Southeastern to introduce colour-coded system to help commuters avoid busy trains August 25, 2020 Train franchise Southeastern will from next week tell passengers how busy their train is before they board to help them better observe social distancing rules. The operator, which runs rail services into London and the south-east, will become the first franchise to share such data directly with commuters in a bid to increase confidence that [...]
Balfour Beatty joint venture secures £1.3bn Hong Kong airport deal August 24, 2020 Construction firm Balfour Beatty this morning announced that its south-east Asia joint venture has won a HK$12.9bn (£1.27bn) contract to expand Hong Kong International Airport’s Terminal 2. Under the four-year deal, Gammon, of which the FTSE 250 company owns 50 per cent, will increase the size of the main terminal building and construct the surrounding [...]
EU trade boss Phil Hogan apologises for attending ‘golfgate’ dinner August 24, 2020 EU trade commissioner Phil Hogan apologised for attending a golf dinner that has caused outrage in Ireland as he tried to ride out pressure to resign. Adding to the scrutiny on Hogan, it also emerged that he had been stopped and cautioned by Irish police for using his phone while driving to the dinner. The [...]
Cabinet draws up plans for simultaneous no-deal Brexit and second Covid wave August 23, 2020 The government has drawn up plans to deal simultaneously with a second coronavirus wave and the effects of a no-deal Brexit after December 31. The Cabinet Office’s emergency plans include telling the Navy to protect the UK’s waters from illegal EU fishing boats and deploying the army on Brtain’s streets to quell civil unrest. The [...]
Home Grown Club boss on why the future of work is flexible August 22, 2020 While shops and restaurants are beginning to return to some semblance of normality, the evidence of coronavirus is still stark in London’s commercial districts. The City, perhaps more than anywhere, remains a ghost-town, its skyscrapers empty and its streets unclogged by the half a million commuters who used to make their daily pilgrimage. Offices will [...]
UK retail sales climb above pre-pandemic levels in July August 21, 2020 UK retail sales climbed 3.6 per cent higher in July compared to June, to beat their pre-pandemic levels, official data showed today. The climb came despite a seven per cent fall in online shopping after digital retail comprised a record 33.3 per cent of all retail sales in May. A sharp 11.9 per cent jump [...]
We are facing a mental health crisis among our young people — one we cannot afford to ignore August 21, 2020 The cost of Covid-19 keeps climbing. So far, the government is forecast to borrow £400bn in this financial year alone. Whether we like it or not, that money will have to be paid back — but the longer social distancing measures remain in place, workers stay furloughed, and consumers save rather than spend, the greater [...]
Are the Democrats sleepwalking into the US election? August 20, 2020 The first three days of the Democratic National Convention have progressed in the same conservative, risk averse manner of Joe Biden’s campaign so far. Despite having addresses from three former presidents, one former presidential nominee and a host of party grandees, there will be little if anything that will be remembered from the past three [...]
DEBATE: Should we accept that this is the end for business travel? August 20, 2020 Should we embrace change and accept that this is the end for business travel? Alethea Warrington, campaigner at climate charity Possible, says YES. The rise of virtual meetings hasn’t just given us an entire subculture of Zoom memes — it has made travelling long distances to attend meetings in person outdated and ridiculous. The pandemic [...]
Lookers warns of first-half loss and expands accounting probe August 20, 2020 Under-fire car dealership Lookers said today it has widened the scope of its audit into a £19m black hole in its 2019 financial results as it warned it will fall to a loss in the first half of 2020. Today Lookers’ board and auditor Deloitte expanded their investigations on the back of Grant Thornton’s probe [...]