Overdue – or a grave mistake? China re-opens borders but experts warn on spiking Covid-19 cases January 8, 2023 Travellers streamed into China by air, land and sea on Sunday, many eager for long-awaited reunions, as Beijing opened borders that have been all but shut since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. After three years, mainland China opened sea and land crossings with Hong Kong and ended a requirement for incoming travellers to quarantine, [...]
TSB: Quarter of fraud payment victims denied money back in new scheme as regulator urged to rethink January 7, 2023 TSB is urging a regulator to reconsider proposals which could mean one in four people who are tricked into transferring money to a fraudster being denied their money back. The bank said the Payment Systems Regulator (PSR) should reconsider the plans for a new bank transfer fraud refund mechanism that would allow banks to exclude [...]
CBDCs – the future of banking or an Orwellian Nightmare? January 6, 2023 Susie Violet Ward presents the case against central bank digital currencies, arguing they're a one-way ticket to trouble.
Already failing Dry January? Don’t worry – why alcohol free isn’t actually the answer January 6, 2023 Helen ditched booze on the 1st of January, the same as she has done for the past six years with the aim of doing Dry January, but she has always found herself drinking again before the month ends. On average she drinks one glass of wine every other day and describes herself as a “happy” [...]
Twitter users horrified as 200m leaked email addresses sold on dark web, but who is being blamed for the breach? January 6, 2023 A major security breach at online micro-blogging site Twitter has been blamed on owner Elon Musk’s mass firing of staff. Over 200 million Twitter users woke up to find their email and log-in details had been posted online. According to several reports, the data was stolen over a year ago but has only just been [...]
From Bristol to Blackpool, it’s time to create fertile ground for growth for our start-ups all over the country January 6, 2023 In the UK there has been a lot of talk about “levelling up” investment outside of London. For some time during the Johnson administration, it felt like no two days could go by without the words “levelling up” being foghorned from the spokespeople of various government ministries. Yet going into 2023, it’s still unclear exactly [...]
Odeon sees Christmas boom as Avatar 2 lures Brits back to the big screen January 5, 2023 Odeon, the UK’s largest cinema chain, welcomed over a million viewers during Christmas thanks to the much anticipated Avatar sequel. Cinemas in the UK have started 2023 on a high note after two rough years, according to new numbers released by Odeon. The return of viewers to the big screen was credited to the release [...]
Musk lifts Twitter ban on political ads but may need to do more to lure advertisers back to the social media site January 5, 2023 Twitter is to lift its ban on political ads after losing nearly a million users since it was bought by Elon Musk in October last year. Musk’s controversial policy of reinstating controversial accounts including that of former US President Donald Trump, led to the reported loss of nearly 50 per cent of Twitter’s top advertisers. [...]
Confirmed: Channel 4 privatisation cancelled as broadcaster to stay in public ownership January 5, 2023 Channel 4 will remain in public ownership after a planned privatisation – championed by Boris Johnson’s government – was binned today. The Culture Department confirmed the move today, confirming reports based on a leaked letter yesterday. The Culture Secretary Michelle Donelan had written to Rishi Sunak calling for the government to drop the plans to [...]
Dentons poaches top SFO lawyer in push to bolster investigations team January 5, 2023 Dentons has poached one of the Serious Fraud Office’s (SFO’s) top lawyers, as it pushes forwards with efforts to bolster its ranks with public sector hires. SFO deputy general counsel Rebecca Dix will take on a new position at Dentons’ London office, switching from the public sector crime agency to the fourth largest law firm [...]