Hong Kong paper Apple Daily to close after Beijing crackdown June 23, 2021 Hong Kong pro-democracy paper Apple Daily will shut down after 26 years following a fierce crackdown by Beijing. The tabloid, which was known for its criticism of mainland China, will end its print and digital editions on Saturday 26 June. Foreign secretary Dominic Raab has said today that it marks a “chilling blow” to freedom [...]
US stocks muted ahead of Fed Chair Powell’s testimony while FTSE climbs June 22, 2021 Wall Street was subdued at the open today as investors awaited Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell’s remarks for hints on how the central bank is balancing inflation risk with its promise to ensure a jobs market recovery. The Dow Jones Industrial average fell 0.3 per cent, while the S&P 500 lost 0.05 per cent. Meanwhile, [...]
Exclusive: Pandemic aftershocks will last two years, warns cabinet office advisor and City insider Mark Jankovich June 22, 2021 London serial entrepreneur Mark Jankovich arrived in the City in 1992, joined Coutts & Co and set up Delphis Eco fifteen years later. The South African national – who has been a member of the government’s Cabinet Office SME Advisory Panel for the last five years, serving three prime ministers – managed to turn his [...]
Race to identify EU nationals who have yet to apply for post-Brexit papers as cut-off date is next week June 21, 2021 The Government said today it is working hard to identify tens of thousands of Europeans living in the UK who have yet to apply for a new post-Brexit residency scheme ahead next week’s cut-off date. Downing Street said only a “small minority” of those eligible for the settled status scheme – which closes at the [...]
Private equity interest: Why is Morrisons such an attractive takeover target? June 21, 2021 Morrisons has rejected a £5.5bn takeover approach from a US private equity firm amid speculation that more UK supermarkets could be snapped up. Shares in Morrisons jumped earlier this morning following confirmation of the rejection at the weekend, as the chain said potential bidder Clayton, Dubilier & Rice “significantly undervalued” the grocer with its 230p-per-share [...]
Blair think-tank: Work from home revolution could see millions of white collar jobs outsourced June 21, 2021 The relative success of pandemic-era working from home could result in as many as 6m white-collar jobs being moved overseas, Tony Blair’s think-tank has warned this morning. The last year has loosened the geographical ties of work, argues a new report from the think-tank, that makes it possible “anywhere jobs” could be done overseas. Read [...]
Deloitte tells staff they can work from home forever June 20, 2021 Staff working at Deloitte will be able to work wherever they want when Covid restrictions are eased and work from home guidance is scrapped. Staff at the Big Four firm will not be obligated to work from the office for a minimum number of days per week, as has been a typical response of Deloitte’s [...]
ICO chief warns of the data protection dangers in live facial recognition tech June 18, 2021 The UK’s data protection watchdog has warned of the risks in the use of live facial recognition in public places today, because of its “supercharged CCTV” capabilities. The Information Commissioner’s Office information commissioner Elizabeth Denham explained in a blog post published today of her worries over the increasingly common technology. “I am deeply concerned about [...]
UK retail sales fall in May as Brits swapped supermarkets for restaurants June 18, 2021 UK retail sales fell by 1.4 per cent in May following a sharp increase in April when lockdown restrictions were eased, according to new Office for National Statistics (ONS) data. The monthly drop was unexpected, with economists predicting a 1.6 per cent increase. The largest contribution to the decline came from food stores, where sales [...]
Boris Johnson stands at the crossroads of another Huawei saga if Amazon Web Services crushes UK cloud products June 18, 2021 Cloud computing in the UK is at a crossroads: on one path is a vibrant domestic growth sector able to compete on the international stage, down the other is an industry dominated by a few Big Tech giants and stymied by policy inaction. In recent years, British tech companies are being overlooked time and time [...]