Breaking: UK’s coronavirus R rate falls below 1 November 27, 2020 The UK’s rate of reproduction has fallen to between 0.9 and 1, according to new figures, suggesting the pandemic is beginning to lose its grip across the country. The latest statistics mark a significant drop from an estimate of 1 to 1.1 last week. It means that on average every 10 people infected with coronavirus [...]
Watch two LSO short films shot in the City during lockdown November 27, 2020 If you’ve been missing the Square Mile while you’ve been working from home these last few months, we have a treat for you. The London Symphony Orchestra has paired up with emerging videographers, dancers and composers to create two short films inspired by lockdown in the City of London. The films feature premieres of new [...]
First digital-only Black Friday set for bumper year as Covid-19 moves shoppers online November 27, 2020 England’s first ever digital-only Black Friday will not deter customers, with figures suggesting sales could be as much as 43 per cent higher than in 2019, with customers now familiar with the convenience of shopping online thanks to coronavirus. Figures from IMRG, the UK’s industry association for online retail, found this year’s Black Friday sales [...]
Tiers are here to stay until vaccine rollout, says minister November 27, 2020 England’s three-tier system is designed to stay in place until a vaccine becomes available to the general population, housing minister Robert Jenrick said this morning. “The point of the tiered approach is, can we get tiers that are sufficiently robust to steer the country through the last few months before we manage to get the [...]
Mirror publisher reports 14 per cent slump in revenue as print sales plummet November 27, 2020 Daily Mirror publisher Reach has reported a 14 per cent in revenue for the five months to November, after lockdowns across the UK hammered print sales. Reach, which owns 240 regional news titles, booked a 19.6 per cent decline in print revenue for the period. The group is now consulting on proposals to permanently close [...]
Tiered lockdowns spread gloom over UK services sector November 27, 2020 Firms in the UK services sector became much more gloomy in the third quarter of the year as the Covid “second wave crashed”, after optimism picked up in the summer when cases were falling, the latest CBI survey has shown. The consumer services sector was particularly downbeat, with the pandemic hitting business harder than in [...]
Government urges regulator to approve Astrazeneca-Oxford vaccine for emergency supply November 27, 2020 The government has formally asked the UK’s medicines regulator to authorise Astrazeneca and Oxford University’s coronavirus vaccine for emergency supply. If the vaccine is approved, it could speed up the rollout of the treatment across the UK. Regulators will begin to assess the vaccine when they receive full data from ongoing trials being carried out [...]
Astrazeneca mulling extra vaccine trial to ‘validate’ efficacy after results confusion November 26, 2020 Astrazeneca’s chief executive today said that the firm was likely to carry out another trial of its potential coronavirus vaccine after doubts were raised as to its efficacy. The admission, which was reported by Bloomberg, came after reports that a number of participants had received the wrong dosage during the trials. When the FTSE 100 [...]
Productivity and wellness up among City of London employees working from home November 26, 2020 Financial services employees reported feeling more productive and well while working from home, new research has found. Some seven in 10 financial services employees who usually work in the City of London found home working to be a positive experience throughout the coronavirus pandemic. Research from Deloitte found 38 per cent of employees felt more [...]
Coronavirus set to be ‘way less’ damaging than 2008 crash: IFS November 26, 2020 The hit to the UK economy from the coronavirus pandemic is likely to be “way less” than the impact of the financial crisis should the budget watchdog’s predictions come true, the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) think tank has said. The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) yesterday said the economy would likely end up three [...]