Whisky business: A wintry trip to the magical Highlands December 10, 2019 Winter sun, this ain’t. Trundling northwards through the Cairngorms towards Inverness, you could be forgiven for thinking you were travelling through an alien landscape. Grey, spare hills emerge from the drizzly low cloud; the “torrents and loud-poured floods” of Rabbie Burns’ poetry run high and violent. Not for nothing do the Scots have several different [...]
Mothercare sinks into deeper loss as sales slip December 10, 2019 Retailer Mothercare fell further into the red in the first half of the year, with its loss before tax rising to £21.2m in the six months to the end of October. The baby wear retailer also saw net debt rise to £24.5m in the period, representing a 14.4 per cent increase year on year. Read [...]
The Beeb needs reform December 10, 2019 In an unconventional move for a frontline politician at election time, Boris Johnson yesterday offered an honest and reasonably clear answer to a question. Asked what he thought of the BBC licence fee he said — whilst muttering something about not concocting policy on the hoof —that it seemed rather outdated. Well, he’s right. Some [...]
This country has not had enough of experts December 10, 2019 Michael Gove famously said that the “people in this country have had enough of experts”. Of course, that’s not the full story — at the time, Gove was specifically targeting experts who, he claimed, kept getting things wrong. But regardless, the “had enough of experts” quote went viral, and came to be viewed as something [...]
It would be a colossal error for the UK to opt out of the creative thinking study December 10, 2019 Each of the major parties’ manifestos for the upcoming election recognises the importance of creativity in our schools and workforces. It seems that policymakers are finally responding to a growing body of international evidence that employers, as they navigate an increasingly digital and complex world, will value human skills like original thinking and complex problem [...]
Debate: Are young people today prepared for the future impact of automation on the workplace? December 9, 2019 Debate: Are young people today prepared for the future impact of automation on the workplace? Yes — Nigel Vaz is global chief executive of digital consultancy Publicis Sapient. As automation becomes increasingly effective and accessible for businesses to perform administrative and data-driven tasks at scale, human input and creativity will remain essential. Graduates who have [...]
Property of the Week: A quirky Georgian terrace in Bow – complete with pool December 6, 2019 Bow, the formerly industrial district of East London, isn’t renowned for its grand period properties – so there is considerable excitement among buyers when one does come on to the market. Such is the case with this five-bedroom property on Bow Road, which is not only an example of a beautifully-preserved Georgian period house, but [...]
Help to Buy: Most popular London locations for first-time buyers revealed December 6, 2019 South London dominated the most popular locations for Help to Buy home purchases, new research has found after the government ISA scheme came to an end. Lewisham, Deptford and Croydon were all popular with buyers seeking to get on the property ladder, as first-time home owners were priced out of previously popular locations such as [...]
Northampton Saints’ clash with Leinster will be a real test of their credentials this campaign December 5, 2019 Northampton’s double-header against Leinster in the Champions Cup, starting on Saturday, will provide a great test of where they really stand this season. The Saints have had a flying start to the campaign and smashed Leicester 36-13 last weekend in the East Midlands derby to go top of the Premiership. It has always been a [...]
Boris Johnson likens Labour’s ‘NHS plot’ dossier to UFO pictures December 5, 2019 Prime Minister Boris Johnson has compared a leaked 451-page document Labour has heralded as proof of a plot to privatise the NHS to photos of UFOs. Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn revealed the unredacted documents detailing preliminary trade talks between the US and UK late last month, saying the files were proof that the NHS was [...]