If you want to live in an energy inefficient home, expect to pay more for your mortgage. Or perhaps the implied message in the government’s net zero documents was starker: you won’t even get a mortgage unless you bring the property up to scratch. As nudges to homeowners and homebuyers …
Read More »Amazon asks Ring owners to respect privacy after court rules usage broke law
Amazon has urged owners of its Ring security cameras and doorbells – which come with a camera and microphone – to respect neighbours’ privacy after a court ruled their use broke data laws. A neighbour complained about use of the devices, which can be remotely accessed by homeowners via an …
Read More »Businesses saw right through Johnson’s bombast, but will Sunak?
Boris Johnson threw a mishmash of wishful economic thinking at the Conservative party conference wall last week and his advisers will spend this weekend hunkered down in No 10 hoping some of it will stick. Early signs are not good. Only hours after the prime minister stepped off the podium, …
Read More »Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp hit by global outage
Facebook has admitted that its users are having “trouble accessing our apps” after its network of services, including Instagram and WhatsApp, were hit by an outage in several countries, including the UK and the US, affecting millions of people. Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp became inaccessible for large numbers of people …
Read More »Next’s chair adds voice to boardroom chorus deploring UK labour crisis
Things must be bad when Next’s mild-mannered chief executive, Simon Wolfson, is quoting second world war generals. Actually, no, the battlefield line he had in mind was William Slim’s one about how nothing is ever as good or as bad as the first excited reports would have it. Fair point. …
Read More »Energy bills: free and easy ways to cut your costs
Every penny counts at the moment, so it is worth making adjustments to your energy use even if they will each only save you a few pounds a year. These are things that do not involve any investment. Switch things off There are lots of appliances that draw power even …
Read More »Kwarteng to hold emergency meeting with gas chiefs over price crisis
Kwasi Kwarteng, the business secretary, will hold an emergency summit with gas industry chiefs on Monday morning in an effort to contain the fallout caused by soaring market prices on consumers and businesses. Mid-level suppliers will be placed into administration if they fall into trouble this winter in an attempt …
Read More »Predicted £750m profit makes it harder for JD Sports to keep £61m furlough cash
Call it an embarrassment of riches at JD Sports. Profits, like the share price, are flying, to the point where the company predicts £750m for the full-year, or £150m more than the City had expected, which must be the largest profit upgrade ever announced by a UK retailer. The embarrassment, …
Read More »The battle for Britain’s skies takes a new twist pitting easyJet against Wizz Air
The battle for the post-pandemic holiday skies has taken a new twist, as easyJet launched a £1.2bn fundraiser while announcing it had fended off a takeover bid – widely assumed to be from rival Wizz Air. EasyJet, the dominant airline at Gatwick , said the “unsolicited approach” from an unnamed …
Read More »Tax the wealthy to give care workers a pay rise, don’t raid ordinary workers’ pockets | Frances O’Grady
In a week’s time, the TUC will hold its 153rd congress in London. Shortly before I get up to give my annual address, a short film will be played of some care workers I met in Middleton, Greater Manchester, this summer. What they told me about working through the pandemic …
Read More »