Virgin Atlantic to raise £400m to survive the winter November 21, 2021 UK carrier Virgin Atlantic is in talks with its shareholders regarding the possibility to raise a further £400m to help the airline face winter months. Sources said that, while the amount was still being finalised and will be announced by the end of the year, it is expected that Virgin Atlantic’s owner Sir Richard Branson [...]
Former Chancellor predicts PM will U-turn on HS2 cuts November 21, 2021 Former Chancellor George Osborne has predicted Prime Minister Boris Johnson will make a U-turn on the government’s decision to cut HS2’s eastern leg. Talking to the Financial Times’ Payne’s Politics podcast, Osborne – who was Chancellor from 2010 to 2015 during David Cameron’s government – labelled the decision to scale back on HS2 as “pretty [...]
Boris Johnson rules out £20bn bridge between Scotland and Northern Ireland November 21, 2021 Prime Minister Boris Johnson has abandoned plans for a bridge or tunnel that would have connected Northern Ireland and Scotland. Johnson, a lover of grand infrastructure projects, heavily downplayed the prospects that the concept would ever get off the ground, downgrading it to merely an “ambition” that was “too expensive.” Johnson faced some derision after [...]
Tesla accused of ignoring female employee’s complaints of ‘nightmarish’ harassment November 19, 2021 Tesla has been accused of subjecting female employees to “nightmarish” sexual harassment at its main factory, in a fresh lawsuit. Jessica Barraza, 38, said she was forced to put up with “near daily” catcalls and inappropriate touching during her three-year stint at the car-maker’s California factory. The production associate said male employees would make inappropriate [...]
Whitehall should not be able to escape TfL’s case for funding November 18, 2021 There is a brilliant, if possibly apocryphal, anecdote that emerged from the 2000 US election. Karl Rove, George W. Bush’s election strategist, was finally accosted by the journalists who had been following Bush on the campaign trail for weeks, reciting the same speech, city by city, state by state. The hacks begged Rove to change [...]
Shipping crisis could push global inflation up, UN warns November 18, 2021 The current global shipping crisis could push global inflation rates up 1.5 per cent, hindering the economic recovery. A UN conference on trade and development (UNCTAD) report published today highlighted how the increased costs in container shipping have become a main issue for small suppliers, usually less equipped for absorbing additional expenses. If the current [...]
Brits have worst delivery experience, research says November 18, 2021 British consumers have a worse delivery experience compared with their counterparts in the US and Europe, even though the supply chain crisis is affecting the whole world. Research from operations experience platform Parcellab has revealed that 39 per cent of UK consumers claim to have placed an order that never arrived, compared with 18 per [...]
Railway industry says HS2 cuts will hinder net zero and levelling up agenda November 18, 2021 Railway industry stakeholders have hit back against the government’s decision to cut the eastern leg of HS2, which was initially planned to connect Birmingham and Leeds. Speaking at Commons, Shapps argued that the changes made to the £100bn Integrated Rail Plan (IRP) “will bring benefits at least a decade or more earlier” and that they [...]
Lib Dems call for bank tax hike to plug TfL funding gap November 18, 2021 The Liberal Democrats have called for taxes on banks to be hiked to help fill Transport for London’s (TfL) £6.6bn funding gap. The party called the long-running TfL funding saga between the government and mayor of London Sadiq Khan a “a ridiculous macho battle”, while urging them to “sort this mess out”. Khan last night [...]
EV premiums tumble by £97, research says November 18, 2021 Insurance rates for electric vehicles (EV) have gone down by £97, from £753 to £656, while premiums for petrol and diesel slumped by £82 to £622 in the third quarter of 2021. Research from price comparison website Comparethemarket has revealed that, despite the decline, the average annual insurance for EV is still £33 more expensive [...]
