Britain’s trade bodies must confront challenges of their own January 31, 2019 What does the future hold for Britain's trade bodies? We hear a great deal about the disruption that poses huge challenges to their members but what of the disruption facing membership groups themselves? Many are struggling with declining membership rates, or the competing interests of the members who do remain. Take the British Retail Consortium [...]
Jose Mourinho ready to silence critics once more on return to Old Trafford December 3, 2019 It was this very fixture little more than two years ago that saw Jose Mourinho turn to the TV cameras and raise a silencing finger to his lips. Manchester United had just beaten Tottenham 1-0 to maintain their 100 per cent home record and keep the pressure on table-toppers Manchester City – a scenario that [...]
Our collaboration with Manchester and Leeds will unlock the UK’s full potential July 29, 2019 What do Channel 4, Amazon, TalkTalk, Boohoo, and Autotrader have in common? The answer is that they have all announced that they are creating jobs in the Manchester and Leeds regions. Last week, I visited these two cities with a growing global reputation. Like the City of London, Manchester and Leeds both host strong financial [...]
Children’s ‘killer car seats’ found for sale online even though they’re illegal February 16, 2019 Children's car seats that were made illegal in the UK in 2014 have been found for sale online according to consumer group, Which. The illegal car seats offer "almost no protection" and were found to fail to protect children in car crashes as slow as 30mph after a crash test carried out by Surrey Trading Standards [...]
Music streaming revenues overtake ownership for the first time amid shift to ‘rental’ market March 4, 2019 The popularity of subscription services reached record levels in the UK last year as music streaming revenues overtook ownership formats for the first time. Revenues from paid-for music subscription services such as Spotify jumped 39 per cent last year to £829m, meaning subscriptions now account for 62 per cent of all music revenues, according to figures [...]
Trump backs out of Christchurch online terror pledge May 15, 2019 The United States has refused to join other nations in signing a pledge to tackle the spread of violent and extremist content online. The White House said while it supported the document’s overall goals, it is “not currently in a position to join the endorsement”. Named the Christchurch Call, the statement asks governments and companies [...]
BT TV to offer Vice channels in bid to bolster its youth appeal March 8, 2019 BT has secured a deal with Vice Media to give its customers access to the youth channel’s content on live and on-demand TV. The partnership, which comes into effect next week, will give BT TV customers access to Vice on TV, a lifestyle and entertainment channel offering documentaries about popular culture and current affairs. Read [...]
Sony taps into cinematic screens for the Xperia 1 smartphone February 25, 2019 In a long-overdue revival of its smartphone line, Sony has attempted to utilise its history of producing high-quality cinema experiences to its advantage. Launching its new premium flagship phone at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, the Xperia 1 features a 21:9 aspect ratio screen at 6.5 inches tall, making it one of the longest phones on the [...]
Fifty years on from the first moon landing, it’s time to get ready for space tourism July 9, 2019 Next time someone asks if you are going anywhere nice on holiday, perhaps soon you can say Mars or Venus rather than Mallorca or Ibiza. It has been 50 years since Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin touched Apollo 11 down on the moon, and now famous billionaires are backing different projects to make space a [...]
Interview: City Football Group marketing chief Nuria Tarre on innovating at Manchester City and the future of the sports industry September 29, 2019 “My ultimate objective – day-to-day, the reason I wake up and enjoy doing the work that I do – is because I truly think we want to be there for the fans in an authentic way,” says Nuria Tarre, chief marketing officer of City Football Group. Since joining CFG in 2015 from her role running [...]