Queen’s Birthday Honours: the full 2021 list June 12, 2021 Below the full list of names for this year ORDER OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE Knights Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire (GBE) The Rt. Hon. Frederick Richard Penn Curzon, The Earl Howe. For political and parliamentary service. (Amersham, Buckinghamshire) ORDER OF THE BATH Knights Commander of the Order of the Bath (KCB) [...]
Brexit: UK’s justice secretary will not quit over international law breach September 13, 2020 Justice secretary Robert Buckland has said he will not resign his post after the government introduced controversial Brexit legislation this week that breaks international law. Buckland said the legislation – which could amount to a breach of the Brexit withdrawal agreement – is only an “insurance policy” and that he believed it would not come [...]
Alok Sharma self-isolates while awaiting coronavirus test result June 4, 2020 Business secretary Alok Sharma has been tested for coronavirus after he was visibly unwell in the House of Commons chamber yesterday. Sharma is currently self-isolating as he awaits his test result, with Northern Ireland secretary Brandon Lewis saying today that it was hopefully just severe hayfever. The business secretary was visibly uncomfortable during a House [...]
What this year’s Christmas adverts can teach us about making a great ad campaign December 17, 2018 With just over a week to go until Christmas Day, the big question is: have you bought all your presents yet? (I haven’t.) If you have, did any of this year’s festive ads sway your opinion? Did Elton John tickling the ivories mean that retailer John Lewis tickled your fancy, or did you feel like doing [...]
Two-thirds of small businesses say government is not on their side, new poll reveals May 16, 2019 Two-thirds of small businesses do not feel the government is on their side, a new survey has revealed in a report calling for a radical shake-up of the tax system. A YouGov poll for the Centre of Policy Studies think-tank shows 62 per cent of small business owners and managers don’t believe those in power [...]
UK rail franchising system has ‘had its day’, says review head July 16, 2019 The UK’s rail franchising system has “had its day”, the man in charge with reviewing Britain’s railways has said. Former British Airways chief executive Keith Williams, who is leading a government-commissioned review into how to improve the industry, said the franchising model needed to be replaced by a “new commercial model” that worked in the [...]
Waitrose removes ‘ugly’ Easter chocolate duckling from shelves after complaints of racism April 9, 2019 Waitrose has been forced to apologise and temporarily remove a trio of chocolate ducklings from its shelves, after customers complained about the darkest one being called “Ugly”. One customer tweeted to say it “doesn’t look good at all. Thousands of other options… why ugly?????” Read more: Telegraph hires Waitrose editor who resigned after vegan row [...]
Hobbycraft benefits from Christmas boost as celebrities go big on homemade gifts January 7, 2019 The popularity of personalised gifts and decorations helped Hobbycraft deliver a strong Christmas boost with robust growth in both online and offline sales. The store pointed to celebrities leading the push for personal gifts as like-for-like in-store revenue grew 7.1 per cent, with a 28 per cent bump online. Read more: Debenhams share price plummets [...]
Tony Blair and Sir John Major urge government to drop plans to breach Brexit deal September 13, 2020 Former Prime Ministers Tony Blair and Sir John Major have warned that the government will ruin the UK’s international reputation if it goes ahead with its plan to breach the Brexit withdrawal agreement and break international law. The former adversaries said Boris Johnson’s plan “is shaming itself and embarrassing our nation”, and that his actions [...]
Rocketman is an explosively imaginative biopic charting the life of the iconic piano man May 23, 2019 Take the John Lewis Christmas ad that made your sherry-drunk Aunt Pauline cry into her sprouts and stretch it out over a hundred or so minutes and you’ve got yourself Rocketman, the Taron Egerton fronted musical biopic charting the life and travails of bespectacled piano man Elton John. The setting is a booze ‘n’ drugs [...]