FTSE 100 heads for second-best month on record but still lags peers November 28, 2020 Britain’s FTSE 100 stock index is on track for its second-best month in history as optimism about vaccines boosts unloved sectors such as financials and industrials that dominate the UK corporate landscape. Yet the index is still well behind its global peers this year. Despite US markets and global stocks hitting record highs, the UK [...]
Joe Biden could favour Ireland travel corridor over London-New York link – reports November 27, 2020 The aviation industry is facing a race against time to set up a travel corridor between London and New York amid fears that President-elect Joe Biden will favour an air link with Dublin instead. There had been hopes that a quarantine-free corridor between London and New York would be in place by Thanksgivings, but these [...]
Covid-19: London in Tier 2 restrictions – what are the new rules to follow? November 27, 2020 The covid-19 restrictions have been strengthened since before the lockdown, so what are the new rules for work, home and socialising now that London's in Tier 2
Can I go to the theatre in Tier 2? Yes – here are the top December shows November 27, 2020 Few industries have been as badly hit by Covid restrictions as the theatre. Not have they had to shut for two lockdowns, but social distancing means most productions, already run on the thinnest of margins, are now loss-making operations. Throw in the uncertainty over what lies ahead, which is at odds with the long lead-times [...]
Troubled Moss Bros launches CVA proposal to tackle ‘perilous’ situation November 27, 2020 Struggling retailer Moss Bros has launched a Company Voluntary Arrangement (CVA) proposal to give it the best chance of emerging for the challenges brought on by the coronavirus. A CVA allows companies to settle debts by paying creditors over a fixed period, and it could see the closure of some of Moss Bros’ 125 UK [...]
Excel glitch “propelled England to a different stage of the pandemic,” researchers say November 27, 2020 A Microsoft Excel error which caused positive Covid-19 results to go missing has been linked to 1,500 excess deaths, researchers have suggested. Thiemo Fetzer and Thomas Graeber of Warwick and Harvard universities, respectively, examined the impact of the glitch, which affected positive cases in late September and October. The lost cases meant that 16,000 contacts [...]
Travel giant records 62 per cent sales spike as consumer confidence grows November 27, 2020 London-based travel giant Not Just Travel recorded a 62 per cent surge in bookings this week. The top holiday destinations booked by consumers, in order of preference, were the USA, the Canary Islands, Dubai, Lapland and the Maldives. Not Just Travel co-founders Steve Witt and Paul Harrison attributed this increase in bookings to Black Friday [...]
Exclusive: Government U-turns on claim that ’70 per cent’ of England’s PPE is made in the UK November 27, 2020 The government has made an apparent U-turn on claims that 70 per cent of England’s personal protective equipment (PPE) supply is made in the UK, following an admission that it does not hold any official figures on where PPE is manufactured, City A.M. can reveal. The Department for Health and Social Care (DHSC) in September [...]
Germany to double net borrowing for 2021 after suspending budget rule November 27, 2020 Germany will double its initially planned borrowing for 2021 to help finance businesses hit hard by the second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic, lawmakers said Friday morning. The parliamentary budget committee has agreed to a debt of €180bn (£160bn), almost twice the originally planned €96bn (£85bn). This is the second largest amount of net borrowing [...]
Don’t make us pay national insurance for furloughed staff, say struggling businesses November 27, 2020 Business groups representing hospitality, retail and leisure businesses have united to urge the government to provide sector specific support for fear of going bust due to higher tier restrictions. The groups, which have launched a ‘Bounce Back Better’ campaign to urge the government to provide them support, have asked for National Insurance payments to be [...]