extend a 200 per cent rally in Tesla’s shares this year by making it easier for retail investors to hold the stock. [...]
Rishi Sunak says ‘hard times are here’ as UK plunges into worst recession on record August 12, 2020 Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak today warned that “hard times are here” after the UK’s GDP contracted by 20.4 per cent in the last three months, plunging it into the worst recession on record. Speaking to Sky News, Sunak warned that “many more people” would lose their jobs as a result of the recession, [...]
We should never have to choose between pubs and schools — but if we do, schools must come first August 11, 2020 It is a “moral duty: and a “national priority” to return all children to the classroom in September. So wrote the Prime Minister in an op-ed at the weekend, in which he pinned his colours to the mast of the schools debate in no uncertain terms. Boris Johnson’s intervention comes in response to mounting concerns [...]
HMRC triples number of tax probes into footballers August 10, 2020 The UK’s tax authority has tripled the number of investigations into professional footballers in the year to March as a part of a wider tax avoidance crackdown. HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) opened 246 probes into professional footballers in the year to March 2020, which was an increase from 87 in the previous year. The [...]
What is Decentralized Finance (DeFi)? August 10, 2020 Decentralized finance, also known as DeFi, is a fast-growing sector of the cryptocurrency industry. While cryptocurrency coins create a decentralized store of value separate from any government-backed fiat currency, DeFi creates decentralized financial instruments separate from traditional centralized institutions. Although still small when compared to the global economy, DeFi has seen rapid growth in 2020. [...]
Canary Wharf is ‘open for business’ as firms head back to the office August 10, 2020 As City firms prepare their return to the office, the chief executive of Canary Wharf Group has declared the development is open for business. Shobi Khan told City A.M. that everything is in place for a return to office life at Canary Wharf, which is home to some of the world’s leading firms. Companies had [...]