Image copyright Josiah Mortimer Uber drivers are staging strikes in several UK cities in a protest over pay and working conditions. “Hundreds” of drivers are expected to switch off their apps from 1pm, making themselves unavailable for work, union organisers said. Protests are also being held outside the ride-hailing app’s offices in London, Nottingham and …
Image copyright AFP The UK competition watchdog is to investigate the audit sector following concerns over conflicts of interest. It will look at whether the sector is “competitive and resilient enough to maintain high quality standards”, the Competition and Markets Authority said. The decision follows concerns the sector “is not working well for the economy …
Image copyright Getty Images The Bank of England is concerned about the rapid growth in lending to risky UK businesses. The Bank’s Financial Policy Committee (FPC) said there had been £31bn of loans this year to companies that already had a high level of debt. The loans are packaged up and sold in global financial …
Image copyright Rob Kim Entrepreneur Sir Richard Branson has said that Virgin Galactic is “weeks” away from its first trip into space. “We should be in space within weeks, not months. And then we will be in space with myself in months and not years,” the firm’s founder and chief executive told news website CNBC. …
Image copyright Netflix Image caption The Crown is one of the high-end television dramas singled out as benefitting from the tax relief The British Film Institute (BFI) says the UK film and TV industry generated a record £7.9bn in 2016, helped by government tax reliefs. A BFI-commissioned report found that £632m in tax relief prompted …
Image copyright Handout Aviva has announced the surprise departure of chief executive Mark Wilson, saying it was “time for new leadership to take the group to the next phase of its development”. Mr Wilson was appointed in January 2013 and since then, the company’s financial performance has significantly improved. He will stay with the group …
Image caption Women at Langata maximum-security prison are hoping to change their fortunes “When I came to prison I didn’t know computers.” Dorcus, 44, is beaming as she pulls apart the central processing unit of one of the prison’s desktop computers, explaining to the newer classmates what each electrical component is for. “Now I can …
Image copyright Chris Radburn Image caption More than 5,000 current and former employees are seeking compensation from Morrisons A legal battle for compensation by thousands of Morrisons staff whose personal details were posted online by a disgruntled employee has reached the Court of Appeal. The High Court ruled last year that the supermarket was liable …
Media playback is unsupported on your device Media captionAll of Amsterdam’s boats must go electric by 2025 As we glide silently up Amsterdam’s busy waterways on an unseasonably warm autumn morning, boat company owner Rik Kooij, 38, admits that “canal water runs in my veins”. Ever since his mechanically-minded grandfather renovated a bicycle, then a …
Image copyright Getty Images The International Monetary Fund has warned a trade war between the US and China risks making the world a “poorer and more dangerous place” in its latest assessment of the global economy. The IMF has lowered its forecast for global growth this year and next. It said that a full-blown trade …