Letters: Housing, interrupted April 5, 2022 [Re: House price growth hits highest level since 2004 with record average of £265.3k, March 31] New figures released by the Nationwide house price index defy premature predictions of slowing prices in early 2022. An increase in average house prices of 20 per cent in the last two years is a shocking figure which coincides [...]
As consumer confidence plummets, we face a cultural reckoning over British pubs April 5, 2022 In the months ahead, people across the country will be tightening their belts and doing all they can to maintain their quality of life despite rising costs all around them. So it wasn’t completely surprising when yesterday, PwC’s new consumer sentiment survey reported the steepest decline in consumer confidence since their tracking began, 14 years [...]
Giving crypto the ministerial seal of approval comes with responsibilities April 4, 2022 As Rishi Sunak is finding out, value can be volatile. Last year he was the odds-on favourite to replace Boris Johnson in Number Ten, popular with Tory party members and (for a Cabinet minister, at least) the public at large. Alas this year, though Sunak has done very little differently, his stock isn’t quite flying [...]
80 organisations pull out of government LGBTQ conference post-conversion therapy backlash April 4, 2022 A growing tally of organisations have pulled out of the government’s LGBTQ+ conference this summer, as part of growing backlash towards it looking to ditch its promise to ban conversion therapy. More than 80 LGBTQ+ and HIV organisations, including Stonewall, in the UK have bailed out of the international conference. Conversion therapy attempts to change [...]
French election: Macron’s lead over Le Pen cut days before first vote April 4, 2022 Polling for the French Presidential race has drastically tightened with less than a week before the first round of voting. Emmanuel Macron’s large lead over far-right challenger Marine Le Pen has shrunk over the past month, with a recent IFOP poll showing the incumbent ahead 53-47 in a head-to-head run-off. Macron and Le Pen are [...]
Three out of four Brits consider new job or career change as cost of living crisis messes up their lives April 4, 2022 New research shared with City A.M. this morning suggests that a record three out of four workers are considering a new job because of the cost-of-living crisis. Jobs site CV-Library said its study indicated that pay was now the main driver for people thinking of finding different work. Its survey of more than 4,000 professional [...]
Gold holds up amid looming fears of recession April 4, 2022 Gold prices have stabilised as fears of a recession mount, with continued geopolitical tensions and the growing expectations of an interest rate hike.
Government urged to ‘come clean’ over its plans to change workers’ rights in controversial employment bill April 4, 2022 The Government has been urged to “come clean” over its plans for workers’ rights after news emerged of a delay in bringing forward an Employment Bill. Union TUC reacted with fury to reports that ministers are going to drop the long-awaited Bill from next month’s Queen’s Speech. The TUC said it will be the second [...]
Protestors block London Esso oil facility ahead of new UN climate report April 4, 2022 Protestors have blocked an Esso oil facility near Heathrow Airport with two bamboo structures in a bid to stop new fossil fuel developments. In a fourth day of protests, demonstrators from Extinction Rebellion and the Just Stop Oil Coalition have been blocking the exits to several oil facilities across the country, beginning with seven on [...]
Fintech was born out of the 2008 crisis: now it will help us navigate another storm April 4, 2022 In the aftermath of the 2008 financial crash, the financial services industry was in crisis. Silver linings were hard to come by. That period of turmoil led to the emergence of a new wave of financial innovation that would transform the industry and drive a fintech revolution. The crisis created opportunities for new companies to [...]