Union leaders are their own worst enemy December 19, 2016 As the country prepares to power down for Christmas, a number of trades unions are flexing their muscles and powering up their strike activity. As PWC’s Tom Kerr Williams notes, for unionised labour “a good time to react is at Christmas when most employers will be under pressure to keep customers happy”. One can't deny the [...]
Surge in days lost to strike action in 2016 December 19, 2016 Talks aimed at averting strikes by British Airways cabin crew over Christmas will be held at conciliation service Acas today as figures obtained by City A.M. show that the number of days lost to industrial action in the first ten months of 2016 has already dwarfed last year’s total. According to the Office of National [...]
BA boss Willie Walsh thinks Air Passenger Duty cut by Scottish government will undermine English airports December 16, 2016 Willie Walsh has some reservations over the Scottish government's intention to halve Air Passenger Duty (APD) by the end of the Scottish Parliament in 2021. He's concerned it'll undermine English airports. The boss of British Airways' owner IAG, said that the move did mark "a major step towards the complete abolition of this stealth tax that [...]
Why the UK must reassess its tax treaties with developing economies December 16, 2016 Before becoming a Member of Parliament, I undertook 27 international assignments, mainly in the developing world – 16 of them were in Africa. Often my funding would be from some source of aid, whether from the charitable sector, a UN agency or a developed country’s aid programme. But as I became more and more interested in the [...]
Experts say Yahoo attack raises serious questions about the business and global cyber security December 15, 2016 Yahoo's year has gone from bad to worse in the last 24 hours after revealing it had broken records and been the victim of the biggest hack of all time. Just a couple of months after it revealed a similar attack – but one that impacted 500m accounts rather than 1bn in the latest revelation [...]
Post Office workers are striking in the run-up to Christmas: Here’s what you need to know December 13, 2016 Post Office workers said they will strike during the run-up to Christmas, but at least 97 per cent of branches will stay open, the Post Office has said. This is the latest in a string of strikes by the Communication Workers Union (CWU) over disputes on planned changes to workers' pensions. When are the strikes? CWU [...]
New government tool lets people check what the gender pay gap is like in their industry December 9, 2016 This could spark some interesting chats at the water cooler… The government has created a tool for the public to check out what the gender pay gap – the average earnings between men and women – is in their own profession. Justine Greening, minister for women and equalities, unveiled the online tool created by the government and [...]
Horse racing betting tips: Village Vic back to pitch his tent at Cheltenham December 9, 2016 WHEN the rain finally arrived a month ago in time for Cheltenham’s Open meeting, trainers breathed a sigh of relief at the prospect of some proper winter jumping conditions. Yet, just four weeks on and clerk of the course Simon Claisse has been forced to turn on the taps to maintain decent ground. It’s been [...]
Was Mark Carney right to absolve monetary policy of the blame for popular disillusionment with capitalism? December 7, 2016 Vicky Pryce, board member of CEBR, a former government economic adviser and co-author of It’s the Economy Stupid, Economics for Voters, says Yes. The impact of globalisation has on the whole been positive. It has lifted hundreds of millions out of poverty, created vast new middle classes and extended all our horizons. The consumer has [...]
Young people want to learn more skills: Employers must do more to help them December 1, 2016 The newest generation of working professionals in the UK has a lot to worry about. Consider the increased competition for jobs. In October, Virgin Trains received over 15,000 applications for just 78 roles. Once young people get onto the careers ladder, they are faced with a new challenge of keeping up with rapidly changing technology [...]