Lies, damned lies, and statistics: ONS’ retail sales are, at best, a partial truth and, at worst, misleading July 23, 2015 There are lies, damned lies, and statistics. Nowhere is this truer than in the retail sales numbers reported each month by the ONS. The official statistics body for the UK is nothing if not thorough. Each month it presents more than 300 variants of the numbers, each using a different measure or examining a particular [...]
Bag being transported by G4S containing NZ$1m goes missing at Hong Kong International Airport July 23, 2015 Someone is surely in a lot of trouble (or somebody is very rich) after a bag containing NZ$1m (£425,000) went missing at Hong Kong International Airport, having fallen while being moved. The bag was being carried by outsourcing giant G4S (it of the botched Olympics security contract), which specialises in transporting valuable cargo. The company [...]
BBC appoints Laura Kuenssberg as political editor amid shake up July 22, 2015 The BBC yesterday announced the appointment of Laura Kuenssberg as political editor, taking over from Nick Robinson. Kuenssberg, who has been chief correspondent and a presenter on Newsnight since February 2014, previously served as business editor at ITV News between 2011 and 2014. She said yesterday: “I’m completely delighted and I recognise the responsibility on [...]
Are interest rates about to rise? Don’t bank on it yet July 22, 2015 Bank of England governor Mark Carney has set the cat among the pigeons with his recent comments on interest rate rises. From the media response, one could infer that a rate rise is just around the corner and a done deal. My response is hold on, not so fast. For the first time since the [...]
Bigger is better, property is still nine-tenths of the law and why the network effect creates billionaires: The seven secrets of spectacularly rich people July 22, 2015 In 1991 there were about 270 billionaires in the world. Today there are more than 1,800, and 290 were added to the rolls in the past year alone. In other words, more people became billionaires in the past year than the entire number of billionaires in 1991. A negative person might say that's further evidence [...]
Apple Pay UK: Where are people using it most? TfL races ahead July 22, 2015 A week after Apple Pay's launch in the UK, and there's one spot where it's proving by far and away the most popular place to use. The contactless payment which lets you pay by simply swiping an iPhone or Apple Watch, attempts to make paying for stuff as quick and easy as possible, and there's no [...]
It turns out the marketing industry’s oldest adage isn’t true: Sex doesn’t sell July 22, 2015 Don Draper had it wrong all along, it turns out: a new study has found not only does sex not sell, but it actually distracts people from the products on sale. The study, by Ohio State University and published in the journal Psychological Bulletin, looked at the results of 53 different experiments involving nearly 8,500 [...]
Ashley Madison’s hacking affair: Is a London IPO now a fling too far after data breach? July 21, 2015 Ryainair boss Michael O’Leary is no shrinking violet, but even Ashley Madison, the controversial adultery website hacked on Monday, proved too much for the colourful Irishman. The Ryanair chief was offered €120,000 (£84,350) by Ashley Madison last year to paint its logo on one of its planes, but turned them down. The incident [...]
The social media secrets you need in the workplace July 21, 2015 Stock CV phrases and revealing photos will get you nowhere Should you accept your boss’s Facebook request? Is a Twitter account best kept work-related? With social media now dominating our lives both at home and in the workplace, getting the balance right is imperative. So if you want to avoid a sticky situation, what [...]
Storyline app: Shark Tank entrepreneur Mark Cuban wants to reinvent Twitter and give users “social media zero” July 21, 2015 People think Twitter has a problem. Whether it's the "sloppy" handling of chief executive Dick Costolo's exit or slowing growth in the number of users and a lack of product innovation – everyone has an opinion. Now there's one person who's decided to put his money where his mouth is and take some action. The [...]