The power of the poppy as the symbol of Remembrance Sunday November 6, 2015 With August marking 100 years since the outbreak of the First World War, our troops leaving Afghanistan and ISIS marauding across the Middle East, remembrance seems ever more poignant this year. Growing up, I always thought Remembrance Day was about the First and Second World Wars, but these days there is so much more [...]
Charlie Hebdo: Anonymous online operation suspends 200 terrorist Twitter accounts in “cyberwar” against jihadists November 6, 2015 A campaign called OpCharlieHebdo has managed to suspend a number of terrorism-related Twitter accounts in retaliation against the massacre that occurred at the offices of Charlie Hebdo last week. The operation was set up via activist website Anonymous and says its actions are part of a “cyberwar” against extremists following the deaths of 12 [...]
John Lewis Christmas advert 2015: With Aurora’s cover of Half the World Away once again it has the right song, brand values and storytelling November 6, 2015 Christmas wouldn’t be Christmas without retailers bombarding us with their festive fair. However, when you consider the serious amounts of time and money (£7m for last year’s Monty the Penguin) spent on first creating their Christmas campaigns and then on the media time to ensure we see them, many a retailer must be asking themselves, what [...]
John Lewis Christmas advert 2015: Everything you need to know about Man on the Moon, including when it will air online and on TV, who sings the cover song and what it’s all about November 6, 2015 Good news, Christmas fans – the wait is nearly over. No, not for the big day itself, but for the official start of the season that comes with the launch of John Lewis' Christmas ad. The embargo for the video lifts at 8am today, but before that the department store is allowing a drip feed [...]
Wall St slips on mixed earnings news – New York Report November 5, 2015 A set of mixed tech and healthcare earnings a day ahead of today’s US jobs report pulled US indices lower yesterday. The Dow Jones industrial average fell 4.15 points, or 0.02 per cent, to 17,863.43, the S&P 500 lost 2.38 points, or 0.11 per cent, to 2,099.93 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 14.74 points, or [...]
Sports Illustrated publisher Time Inc net loss plunges to $913m November 5, 2015 Media company Time Inc, which publishes Sports Illustrated, InStyle and Time magazine, earlier today reported a net loss of $913m (£600m) for its third quarter of 2015, swinging from a net profit of $48m for the same period last year. Goodwill impairment of $952m, caused in part by falls in Time Inc’s share price, was [...]
The Bank of England is playing a dangerous game on rate rise, according to the Institute of Directors November 5, 2015 The eight to one vote by the Bank of England's monetary policy committee (MPC) to keep interest rates at the historic low of 0.5 per cent is a dangerous game, according to the Institute of Directors (IoD). The IoD warned the Bank's decision carries "its own risks". In a particularly dovish November Inflation Report, the rate-setters indicated rates [...]
Tech stocks: How does the all-time high of Facebook’s share price compare with Amazon, Twitter, Apple, Microsoft and Yahoo? November 5, 2015 Facebook's value has topped $300bn with shares hitting an all-time high following stellar third quarter results yesterday. The social network posted quarterly earning after the bell on Wednesday, showing sales soared by over 40 per cent and mobile growth boomed in the third quarter. “We had a good quarter and got a lot done,” chief exec Mark [...]
Collins Word of the Year 2015: Binge-watch beats clean-eating, manspreading and dadbod November 5, 2015 If you decided to binge on box-sets rather than food this year, you might have inadvertently helped determine the Collins Word of the Year. Binge-watching has been named the word for 2015 after lexicographers saw a 200 per cent increase in its usage, which describes watching "a large number of television programmes (especially all the [...]
Leadership lessons from Machiavelli: The ends only justify the means when the goal is a good one November 5, 2015 Five hundred years after it was written, Machiavelli’s treatise on monarchical rule, The Prince, is still considered essential reading for those who are ambitious and desire power. Written as guidance for Lorenzo de Medici, The Prince famously prized earthly success over moral principles. But its teachings are often misinterpreted as advocating cunning, uncompromising methods to [...]