Business and Economics

By Valentina Magri    "Computers double their speed and memory capacity every 18 months. The risk is that computers develop intelligence and take over. Humans, who are limited by slow biological evolution, couldn’t compete, and would be superseded”. Stephen Hawking's prediction of the future of the human race has rattled a few people. The physicist, who has motor neurone disease and uses a system designed by Intel to speak, essentially grounded sci-fi prophecies of robots out-thinking humans that have been...

A new infographic has been created by CurrencyFair looking at the world of alternative finance to unveil historical innovations in making payments. From crowdfunding, peer-to-peer, online payment, cryptocurrency, contactless payments and the bitcoin system, most of us have heard of alternative methods of finance, but might not have a good idea what they actually are and how they function. This infographic explains some of the popular methods of payments, and also a brief history of each.

Jack Peat reviews The Tasting Room, Liverpool Street  Sat overlooking an ice rink suspended above Liverpool Street station with a citrus-infused, hoppy craft beer in hand and a whiff of smoked meats in the air I realised; winter doesn’t have to be so depressing. We had been invited to a new pop-up venture borne of a marriage between artisan food shop Sourced Market, seasonal drink specialists Peppermint Bars and smoked meat authority Smokestack which have collaborated to form a pseudo Winter...

By Simon Wilsher, the Wilsher Group It started in Greece, about 2400 years ago, when Hippocrates introduced the concept that we are a combination of four core personality types: sanguine (pleasure-seeking and sociable), choleric (ambitious and leader-like), melancholic (analytical and quiet) and phlegmatic (relaxed and peaceful).By 1921 the founder of analytical psychology, Swiss psychiatrist Carl Gustav Jung was taking this further in his book Psychologische Typen (Psychological Types) in which he outlined the four principal psychological functions by which we experience our environment:...

New research commissioned by American Express has quantified the social and community value of shopping in small independent shops ahead of this year’s Small Business Saturday on 6th December. The results showed that small shops across the country are providing £537 million worth of added-value services and going above and beyond for their customers and local communities. This equates to £3,058 worth of time donated each year by the average small shop. The most common examples cited were checking in...

In London, achieving healthy work/life balance can be a tricky prospect. According to the HSE, 39 per cent of all work related illnesses in 2013-14 were caused by work stress, depression or anxiety which can cause early burnout. A recent change in UK legislation has extended the right to request flexible working hours to all employees, who now have the right to request to adjust their schedules according to their needs. This could allow them to work from home part time, stagger...

A new report has revealed a cultural change in banks may take a generation, with the cost of poor culture far exceeding previous estimates. British retail banks and building societies have paid out at least £38.5 billion in fines and redress for customers over the last 15 years, with at least £27 billion of that due to the mis-selling of PPI. Poor culture also resulted in poor customer service, with banks have receiving 20.8 million complaints between 2008 and the first half of 2014, and 25 million between 2006 and...

By Joe Mellor, Deputy Editor Guardian and Observer readers have just voted Newcastle the best city in the UK. Well there is even more good news; Tyneside is becoming an ever popular choice for businesses taking up office space. Instant Offices sees the city of Newcastle as a prominent growing hub for UK businesses. With university graduates choosing to stay in the bustling city rather than migrate to London, and organisations such as NE1 lobbying for business growth and securing...

By J T Coombes    www.globalmagnacarta.com    @GMagnaCarta Many years ago I had a bank manager as a next door neighbour. He was a lovely man, a bit like Captain Mainwaring in Dad’s Army, who cared about people but without the pomposity. After he retired we began to see the closure of bank branches and the centralisation of banking services. When I asked his view on these changes he said that we were now witnessing the end of banking in...