The best and worst ads of 2019 December 16, 2019 It has been a year of highs and lows for adland. PRs, creative agencies, and brands will be examining their advertising efforts this month, and while some will be pleased with their work, others will be looking to improve next year. To help with this process, I asked members of the marketing industry and other [...]
Watch the weird moment John Bercow cries ‘Order!’ in Italian on talk show December 16, 2019 Former speaker John Bercow is apparently so famous for his interjections of “Order!” that he is now bellowing the word in foreign languages. The House of Commons’ ex-speaker, who left the role after 10 years in the run up to the General Election, has found new fame in a video of him shouting what has [...]
Carrie Lam: China to offer Hong Kong economic support amid continued protests December 16, 2019 China will continue to support Hong Kong and offer the troubled financial hub favourable economic policies, leader Carrie Lam said on Monday. Speaking in Beijing after a closed-door meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping, Lam said she believed the level of violence that has plagued the city for months and the number of “rioters” were [...]
Pearson bags Home Office contract to provide English language tests December 16, 2019 Publishing and education firm Pearson today said it has won a Home Office contract to provide English language tests for people seeking to work or live in the UK. The FTSE 100 company said it has secured a deal lasting a minimum of three years to provide Secure English Language Tests (SELTs), which are used [...]
This iteration of Labour has no chance of ever winning an election again December 16, 2019 “‘Winning’ is the small bit that matters to political elites who want to keep power themselves.” These words, tweeted in July 2016 by Corbynista activist Jon Lansman, summarise with chilling clarity the state in which Labour now finds itself. Still reeling from its worst election result since 1935, the buoyancy of the Labour campaign has [...]
Labour’s period of reflection quickly turns into heated leadership race December 15, 2019 Labour’s post-election period of reflection has already turned into a factional race to succeed Jeremy Corbyn as MPs came out swinging yesterday. The party looks set for a factional showdown as those on the Corbynite left face off against Labour moderates. Read more: John McDonnell apologises for loss before blaming the media for result Both [...]
Sports business in 2019: Industry insiders pick the trends that defined the year December 15, 2019 Izzy Wray, consultant in Deloitte’s Sport Business Group Women’s football The growing popularity of women’s football has been one of the defining sports trends of 2019. The Women’s World Cup smashed TV audience records, with a reported 1bn people watching it worldwide and over 28m people tuning in to the tournament on the BBC. Numerous [...]
Watchdog steps up probe into tech giants over digital ad dominance December 15, 2019 The competition watchdog is set to publish its initial findings into the dominance of tech giants in the digital ad market this week, paving the way for a possible in-depth investigation. In July the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) launched a market study into Google and Facebook, amid concerns the so-called duopoly could be stifling [...]
Boris Johnson plans ‘revolutionary’ Whitehall overhaul December 15, 2019 Boris Johnson is planning a radical overhaul of Whitehall, with plans to abolish departments, sack a third of the cabinet and reform how civil servants are hired. Work has begun by Number 10 on abolishing or merging several departments, including scrapping the Department for Exiting the European Union. Read more: General Election 2019: Boris Johnson [...]
General Election 2019: Boris Johnson urges UK to ‘let healing begin’ December 13, 2019 This was a live blog, thank you for following along Read more: UK stocks and sterling surge as Tories triumph at pollsRead more: Election live: Who were the big MP casualties?Read more: UK housebuilders rejoice as shares rise after Tory win 04.30pm: Over and out! That’s it for today – we’re off to get some [...]