The hell of being middle-aged: The financial pressures of children and ageing parents mean that 45 to 54 year-olds are more likely than any other group to be saving nothing for retirement December 14, 2016 New research has found that an overlooked "sandwich" generation is saving surprisingly little for retirement Young people between the ages of 25 and 34 are often singled out as being the most hard done by in the UK today. Rates of home ownership within this group have fallen dramatically since the early nineties, leading many [...]
Google just promised everyone in the UK free digital skills training November 15, 2016 The boss of Google has promised every single person in the UK free digital skills training. In a speech in London today, Sundar Pichai will say: “No matter where you live, no matter where you’re from, no matter what your job is – you deserve access to all the information, education, and opportunity the web has [...]
The FA’s background checks for new coaches are necessary – but don’t expect them to rid organisation of scandal December 22, 2016 Now the blushes have subsided following Sam Allardyce's brief reign as England manager, brought to an end after just 67 days when he was recorded having "inappropriate" conversations about third-party ownership rules, the Football Association will appoint external companies to carry out background checks on all prospective employees. Forensic questionnaires that dig into applicants' private [...]
Giving Uber drivers “worker” status is bad news for passengers, the gig economy and the drivers themselves October 28, 2016 Friday's decision to grant two Uber drivers worker status is bad news not just for Uber, but for its drivers, its customers, and the future of the “gig economy” as a whole. It is primarily bad for Uber drivers. We know for a fact that, by vast margins (five to one), they don’t want to [...]
“Rise up”: The full text of Tony Blair’s Open Britain speech on Brexit February 17, 2017 Tony Blair has been absent from British politics for years, now – but today he returned in spectacular style, urging the UK's population to "rise up" against Brexit. Although some (including former deputy PM Nick Clegg) liked it, the majority of reaction has been that he missed the mark. Not sure what you think? Here's [...]
Marcus Brookes: How we’ve prepared for the return of inflation December 6, 2016 Inflation was already on the rise. Now I expect the policies likely to follow in Donald Trump’s presidency will pile on further price pressure. The deflating effect of QE We have been changing our portfolios over the last year to reflect our view that inflation may be returning to the financial system. Yes, quantitative [...]
Marcus Brookes: How we’ve prepared for the return of inflation December 6, 2016 Inflation was already on the rise. Now I expect the policies likely to follow in Donald Trump’s presidency will pile on further price pressure. The deflating effect of QE We have been changing our portfolios over the last year to reflect our view that inflation may be returning to the financial system. Yes, quantitative easing, [...]
Ed Miliband sets sights on water industry to tackle cost of living crisis November 26, 2014 Labour leader Ed Miliband has set his sights on water companies, claiming they make vast profits for shareholders, but do not provide customers with value for money. The move follows a high-profile attack on energy companies last year. In a bid to tackle the so-called cost of living crisis, Labour’s environment minister Maria Eagle will [...]
Labour’s City man gets real over green belt October 26, 2016 Building in Britain is not always easy, as the debacle over airport expansion shows. The government satisfied business groups yesterday by revealing its intention to allow a third runway at Heathrow – but even though Theresa May has acted reasonably quickly, the verdict follows years of dawdling, and arrives nearly half a century after Harold Wilson [...]
How to prepare your portfolio for inflation December 2, 2016 Concerns about inflation were already on the rise. Donald Trump’s victory in the US election has further stoked expectations that price pressure, absent in most Western economies since the financial crisis, may make a return in 2017 and beyond. The basics Inflation is a measure of how fast the prices of goods and services [...]