How the O2-Virgin Media merger will reshape the telecoms sector May 7, 2020 O2 and Virgin Media this morning confirmed they will join forces in a mammoth merger that will create a new £31bn telecoms powerhouse. The deal — reports of which first emerged last week — came as little surprise to industry watchers, though the timing of the deal in the middle of a global pandemic has [...]
Five charts which explain what is going on with inflation November 1, 2021 “Output gap”, “bottlenecks”, “core inflation”, “base effects”, “second-round effects” “labour participation rate”. These are some of the key industry terms essential to understanding what’s going on with inflation. Soaring job vacancies reflect the strong economic recovery of the world’s major economies, as Covid-19 induced restrictions have been gradually eased. Shortages of materials, energy and transport [...]
UK tells airlines to avoid Belarusian airspace and suspends state carrier’s license over ‘hijacking’ May 24, 2021 The UK has joined a number of other countries in instructing airlines to avoid Belarusian airspace after a commercial flight was intercepted by a fighter jet and diverted to the country to arrest a journalist. Transport secretary Grant Shapps tweeted that he had instructed the UK’s Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) to ask planes to steer [...]
Twitter allows staff to work from home permanently May 13, 2020 Twitter has told employees they can work from home “forever” as the social media firm adapts to new working conditions caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. In a company-wide email yesterday chief executive Jack Dorsey said Twitter had been one of the first adopters of the flexible working model and would allow staff to continue to [...]
Sazka backs move to increase age to play UK lottery, in battle with Camelot to run gambling December 7, 2020 Sazka backs move to increase age to play UK lottery, in battle with Camelot to run gambling
Gambling committee calls for ban on celebrity endorsements October 22, 2020 Jose Mourinho, Michael Owen and Harry Redknapp could be set to lose lucrative gambling contracts, as the use of celebrity endorsements in betting adverts is expected to be banned under a wide-scale crackdown on problem gambling. The Committees of Advertising Practice (CAP) has launched a consultation on the new measures, following fresh data showing problem [...]
Boris must find the bandwidth to take on Sturgeon – and keep the UK united December 30, 2020 Being prime minister is not an easy job. Whether you adopt the approach of Thatcher’s four-hours-a-night, or Macmillan’s retreating to Trollope novels at moments of extreme stress, it is a position which occupies your every waking (and probably many a sleeping) moment; the situation is not helped by the fact that the vast majority of [...]
ITV investigated by watchdog over viewer competitions August 11, 2020 ITV is facing a probe by the media watchdog over its viewer competitions after the broadcaster admitted that some postal entries were never counted in its prize draws. ITV referred itself to Ofcom after discovering that some postal entries were not entered into the winner selection process for six competitions between 2014 and 2019. The [...]
Investors should ready themselves for a great wave of innovation February 15, 2021 When I first invested in Facebook more than a decade ago, the business’s extraordinary potential was clear to me even though the full impact of social media had only begun to be realised. I was fortunate to be among the first to invest in some of the world’s most prominent start-ups, including Uber, Spotify, Airbnb, [...]
Tony Bennett: US singing legend dies aged 96 July 21, 2023 American crooner and jazz singer Tony Bennett has died at the age of 96. Bennett became the torchbearer for the Great American Songbook over his seven-decade career, best known for his 1962 classic I Left My Heart In San Francisco which was inducted into the Grammy Hall Of Fame in 1994. On Friday, publicist Sylvia [...]