For the price of a two bed London flat you can buy an Orkney island July 12, 2014 Have you studiously saved £600,000 for a flat in London? You could always spend it on this private Orkney island and coastal farm instead. The Orkney islands are located about 20 miles to the north of the Scottish mainland, and the island of Littlequouy in Burray, which Savills has put on the market for [...]
RAC says government not doing enough to ensure foreign vehicles are taxed July 12, 2014 British automotive services company RAC has said that the government must do more to investigate untaxed foreign vehicles, warning that they could be draining the UK of millions of pounds every year. It said that while an estimated 60,000 foreign vehicles are registered with the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA), a further 15,000 [...]
Why HBOS failed: review to be released July 12, 2014 Details on why HBOS bank failed during the financial crisis will be published in a review before the end of the year, according to the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). The regulatory body said that considerable investigation had already taken place, but that the review could now proceed in full force because disciplinary hearings related [...]
UN calls on European nations to accept more Syrian refugees July 11, 2014 The UN refugee agency United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has asked European nations to accept more Syrian refugees, saying that they have welcomed a “minuscule” number of them so far, while the countries neighbouring Syria have reached "saturation point". The number of refugees who have fled Syria is set to exceed 3m [...]
Meet the seven new galaxies that could shed light on our own galaxy July 11, 2014 Astronomers at Yale University have discovered seven new galaxies 20 million light years away from our own, “the blink of an eye in cosmological terms,” according to lead researcher Professor van Dokkum. They discovered them using a new type of telescope, made by stitching together telephoto lenses, while probing a nearby spiral galaxy called [...]
Author Allan Ahlberg turns down award because it is sponsored by Amazon July 11, 2014 Revered children's author Allan Ahlberg has turned down an award for lifetime achievement because it is sponsored by Amazon, saying “the idea that my 'lifetime achievement' should have the Amazon tag attached to it is unacceptable". The award was offered to him by the Booktrust at its Best Book Awards earlier this month, and [...]
Barclays ditches cashiers as it shifts to digital July 11, 2014 The face of high street banking is changing, and Barclays has decided to drop the role of traditional cashier as customers increasingly adopt digital services for managing their finances. The British bank has announced that it will be moving 6,500 employees from cashier roles to advisory roles, where they will help customers with managing [...]
Phoenix towers: The world’s tallest buildings will also clean the environment July 10, 2014 The Phoenix towers, when they are built, will be the tallest buildings in the world. Each standing at over a kilometre in height, they will be based in Wuhan, the capital of China's Hubei province. Besides being extremely tall, thin, and glowing bright pink, they will also attempt to clean the polluted environment. [...]
London really is hotter than surrounding countryside July 10, 2014 If you feel a little chilly when travelling out of London to the countryside, you're probably not imagining it. Researchers at Yale University in the US have shown that urban areas really are hotter than the rural areas around them, and that the difference is biggest in wet places like rainy London. Published [...]
