Printing site PhotoBox snaps up London-based Instagram firm June 28, 2013 THE COMPANY behind the PhotoBox online printers and the Moonpig greeting cards website has acquired StickyGram, a service that allows Instagram’s 130m users to turn their creations into fridge magnets. London-based PhotoBox Group, which was created in 2011 when PhotoBox and Moonpig merged, will announce the deal today. It has not disclosed how much it [...]
A new name in the frame for press watchdog June 25, 2013 WHAT’S in a name? The Press Complaints Commission’s rechristening looks to be drawing ever closer, after its funding body applied to trade mark the name of its possible replacement. The Press Standards Board of Finance, which charges newspapers the levy used to fund the PCC, applied to trade mark “Independent Press Standards Organisation” at the [...]
Incentives must be the foundation of a revolution in British education June 25, 2013 WITH aims including far more school choice for pupils from all backgrounds, and raising standards in state schools through competition, the goals of the 2010 Academies Act were bold. Autonomous groups would set up free schools, which in turn would revolutionise the education system. But current policy betrays such a revolution. Only comprehensive reforms, designed [...]
Bank official: Bond bubble is the biggest threat to financial stability June 25, 2013 OUTSPOKEN Bank of England official Andrew Haldane warned yesterday that the bursting of a bond bubble is the biggest threat to the world’s financial stability. Haldane, the Bank’s executive director of financial stability, told the Treasury Select Committee that central banks’ massive asset-buying programmes have created significant risks. “If I were to single out what for [...]
The Treasury will gain nothing from property tax hikes June 25, 2013 A S THEY consider a “back-door” mansion tax and another increase in stamp duty in today’s Autumn Statement, George Osborne and Vince Cable should take a quick look at a dramatic drop in tax receipts after the last Budget. In March, stamp duty was hiked to 7 per cent for people buying property over £2m [...]
Ukip targets support of City Eurosceptics June 24, 2013 UKIP is making a direct pitch to leading City figures and hopes the recently launched Business for Britain campaign will make it easier to convince top businessmen to join the party, it has emerged. Yesterday a Ukip spokesperson told Morning Wire that the party is now regularly entertaining City grandees who are considering lending their [...]
Why micro-businesses could be Britain’s economic future June 24, 2013 IF you want to see how Britain has changed since the 1970s, look no further than our attitudes to entrepreneurship. There were around 820,000 small firms in the UK in 1971, according to an official report chaired by John Bolton, an industrialist; one of Britain’s great problems at the time was the terribly small number [...]
Why unpaid internships are a good thing – they help the young get a foot in the door June 24, 2013 MY COMPANY is currently looking for an intern (don’t all apply at once). The reason is simple. We have a job that needs doing that we cannot get our clients to pay us for and, in the current climate, we cannot afford to pay an experienced person to do it. The work we want doing [...]
British energy security is in doubt without new generation capacity June 24, 2013 FOR those who oppose the renewables industry, the discovery of shale gas is like the US Fifth Cavalry thundering into view. Just when it was becoming difficult to dismiss the role of the renewable sector in easing energy security fears, another argument arrives. We have no need to support or expand other renewables when energy [...]
Coming Soon: The death of paper money June 24, 2013 BRITONS did 10 per cent less of their shopping with cash last year as people turn their backs on coins and notes – leading some analysts to predict a cash-free future. Only eight per cent of consumers believe that traditional coinage will be the payment method of choice by 2020, with contactless cards and new [...]