Don’t dig yourself into a hole! Here are our top tips to keep in mind if you’re planning to dig out your basement February 18, 2017 Barely a week passes without news stories reporting various problems with botched basement digs throughout London. Just recently a Georgian townhouse in Barnes collapsed “like a pack of cards” due to basement work, and similarly a family in Chester Row are still waiting for repairs worth £250,000 to their house after a neighbour’s skip fell [...]
These are the seven deadly sins of the workplace February 17, 2017 Perhaps it was inevitable that someone would try to rebrand the seven deadly sins. After all, it’s 1,700 years since monk Evagrius Ponticus came up with the eight evil thoughts generally credited with the concept. These were whittled down to seven by Pope Gregory I in AD590 – vainglory was the one to go. Now [...]
Britons spend £19,000 every year on bills February 17, 2017 British families spend almost three-quarters of an average wage on bills and accommodation, according to a new study. The average family in the UK spends £19,142.37 on the basics for a fully functioning home, including mortgages or rent, insurance, gas, and electricity, according to a study by Powershop UK. Utility bills on average comprised £520 [...]
Regulators make Mike Ashley backed firm pay £12.5m back to customers February 17, 2017 A division of Findel, the London-listed firm backed by Sports Direct, has agreed with financial regulators to pay £12.5m back to customers for insurance products that "offered little or no value". Personal shopping firm Express Gifts, one of the two main divisions of Findel, sold either property insurance or purchase protection insurance products to customers between 2005 and 2015. [...]
Brit premiums fall in the face of increased competition and downward pressure on rates February 17, 2017 Insurance firm Brit said it had weathered a tough year and was confident changes and initiatives would enable the firm manage market headwinds. The figures Gross written premiums fell from $2.0bn (£1.6bn) to $1.9bn, a decrease of 2.3 per cent on a constant exchange rates basis. Net earned premium decreased by 6.1 per cent to [...]
Theresa May is scared to admit that the unreformed NHS is crumbling around her – Copeland shows the cold reality February 17, 2017 Anything can happen when faith comes under fire. Take the classic tale of Peter the Apostle, who denied Christ three times before the rooster crowed; and in a more modern twist, take Prime Minister May, who this week managed to dodge stating her support for West Cumberland Hospital’s maternity services four times over the course [...]
Editor’s Notes: Lloyd’s has bigger things to worry about than staff nipping out for a drink February 16, 2017 When I started working at a Westminster PR firm eight years ago, I had to learn how to drink at lunch. It wasn’t exactly a hardship. We were a small office (just three people when I joined) and every day we would decamp to the Italian next-door and see off a few bottles of red. [...]
Bruce Carnegie-Brown recommended as Lloyd’s of London chair February 16, 2017 Bruce Carnegie-Brown is to be recommended as the next chairman for Lloyd's of London, the insurance market. A Lloyd's Council meeting is expected to be convened shortly, probably one day early next week, to ratify the decision. The Council has historically followed the recommendation of the Nominations Committee on important appointments. The appointment is also [...]
Help! My firm’s gone into administration. What do I do now? February 16, 2017 The collapse into administration of King & Wood Mallesons’s European arm has left creditors enraged, and competitors salivating in the business and legal press. But most sympathy was reserved for its staff, particularly after news that the firm’s bank had rejected a proposal to release funds to pay January salaries. This highlights how vulnerable staff [...]
Lancashire bolsters its balance sheet and beats expectations despite a tough market February 16, 2017 Shares in Lloyd's insurer Lancashire rocketed by nine per cent this morning after beating expectations during a "turbulent" economic environment and a "very challenging" insurance market. The figures Gross written premiums for the full-year fell by 1.1 per cent from $641m (£513m) to $634m with net written premiums falling from $482m to $459m. Profits dropped to £150m from £182m [...]