Most affordable London boroughs for house hunters revealed February 26, 2021 The most affordable areas to buy a property in London have been revealed, with outer south and east boroughs dominating the list. Bromley is the most affordable London borough for potential buyers, although its house prices earnings ratio of 6.7 is still higher than most local authorities across Britain. Neighbouring south-east London boroughs Bexley and [...]
One in five aspiring first-time buyers lives with family or friends to save cash April 22, 2021 More than a fifth of aspiring first-time buyers have moved in with family or friends since the coronavirus crisis started, according to research published this morning. Some 22 per cent of people hoping to buy their first home in the next two years have moved in with parents, in-laws or friends since March 2020, Halifax [...]
Pfizer vaccine ‘neutralises’ Brazil Covid variant, study finds March 9, 2021 The Pfizer/Biontech coronavirus vaccine is able to combat a new variant of Covid-19 first identified in Brazil, according to a new study. Scientists tested blood samples from patients who had received the Pfizer jab and found it was effective in neutralising a laboratory-made version of the virus similar to the Brazil variant. The research, published in the [...]
HSBC scraps executive floor in Canary Wharf in favour of hot-desking April 19, 2021 HSBC has scrapped the entire executive floor at its Canary Wharf headquarters in the latest change to its post-pandemic working practices. The 42nd floor, which was previously home to executives, will be used for client meeting rooms and collaborative spaces while top managers will hot desk on the open-plan 40th floor. “Our offices were empty [...]
Financial services have an incredible power to improve social mobility – but it’s been left behind in ‘levelling up’ July 2, 2021 Levelling up has become the watchword for Boris Johnson’s political agenda. It has been used as an umbrella term for investment across the country where growth has traditionally been slower than that in the South East and London. Its focus, however, has overwhelmingly been for sectors such as manufacturing. We have seen dozens of pictures [...]
New year, same lockdown: UK shopping trips fall 27 per cent in first week of January January 11, 2021 New year, same lockdown: UK shopper numbers fall 27 per cent in first week of January
Covid prevalence drops across England with 1 in 1,180 infected May 7, 2021 The prevalence of Covid-19 infections in England has fallen for the fourth week in a row, although the decline has slowed alongside widespread easing of lockdown restrictions across the country. Data released by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) showed that 1 in 1,180 people in England were estimated to have been infected with coronavirus [...]
Klarna challenger Zilch becomes fastest-ever British unicorn November 10, 2021 London-based fintech Zilch has today closed a mammoth $110m Series C funding round and become the UK’s latest billion dollar company in record-breaking time. The round brings Zilch, whose product capitalises on the lucrative Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) sector but in many ways resembles a credit card, to a $2bn valuation – four times [...]
Biden sets aside $14bn to fight climate change in 2022 budget April 9, 2021 President Joe Biden has proposed $14bn in spending on initiatives to fight climate change in the 2022 budget, including large cash injections for environmental regulation and science research. The proposal underscores the administration’s ambitions to decarbonising the economy by 2050 to stem global warming, reversing a policy direction set by former President Donald Trump to slash red [...]
Covid-19: Businesses could be forced to stay shut after 21 June in local lockdown scenario May 28, 2021 Businesses could be forced to stay shut after 21 June in local lockdown scenario