Social Media: Who watches the watchers? April 8, 2019 Social media, and especially its archetype, Facebook, has had a difficult run of publicity over the past few years. The 2016 US presidential election and the rise of “fake news” certainly did it no favours, and the Cambridge Analytica scandal which came in its wake made things worse still. Facebook’s origins as a benign thread [...]
Tories must move to centre ground to win back young voters from labour, major study says April 8, 2019 The Conservatives must move towards the centre ground to reclaim millions of young voters who currently support Labour, a major report released today has said. Read more: Tories are the party of 'economic destruction', say business leaders Senior Tory cabinet ministers and backbenchers have backed the call of centre-right think tank Onwards to make the [...]
Office banter? Bosses left fuming by buzzwords that have literally no substance April 8, 2019 People who use buzzwords such as “literally,” “yolo” and “banter” in the workplace are liable to leave their employers foaming at the mouth, according to research. Britain’s bosses are fed up with hearing their co-workers and candidates spouting “annoying buzzwords,” because they make communication difficult, isolate those who don’t know what they mean and lack [...]
Anti-social media: Former New Zealand prime minister Helen Clark on social media harm after the Christchurch terror attacks April 8, 2019 I Interrupt the former leader of my native New Zealand, Helen Clark, in the middle of a Twitter and Facebook purge. “Social media management” she says, dictating a response to one of the provocateurs or well-wishers. It’s all part of overseeing a social media following of more than 200,000, I’m sure, but especially fitting since [...]
Social media giants face fines in ‘online harms’ crackdown, says government April 8, 2019 Social media sites face financial penalties or blocking if they fail to tackle “online harms”, says a government white paper published today. Under a code of practice set out by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS), an independent watchdog would police the sector, possibly funded by the industry. Read more: Social media giants [...]
Sponsoring women’s football isn’t just a good look for brands – it’s a lucrative opportunity too April 7, 2019 It’s impossible to avoid the conversation around women’s football at the moment – and particularly so in the world of marketing advocating for the opportunities it presents. Before jumping in head first, brands need to think about why they want to get involved. But the bigger question is why sponsorship of women’s football presents commercial [...]
It’s time for the pensions industry to stop taking customers for granted April 5, 2019 With workplace pension contributions increasing from tomorrow, I’m reminded of a recent industry event that I attended. During the keynote, the speaker cut to a video where members of the public were stopped on the street and asked “who is your pension provider?” Most of those questioned looked confused, unable to recall where their pensions [...]
UK house prices drop in March amid Brexit uncertainty after shock rise, says Halifax April 5, 2019 UK house prices grew 2.6 per cent year on year in March, but fell compared to the month before, according to data released today. The value of the average UK home hit £233,181 last month, after growing 1.6 per cent between January to March compared to the three months to the end of December. Read [...]
Stop unfairly demonising firms that have large gender pay gaps April 5, 2019 Bad data cannot produce good policy. This gets us to the heart of the problem with the mandated gender pay gap reporting legislation, which is now into its second year. It’s all good and well finding a hook to speak about cultural issues. And no doubt, women are still operating in an unequal world, even [...]
Ollie Phillips: Mike Ford needs to galvanise Leicester to move them away from Premiership relegation April 4, 2019 There are five games left in the Premiership season and it’s crunch time at the bottom where four teams are battling it out to avoid the dreaded drop. Of the four it’s Leicester Tigers who are most unused to their standing, having slumped to 10th place and five points above the drop through a run [...]