UK economy Britain's economy unexpectedly grew in November, official data showed Friday, but it is widely tipped to enter recession this year as the country faces a cost-of-living crisis. Gross domestic product added just 0.1 percent in the month, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said in a statement, aided by the services sector and despite widespread strikes. That followed expansion of 0.5 percent in October. However, GDP shrank 0.3 percent in the three months to November compared with the three months to August. "While the economy performed better than expected in November, the data can't mask the underlining problems in the UK economy," said economist Alpesh Paleja at the CBI business lobby. Read More "High inflation is severely impacting household budgets and businesses are facing intense cost pressures. As a result, consumer spending and investment plans are weakening. "The question for the government now is not whether we will fall into … [Read more...] about UK economy posts surprise growth in November
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Europe Beefs-Up Cybersecurity Law, Trumping The UK
Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin The EU has introduced two new significant pieces of legislation that are intended to increase cybersecurity resilience in the European economy and the overall resilience of critical infrastructure providers to incidents that have the potential to significantly disrupt their services. These new laws represent a massive leap-forward for the EU while casting a shadow over the UK which is now lagging behind the pace of its former economic and social partner. Welcome NIS2 and CER The first piece of legislation is 'NIS2' (or the 'Second Cybersecurity Directive', as some are calling it). The second piece of legislation is the Directive on Resilience of Critical Entities (or 'CER', for short). In comparison to its predecessor, NIS1 (which came into effect in May 2018), NIS2 significantly increases the range of services providers that are subject to cybersecurity legislation. They break down into two categories: The … [Read more...] about Europe Beefs-Up Cybersecurity Law, Trumping The UK
Britain’s booming film industry has a growth lesson for Rishi Sunak
Tom Cruise attends the Royal Film Performance and UK Premiere of 'Top Gun: Maverick' at Leicester Square in London, England. - Bloomberg Four new sound stages are sprouting up in fields about a half hour’s drive west of London’s Heathrow Airport, a rare bright spot for Britain’s ailing economy. The expansion at Shinfield Studios, reported to be hosting a new Walt Disney Co. Star Wars production, is set to draw in investment of £600 million ($726 million) a year for film and TV work once the construction is complete at the end of 2023. It’s part of a broader boom across Britain’s film industry that provides both a lesson and a warning for Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s government on how to stimulate growth. Buoyed by carefully-targeted tax credits rolled out in 2007 and extended in 2013, the production ecosystem is growing at a record rate, feeding a surge in demand for content. The industry is expanding so quickly it’s struggling to hire enough workers. “Given the … [Read more...] about Britain’s booming film industry has a growth lesson for Rishi Sunak
Part-Time Work Is Key To Boosting Economic Growth And Employment, U.K. Research Shows
Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin De-stigmatizing and expanding the availability of part-time work could support national employment, economic growth and worker engagement, according to new research published in the U.K. this week. Using data derived from the country’s flexible furlough program during the pandemic, under which organizations were able to bring back employees on a part-time basis with the government subsidizing their wages, academics at Cranfield University’s School of Management found that if companies were to offer more part-time work, the broader economy could be much better off. About a fifth of working age people in the U.K. are currently classed as economically inactive, the research found. Many of those are not employed because they have caring responsibilities, a disability or another health condition or concern. But having access to part-time work could a the two-pronged benefit: it would allow those individuals to re-enter the … [Read more...] about Part-Time Work Is Key To Boosting Economic Growth And Employment, U.K. Research Shows
Don’t mention the ‘R’ word – world’s biggest economies at risk of recession
CARTOON: Financial Times Five big economies are at risk of recession – Germany, Italy, Mexico, Brazil and the UK. A recession is usually defined as two consecutive quarters of contraction in an economy. Locally Singapore and Hong Kong are teetering on technical recessions, both vital regional business hubs. The UK economy shrunk in the second quarter, and growth has flat lined in Italy. Germany’s economy, the world’s fourth largest, contracted in the second quarter. The causes? A lot of economists say there’s a war of confidence in the markets with background noises of the US-China trade war, the Brexit farce, and a perfect storm of a global manufacturing slump and wounded business sentiment. Related news MP says cannabis helps reduce Yaba addicts in Bangkok 17 mins ago Locals point out dangerous railway crossing in central Thailand 56 mins ago SRT plans to buy new train engines after viral video reveals new station swirling in … [Read more...] about Don’t mention the ‘R’ word – world’s biggest economies at risk of recession
London And Paris Edge Closer As Threats Loom
Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin Writers or presenters in need of a catchy headline often deploy the line from Charles Dickens’ ‘A Tale of Two Cities’ that ‘it was the best of times, it was the worst of times’. The phrase in question compares London and Paris, around time of the French Revolution. Having spent Thursday giving a talk on ‘La Guerre par d’autre moyens’ to a group of French economists and then Friday in London attending the estimable Pi Capital’s lunch meeting (Ian Bremmer presented his ‘risks for the year ahead’), I couldn’t help thinking of the ‘Two Cities’ and everything their history has to tell us about the development of economies, power and the state of the world today. They are the two most extraordinary cities on earth, and no modern city, nor I expect Beijing (for a very long time the most populous city on earth – Rome has the record here) will match their colour. I have lived in London and Paris for nearly half my life, … [Read more...] about London And Paris Edge Closer As Threats Loom