Roger Varian interview: ‘Will I enjoy Royal Ascot? Ask me at the end of the week’ June 19, 2023 Leading trainer Roger Varian on the importance of success at Royal Ascot this week, his ambitions to run Britain’s No1 stable and the future of the horse racing industry. Six days a week at 4:30am, just as the first sunlight is starting to bathe the Cambridgeshire-Suffolk border, horse racing trainer Roger Varian gets up and [...]
Wimbledon hit by fresh rail disruption as ASLEF announce overtime work ban June 19, 2023 Train drivers at 16 train operators will stop working overtime across six days in July, the ASLEF Union announced today, coinciding with the first week of the Wimbledon tennis tournament. ASLEF members will stop working overtime between Monday 3 July and Saturday 8 July in a long running dispute over pay. Mick Whelan, ASLEF’s general [...]
Online retail firms in trouble as punters turn back to the high street June 19, 2023 E-commerce retailers which were bolstered by Brits stuck at home during the pandemic are now going bust, a new report shows, as the cost of living crisis continues to eat away at businesses. The number of insolvencies of UK e-commerce businesses rose 71 per cent to 529 in the past year, up from 309 in [...]
John Lewis property chief resigns in latest top rank exit June 18, 2023 John Lewis property boss Chris Harris has resigned after a five-year stint, placing further pressure on the struggling retailer’s chair Dame Sharon White. Harris, who held the role of property director, handed in his resignation last week, according to reports in the Sunday Times, but will remain at the firm until November. He had played [...]
Mortgage chaos set to hit banks’ bottom line as demand dries up June 18, 2023 Chaos in the mortgage market is likely to lead to big changes in lending as banks seek to find ways to capitalise on rising interest rates, analysts suggest. Over the last few weeks, the mortgage market has been in turmoil after stubbornly high inflation raised the prospect of further rate hikes. “Mounting base interest rates, [...]
‘Great un-retirement’ underway as cost of living forces people to get back to work June 17, 2023 A “great un-retirement” could be getting under way, according to Age UK, as rising living costs force people to change their later life plans. The charity said it is continuing to hear from older people whose retirement aspirations “are being ruined by the impact of inflation”. One person told the charity: “Had to take early [...]
Scrapping ban on two-for-one junk food deals would be ‘unforgivable’ despite cost of living crisis June 17, 2023 Scrapping a planned anti-obesity policy banning two-for-one junk food deals would be “unforgivable”, health campaigners have warned, after the Government delayed the measure beyond the next election. TV doctor Chris van Tulleken branded suggestions the “light-touch” regulation would restrict consumer choice “ludicrous” following No 10’s announcement it had been shelved amid concerns about the cost-of-living [...]
Cyclist Lizzie Deignan: It’s tricky to not give working mothers a false sense of it being easy June 17, 2023 If you ask anyone who has a child whether or not parenthood is 18 years of plain sailing, you’re unlikely to find a single person who’d say yes. Professional cyclist Lizzie Deignan is no different. This month was supposed to see her long awaited return after having a second child. But two things changed. Deignan [...]
Tesco: ‘Encouraging signs inflation is starting to ease’ as quarterly revenue tops £14.8bn June 16, 2023 Britain’s biggest supermarket Tesco has reported a nine per cent increase in UK sales, with its new chief executive saying there are “encouraging early signs that inflation is starting to ease”. Tesco said it reported £13bn in sales across the UK and Republic of Ireland, up almost nine per cent on the previous quarter. In [...]
Bailey holds the torch for a proud UK tradition – failing our monetary policy June 15, 2023 Andrew Bailey and the economists at the Bank of England are part of a long line of people who have failed Britain’s monetary policy, writes Will Cooling