Mortgage commitments plummet to pandemic levels as rate hike jitters spook housing market June 13, 2023 The number of new mortgage commitments has fallen to the lowest levels since the Covid pandemic as speculation the Bank of England’s will keep on hiking interest rates rattles the market. As the central bank raised interest rates for the 12th consecutive time during the quarter, in a bid to cool inflation, the number of [...]
Women’s Ashes: England name squad for historic series June 12, 2023 England have named their squad for this summer’s Women’s Ashes series. Lauren Filer and Danielle Gibson could make their debuts for England in a series which has seen well over 70,000 tickets sold. The Women’s Ashes sees England and Australia compete in one Test, three International Twenty20 matches and three One-Day Internationals. The likes of [...]
Knight Frank revenues soar as it shrugs off ‘considerable market disruption’ June 12, 2023 Estate agency Knight Frank has posted a surge in revenues for the year despite having tackled “considerable market disruption” over the last 12 months due to the impact of the Truss-Kwarteng mini-budget. Revenues for the year ending 31 March 2023 reached £670m up from £665m in the same period last year as the opening of the [...]
Cabinet minister claims politics has ‘moved on’ from Boris Johnson June 11, 2023 Politics has “moved on” from the drama of Boris Johnson, a senior cabinet minister has claimed amid a row over the former prime minister’s resignation as an MP and honours list. Energy secretary Grant Shapps told Sky News’s Sophy Ridge on Sunday that while former London mayor Johnson possessed “many qualities”, No 10 was under [...]
Chevalier review: A surprising and warm period biopic June 9, 2023 Biographies of famous faces are great, but some of the most affecting biopics in cinema have been about people who were not household names beforehand. After watching Chevalier, you may have a new name to research. The film is the true story of Joseph Bologne (Kelvin Harrison Jr), born in 1745 to an enslaved mother [...]
Transformers: Rise of the Beasts is a fun time for explosion fans June 8, 2023 Transformers: The Last Knight, released in 2017, was the depressing nadir of the Michael Bay Transformers movies, with even the master of explosions deciding it was time to step away from the franchise. In late 2018, however, a new hope emerged in the (comparatively) smaller, character-focused prequel Bumblebee. Its success was enough to get the [...]
‘Working’ from home: Laundry, sex and side hustles distract hybrid Londoners from the day job June 6, 2023 One in six Londoners have admitted to having sex whilst they should be working, fresh research shows, as employers across the capital look to stiffen up on hybrid working rules. The data, which was published by LifeSearch, shows that more widely across the UK 1.6 million workers have admitted to getting ‘between the sheets’ between [...]
Global travel and weak pound fuels London prime property recovery amid fears of Labour stamp duty plans May 30, 2023 The return to global travel and the weak pound helped the fuel recovery of London’s prime property market in the first third of 2023. Data by estate agents Knight Frank, shows that sales on luxury pads above the five million pound price point are up 40 per cent compared to the same period last year [...]
Politics ‘antithetical’ to business, Greg Hands rival for Chelsea seat warns May 25, 2023 Politics is “completely antithetical” to sound business, former City banker Adam Knight preparing to take on Tory chairman Greg Hands in his former safe Conservative Chelsea seat has warned. Ex-Goldman Sachs trader Knight, 49, is the Liberal Democrat candidate in Chelsea and Fulham, where he will seek to put Conservative party chairman Greg Hands out [...]
Plans to boost scrutiny of regulators don’t go far enough, experts argue May 24, 2023 New plans to boost oversight of financial regulators have been criticised by experts, as the government responds to concerns that watchdogs face too little scrutiny. Earlier this week, the it was reported that the Treasury is planning to beef up the Financial Regulators Complaints Commissioner (FRCC) in order to more robustly hold regulators to account. [...]