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☆ BBC's Sharp resigns after breaching rules over Boris Johnson loan
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-28 | by ( Sarah Young | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

The investigation, initiated by the public appointments watchdog, examined the way in which Sharp was selected by the government to chair the corporation in 2021. Specifically, it looked at whether Sharp fully disclosed details of his role in facilitating an 800,000 pound ($1 million) loan for Johnson before he was named chairman. The report found that, while he had breached the government's code for public appointments, that breach did not necessarily invalidate his appointment. "I have decided that it is right to prioritise the interests of the BBC," Sharp said in a statement. The report mentions Johnson's Downing Street office as having recommended Sharp as "a strong candidate" for the role, which attracted 23 applications.

☆ UK train drivers target FA Cup final, Eurovision with fresh strikes
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-27 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

ASLEF said the strikes would take place on May 12, May 31 and June 3. As well as the FA Cup final, the action will likely impact those travelling to the Eurovision Song Contest in Liverpool, taking place between May 9 and 13. "Consequently, we have today announced three more days of strike action." "More strike action is totally unnecessary and will only heap more pressure on an industry already facing an acute financial crisis," an RDG spokesperson said. "We urge the ASLEF leadership to re-join us at the negotiating table and work with us to find a solution."

☆ Thousands join Extinction Rebellion protests in London
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-24 | by ( Dave Lucas | ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

Activists from the Extinction Rebellion hold a banner next to pink origami boats that have been placed as part of 'The Big One' event in London, Britain April 23. REUTERS/Henry Nicholls

Inflation, which hit a 41-year high of 11.1% in October, continued to eat into the spending power of workers whose pay is rising by less. Britain's headline inflation rate is now the highest in western Europe and compares with an average of 6.9% in the euro zone and 5.0% in the United States. Austria recorded a higher inflation rate than Britain in February. Reuters GraphicsPOLITICAL PRESSUREHigh inflation is a problem for Britain's government as well as the BoE, which forecast in February that inflation would be below 4% by the end of the year. Producer price inflation - which measures changes in prices charged and paid by manufacturers and often leads changes in CPI - tumbled in March due to lower oil prices.

REUTERS/Henry NichollsLONDON, April 19 (Reuters) - Britain now has western Europe's highest rate of consumer price inflation after it fell by less than expected in March to 10.1% from February's 10.4%, official data showed on Wednesday. Despite falling in March, Britain's inflation rate was the highest in western Europe and the only country in the region to post a double-digit number for last month, after Austria recorded a higher inflation rate in February. Last month the BoE said it expected inflation to "fall significantly" in the second quarter. In February, the BoE had forecast March inflation of 9.2%. Inflation in prices charged by manufacturers fell sharply in March to its lowest since October 2021 at 8.7%, down from 11.9% in February, largely reflecting a drop in oil prices.

[1/2] Migrants are escorted into Dover harbour, after being rescued while attempting to cross the English Channel, in Dover, Britain, August 24, 2022. REUTERS/Henry NichollsLONDON, April 19 (Reuters) - Britain is anticipating that 56,000 migrants will cross the Channel in small boats to its shores this year, court documents show, meaning it would be need to house as many as 140,000 asylum seekers. Already this year, more than 5,000 more people have arrived in Britain across the Channel. "Significantly, the number needing support is predicted to grow still further: Home Office operational plans are based on scenarios of up to 56,000 small boat arrivals in 2023," the document said. ($1 = 0.8055 pounds)Reporting by Michael Holden and Sam Tobin, Editing by Angus MacSwanOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ UK healthcare workers set out new round of strikes over pay - Unite union
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-19 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

[1/3] People protest in front of the London Ambulance Service during a strike by ambulance workers due to a dispute with the government over pay, in London, Britain January 23, 2023. Staff at a number of regional ambulance and hospital bodies will strike on May 2, Unite said in a statement. "Unite has been upfront and honest that it did not believe that the pay offer was good enough for NHS workers." The government and some healthcare unions agreed on a 5% pay increase proposal in March, but the plan needed to be voted on by workers. Members at Unison, another union that represents ambulance staff and others health workers, have voted to accept the offer.

☆ From one of Britain's most popular toys to the target of police raids: how a children's doll became a symbol of racism
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-16 | by ( Isobel Van Hagen | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

A police raid on a bar just outside of London renewed a debate over racist dolls. But despite the long history of the racist trope, the debate over the doll's place in British culture continues. Revellers take part in the Children's Parade at Notting Hill Carnival in London, Britain, August 28, 2022. But it does appear that there is some gradual shift in public opinion happening with the dolls. Nevertheless, the enduring popularity of the blackface doll creates the impression "that we live in a post-racial society," Scott said.

☆ Britain's Cineworld shareholders to be wiped out in restructuring plan
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-11 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/3] People are seen at a Cineworld in Leicester’s Square, amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak in London, Britain, October 4, 2020. It does not provide for any recovery for its existing shareholders, the group said. The group's chapter 11 companies are seeking to confirm the plan on an "expeditious timeline", Cineworld said, adding that it continues to operate its global business and cinemas as usual without interruption. The plan filed with the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas, Houston Division, is yet to be approved. Cineworld, which expects to emerge from Chapter 11 in the first half of 2023, said any transaction resulting from the marketing process may delay emergence beyond that point.

REUTERS/Henry NichollsApril 8 (Reuters) - As the fortunes of Richard Branson's Virgin Orbit were crashing to Earth last month, a little-known investor called Matthew Brown appeared offering a $200 million rescue. Virgin Group, which owns 75% of Virgin Orbit, also declined to comment for this article. The group is providing financing to Virgin Orbit as the satellite launch company seeks a buyer in bankruptcy. Asked about this, Brown told Reuters he structured deals to protect investor confidentiality with a preference for "laying low below the radar." Virgin Orbit filed for bankruptcy on Tuesday.

☆ Virgin Orbit bankruptcy casts shadow over Japan's space dreams
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-07 | by ( Eimi Yamamitsu | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

Oita prefecture, home to Japan's largest number of hot springs, partnered with Virgin Orbit in 2020 to create its first Asian spaceport at Oita Airport using a Boeing (BA.N) 747 for horizontal rocket launches. Two Japanese companies, ANA Holdings (9202.T) unit All Nippon Airways Trading Co and little-known Japanese satellite development start-up iQPS Inc emerged among the top six creditors when Virgin Orbit filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Tuesday. ANA said it was hopeful Virgin Orbit, which has said it is seeking a buyer, would be able to restructure and resume business. "We pray that Virgin Orbit will resume their business for the development of the global space industry." "It is possible that some other company will buy Virgin Orbit.

☆ Ai Weiwei goes big for design-focused London exhibition
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-05 | by ( Hanna Rantala | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/5] Chinese artist Ai Weiwei poses during a photocall, amongst art pieces displayed in his exhibition "Ai Weiwei: making sense" at the Design Museum in London, Britain, April 4, 2023. Titled "Water Lilies #1", the artwork is one of the centrepieces of Ai's new “Making Sense” exhibition at London's Design Museum – his biggest UK show in eight years. There's a black door I integrated into this Monet's 'Water Lilies' because Monet is an artist my father liked. "Making Sense" also includes another new Lego artwork, "Untitled (Lego Incident"), one of five vast “fields” featuring hundreds of thousands of objects laid out on the gallery floor. "Ai Weiwei: Making Sense" runs at the Design Museum from April 7 to July 30.

Several major finance companies also voluntarily reported ethnicity pay data for the period. The majority of major finance firms nonetheless made progress in narrowly closing their gender pay gaps, according to their disclosures. ETHNICITY PAY GAPSHalf of the 20 finance firms reviewed reported varying detail on ethnicity pay gaps, with some including insurer Phoenix doing so for the first time. Where pay gaps were further broken down by ethnicity, they showed the largest pay disparities were between Black and white employees. All the employers said in their pay gap reports they were taking steps to improve diversity, particularly at senior levels.

☆ Google workers in London stage walkout over job cuts
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-04 | by ( Martin Coulter | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

REUTERS/Henry NichollsLONDON, April 4 (Reuters) - Hundreds of Google employees staged a walkout at the company’s London offices on Tuesday, following a dispute over layoffs. Trade union Unite, which counts hundreds of Google’s UK employees among its members, said the company had ignored concerns put forward by employees. “Our members are clear: Google needs to listen to its own advice of not being evil,” said Unite regional officer Matt Whaley. Last month, workers at the company’s Zurich office in Switzerland staged a similar walkout, with employee representatives claiming Google had rejected their proposals to reduce job cuts. We know this is a very challenging time for our employees,” a Google spokesperson said.

☆ Exclusive: Virgin Orbit near deal to raise $200 mln from Matthew Brown - term sheet
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-22 | by ( Joey Roulette | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

WASHINGTON, March 22 (Reuters) - Billionaire Richard Branson's cash-strapped Virgin Orbit Holdings Inc (VORB.O) is nearing a deal for a $200-million investment from Texas-based venture capital investor Matthew Brown via a private share placement, according to a term sheet seen by Reuters. Matthew Brown Companies did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Virgin Orbit and Matthew Brown are aiming to close the deal on Friday, according to the term sheet, which is not binding and remains subject to final agreement. Virgin Orbit's board agreed to move forward with the deal at a meeting held on Tuesday, according to a person with direct knowledge of the matter. Under the deal, Matthew Brown will be entitled to convert his $200 million investment in Virgin Orbit's preferred shares into common shares at the volume weighted average price in the 30 days before the deal is signed.

☆ Samsung wins jury trial in 'S10' trademark lawsuit
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-20 | by ( Blake Brittain | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

FILE PHOTO: A Samsung employee poses with the new Samsung Galaxy S10 5G smartphone at a press event in London, Britain February 20, 2019. REUTERS/Henry Nicholls(Reuters) - Samsung Electronics Co Ltd convinced a Los Angeles federal jury on Friday that its Galaxy S10 phones do not violate the trademark rights of a talent-management agency that also uses the “S10” name. S10 Entertainment, which manages the pop singers Anitta and Normani, said it began using the S10 name in 2017. “As a result of confusion between Samsung’s S10 phone line and S10 Entertainment’s S10 mark, the value and goodwill of S10 Entertainment’s Instagram and social media footprint has been severely diminished,” the lawsuit said. The case is S10 Entertainment & Media LLC v. Samsung Electronics Co, U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, No.

The Credit Suisse rescue has shaken the European banking sector and fears of wider fallout remain. Under the Credit Suisse rescue deal, 16 billion Swiss francs worth of Credit Suisse Additional Tier 1 debt will be written down to zero on the orders of the Swiss regulator. Overall, bank debt remained under pressure, with the cost of insuring exposure to the debt rising in the credit default swaps (CDS) market. CONTAGION RISKThe wipeout of AT1 bonds in the Credit Suisse rescue has alerted fixed income investors to the risks of investing in these instruments. At Credit Suisse, the bank's AT1 bonds were bid as low as 1 cent on the dollar on Monday as investors braced for the wipeout.

☆ Investors pile into cash but "no equity capitulation" - BofA
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-17 | by ( Lucy Raitano | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

REUTERS/Henry Nicholls/File PhotoCash funds saw a “huge” inflow of $112.7 billion in the latest week, BofA said, citing EPFR data. Inflows into cash for the first quarter of 2023 are on course to be the highest since the second quarter of 2020, BofA said. Meanwhile, equity funds saw a “tiny” weekly outflow of $26 million, and investors pulled $2.3 billion from bonds and put $600 million into gold. The turmoil in markets has spooked investors, but BofA said equity flows had been unchanged week-on-week and there was “no equity capitulation”. There was a “flight to quality” in fixed income according to BofA, with $9.8 billion poured into Treasuries - the largest weekly inflow since May 2022.

☆ Uneasy calm descends after SVB-triggered turmoil
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-15 | by ( Dhara Ranasinghe | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

The European Central Bank is still leaning towards a half-percentage-point rate hike on Thursday, despite turmoil in the banking sector, given high inflation, a source close to its Governing Council told Reuters. European stocks slipped 0.9% (.STOXX) in early trade but held above three-month lows reached on Monday as panic gripped world markets following SVB's collapse last week. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan (.MIAPJ0000PUS) rose 0.9%, having slid 1.7% on Tuesday. Japan's Nikkei index was flat (.N225) while an index of Japanese banks, which has slid 8% this week, jumped over 3% (.IBNKS.T). There had been worries that stronger-than-expected data might lead the Fed to go for jumbo-sized hikes to battle inflation.

☆ Britain to bolster the City after Silicon Valley Bank collapse
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-15 | by ( Huw Jones | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

[1/2] A person walks over Millennium Bridge amidst early morning fog, as the sun rises beyond the City of London financial district in the background, in London, Britain, February 8, 2023. Following the collapse of its parent company in the United States, Silicon Valley Bank's UK arm was sold to HSBC over the weekend to avoid disrupting its customers in Britain. Hunt said he would make a statement in the autumn on how the UK financial system would be strengthened. City Minister Andrew Griffith has said that an accounting rule for pension funds has become a "performance penalty" which holds back investment in Britain. The financial sector has called for faster implementation of the proposals after Amsterdam overtook London as Europe's biggest share trading centre.

[1/3] People walk over Millennium Bridge amidst early morning fog, as the sun rises beyond the City of London financial district in the background, in London, Britain, February 8, 2023. REUTERS/Henry Nicholls/File PhotoLONDON, March 9 (Reuters) - Investors Aviva (AV.L) and M&G (MNG.L) on Thursday joined calls for Britain to press ahead with financial reforms and give high-growth sectors such as technology companies more support to keep London's markets competitive. Andrea Rossi, chief executive of asset manager and insurer M&G, said Britain needed to better support new companies to attract them to London's stock market. Rossi said while he was "bullish" on Britain's prospects, the country needed regulatory and political stability after a turbulent end to 2022. ($1 = 0.8408 pounds)Reporting by Iain Withers in London and Sinchita Mitra in Bengaluru, Editing by Alexander SmithOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Artist moves into rubbish skip in protest at 'crazy' London costs
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-06 | by ( Natalie Thomas | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/5] Artist Harrison Marshall poses outside the skip which he has converted into a home, where he intends to live in for a year, in Bermondsey, London, Britain, March 3, 2023. Returning to the city after a period abroad, he said he struggled to find somewhere to live given the shortage of housing. "As was the case with thousands of people across the city and across the country, the prices had gone crazy. "Skip House" is emblazoned in black across the classic yellow container normally used for builder's waste. "The skip provided me the kind of opportunity to make my own tiny little house," he said.

☆ UK economy in 'a lot better shape' than bleak figures suggest, fund manager says
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-23 | by ( Elliot Smith | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

People walk outside the Bank of England in the City of London financial district, in London, Britain, January 26, 2023. Henry Nicholls | ReutersLONDON — The U.K. has thus far avoided a widely anticipated recession, and the signs from the business world are that the economy may be holding up better than feared, according to veteran Schroders fund manager Andy Brough. Figures published earlier this month showed that the U.K. GDP contracted by 0.5% in December, as the economy flatlined over the final quarter of 2022 to narrowly avoid a technical recession. "Underneath companies' profitability x-minus today, we're seeing pretty good dividend increases, pretty good earnings statements, so, underlying, I think the economy is in a lot better shape. 'Signs of life' in business investment Uncertainty over future relations between Westminster and Brussels have hammered business investment since the U.K. voted to leave the European Union in 2016, in turn hampering productivity expansion and adding to the direct costs of Brexit on the U.K. potential growth.

☆ Ukrainian designers 'escape reality' at London Fashion Week
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-21 | by ( Sarah Mills | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/3] Models present creations by Ukrainian designer Ivan Frolov during the "Ukraine Fashion Week presents: FROLOV, KSENIASCHNAIDER, PASKAL" show during London Fashion Week in London, Britain, February 21, 2023. REUTERS/Henry NichollsLONDON, Feb 21 (Reuters) - Unable to show in their war-torn homeland, three Ukrainian fashion designers hit the runway at London Fashion Week on Tuesday, delighted to showcase some colour and joy. In the first of back-to-back shows, fashion house KSENIASCHNAIDER mixed denim jeans and dresses with white tops and multicoloured patchwork outfits in an eco-friendly collection. "I just want to say how we appreciate London Fashion Week and The British Fashion Council," he added, saying the support was vital to keep their businesses going. Keen to make sure their talent is seen, Ukrainian designers will also be showing in Berlin and Copenhagen.

☆ Factbox: Key winners at the 2023 BAFTA Film Awards
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-19 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

[1/5] Peter Baynton, John Agbaje, Hannah Minghella, Jude Coward Nicoll, Charlie Mackesy and Cara Speller pose with their awards for Best British Short Animation for "The Boy, The Mole, The Fox And The Horse" during the 2023 British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) Film Awards at the Royal Festival Hall in London, Britain, February 19, 2023. REUTERS/Henry NichollsLONDON, Feb 19 (Reuters) - The annual BAFTA Film Awards, Britain's highest honours for film, were held in London on Sunday. Below is a list of the winners in the main categories:BEST FILM"All Quiet on the Western Front"OUTSTANDING BRITISH FILM"The Banshees of Inisherin"DIRECTOREdward Berger, "All Quiet on the Western Front"LEADING ACTRESSCate Blanchett, "Tár"LEADING ACTORAustin Butler, "Elvis"SUPPORTING ACTRESSKerry Condon, "The Banshees of Inisherin"SUPPORTING ACTORBarry Keoghan, "The Banshees of Inisherin"ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY"The Banshees of Inisherin"ADAPTED SCREENPLAY"All Quiet on the Western Front"FILM NOT IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE"All Quiet on the Western Front"DOCUMENTARY"Navalny"ANIMATED FILM"Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio"ORIGINAL SCORE"All Quiet on the Western Front"EE RISING STAR AWARDEmma MackeyReporting by Marie-Louise Gumuchian Editing by Nick ZieminskiOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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