GCHQ director Robert Hannigan has resigned for personal reasons January 23, 2017 GCHQ top boss Robert Hannigan has stepped down citing personal reasons, the surveillance agency has announced. Hannigan became GCHQ director in 2014. Prior to this, he was director general of defence and intelligence at the Foreign Office. In his resignation letter to foreign secretary Boris Johnson, he wrote that his public service roles "demanded a great deal of my ever patient [...]
How well do you know your audience? Not as well as Spredfast’s Leo Ryan January 23, 2017 In the 1970s German philosopher Jurgen Habermas concocted the notion of Offentlichkeit – better known as the public sphere, or “an area in social life where individuals can come together to freely discuss and identify societal problems”. Some 40 years on, the advent of social media has realised his ideal tenfold, and the mass sharing [...]
Theresa May announces extra £170m for technical education ahead of Brexit industrial strategy launch January 21, 2017 The government has announced a new injection of cash into technical education as part of her plan for an industrial strategy for the UK as it leaves the EU. Prime Minister Theresa May will launch the £170m in new funding when she unveils a Green Paper consultation on the industrial strategy during a trip to [...]
Donald Trump as US President: The world reacts January 21, 2017 Donald Trump will wake up later as US President. Here’s how the world’s papers reacted to a speech which changed little of the rhetoric from the campaign trail. With three former Presidents sitting behind him, including Barack Obama, Trump’s speech repudiated much of their legacy, whether Republican or Democrat. He vowed once more to bring [...]
Trump the brash succeeds Obama the failure, but the inauguration itself is a thing of beauty January 20, 2017 Don't drag your feet on the way out, Mr President. Even in these uncertain times, the fear of what comes next can’t sugar-coat the agony of what came before. No doubt we’ve all been charmed by President Obama these past few months. Our awareness of who is to follow, combined with the more easy-going nature of [...]
Tech unicorn Deliveroo is planning to create hundreds of new jobs January 18, 2017 UK tech unicorn Deliveroo is planning to create hundreds of new jobs in London as it grows its business globally. The food delivery company will create more than 300 new positions, many of which it said will be in highly-skilled senior technical roles in areas such as software and hardware engineering, behavioural economics and algorithm development. The additions [...]
US toymaker Mattel names former Google Americas president as new chief executive January 17, 2017 Mattel announced today it has named a new chief executive to help put a stopper in floundering sales. Margaret Georgiadis, who previously worked as president of Americas at Google, will take to the helm of the US toymaker 8 February. Georgiadis is set to replace Christopher Sinclair, who had only taken up the role as chief exec in 2015. He [...]
London house prices edged closer to £500,000 in November January 17, 2017 The average house price in the capital edged closer to the half a million pound mark in November, rising to £482,000 for the first time. Figures published this morning by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) showed house prices in the capital jumped 8.1 per cent in the year to November, rising 1.9 per cent [...]
Metro Bank gets down to business, planning to increase its number of in-store managers by around a third January 17, 2017 Business banking is booming for Metro Bank, so much so that the challenger plans to increase the number of business bankers in its branches by around a third, or 30 per cent, in 2017. The bank, which opened its first branch in 2010, recently announced it was putting £1bn to one side to support business customers [...]
Angry Birds makes post-Brexit London happy as Rovio opens games studio January 16, 2017 Rovio, the maker of hit game Angry Birds, has landed in London and will set up a new games studio in the capital bringing with it at least 20 new jobs. Hot on the heels of Snap, which last week unveiled plans for its growth in London, it's another stamp of approval for UK tech after the [...]