O2’s £31bn Virgin Media merger ‘will help UK pandemic recovery’, says CEO February 25, 2021 O2’s proposed £31bn tie-up with Virgin Media will accelerate investment in telecoms infrastructure and bolster the UK’s post-pandemic recovery, the mobile network’s boss has said. The mega-merger, agreed last year by O2 owner Telefonica and Virgin Media parent Liberty Global, is facing an in-depth probe by regulators amid concerns it could harm competition. But O2 [...]
NatWest £365m money laundering case linked to separate case involving infamous gold dealer James Stunt March 22, 2021 Criminal money laundering charges against NatWest are linked to a separate case against 13 individuals based in cities around the country. The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) started a criminal action against NatWest last week, making it the first bank to be charged under a 2007 money laundering law. The FCA accused NatWest of failing to monitor suspect activity by [...]
Euro 2020: Counting down to England-Denmark as 60,000 supporters arrive at Wembley July 7, 2021 Sunshine has broken through the clouds for the first time on Wednesday as Denmark supporters wearing Viking horns took selfies with rival fans clad in England flags. Hundreds of people have gathered outside Wembley Stadium in north-west London ahead of the teams’ semi-final clash at 8pm. Dozens of police are patrolling the perimeter, as England [...]
UK hits 15m vaccine target by 15 February deadline February 14, 2021 The UK has reached its target of immunising 15m people by 15 February, with Boris Johnson saying the four groups most vulnerable to Covid have all been offered the vaccine in England. The Prime Minister labelled it an “extraordinary feat”. “In England, I can tell you we have now offered jabs to everyone in the [...]
Want people to get the Covid vaccine? Pay them November 25, 2020 The vaccines seem to be coming thick and fast. The task now is to ensure that enough people get them to keep the virus under control. The first issue is one of logistics. The track record of the UK’s health bureaucracy during the crisis has not been good. But the NHS does have experience of [...]
Whatsapp delays controversial update following privacy backlash January 15, 2021 Whatsapp has delayed changes to its privacy policy following a backlash that saw scores of users flocking to rival apps Telegram and Signal. The messaging app today said it was pushing back the date by which users would have to accept the new terms, adding that no one would have their account suspended or deleted [...]
Investor says NFTs are being ‘suffocated in the Ethereum bubble’ November 19, 2021 Alex Mitrovich is both an investor and an entrepreneur, but the latter definitely comes first, as Jillian Godsil discovers.
Scientists’ dire warning of thousands of deaths from Indian variant is a dangerous abuse of public trust May 19, 2021 The epidemiologists are at it again. The Indian variant of the Covid virus has resurrected their projections of doom and gloom. The scientists who advise the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage) have said the full lifting of lockdown on 21 June could lead to 1,000 deaths a day and no fewer than 10,000 hospitalisations [...]
Britain’s billboards are lighting up despite lockdown restrictions February 13, 2021 The billboard industry – also known as out-of-home (OOH) advertising – earlier this month received a welcome shot in the arm comparable to the good news surrounding the UK’s vaccination efforts. The latest expenditure report from the Advertising Association and WARC forecast OOH media channels will recover and expand significantly this year, with digital OOH [...]
UK media profit warnings hit record high amid Covid-19 advertising slump August 11, 2020 The number of profit warnings issued by FTSE-listed media companies hit an all-time high in the first half of the year as the coronavirus crisis sparked a collapse in advertising revenue. Between January and June 59 per cent of the media sector issued one or more profit warnings, with 81 per cent citing Covid-19. A [...]