News

By Ron Delnevo, ATMIA Executive Director Europe Earlier this year figures were published by the Payments Council purporting to show the demise of coins and notes and the rise of the ‘cashless society’. The figures concluded that 48 per cent of payments were made in cash, with the remaining 52 per cent made up of non-cash payments. A ‘cashless society’ is one where we would forgo all cash and instead use electronic payment systems, like the much-hyped Apple Pay, to...

By Steve Taggart A recent report released by Green Park has revealed that the number of FTSE 100 executive directors of ethnic minority has dropped from six to four in the past year. Researchers carrying out the study from Green Park have identified this extreme imbalance as a so-called ‘diversity deficit’, which may come to some as a dramatic revelation after Business Secretary Vince Cable cautioned that companies must drive to deliver a diverse boardroom by the end of 2015....

By Ahmed Al-Ansari, property consultant at Morgan Pryce, London commercial property experts As rents have soared on the wings of rising demand and been boosted by the lack of supply, many businesses have, over the last few years, taken certain strategic decisions when it came to their headquarters. So what makes businesses want to move? It can be combined factors including staffing issues, older buildings not necessarily designed for today’s workplace methods or layout, offices being turned into profitable residential...

By Dr Robin George Andrews @SquigglyVolcano & Dr Alfredo Carpineti  @DrCarpineti    The opposition to genetically modified food is irrational, and when governments who should know better ban it without cause, scientists must speak up. Scotland’s rural secretary has just announced that the growing of genetically modified crops will be banned in the fields of England’s feisty northern neighbour. Unfortunately, like many people on gluten-free diets who aren’t coeliacs, many who approve of this move simply do not understand what they’re eschewing even...

By Jack Peat, TLE Editor  When I first read that Cecil the Lion had been poached by US dentist Walter Palmer I wasn't immediately concerned about animal rights, cruel blood sports or even the protection of endangered species; I was concerned about freedoms. Individual liberty, after all, is what allowed Palmer to stand proud over his trophy catch with no thought about the aforementioned consequences. He had grabbed the very sustenance of life in a mockery to those choiceless beings...

By Eamon Jubbawy, COO and co-founder of Onfido An independent review into the UK sharing economy late last year found that 25 per cent of UK adults are sharing online in some way.  The sharing economy - already estimated by PwC to be worth £9 billion globally - has transformed how people interact and do business. It has made household names of the likes of Uber and Airbnb, upended service-based industries and changed how we think about employment and workers. The...

By Harry Bedford  The World lost a star when Cilla Black sadly passed away in the Spanish resort of Marbella. Aged 72, she is believed to have died of natural causes. The ultimate girl-next-door, Cilla was as likeable as she was talented and this gave her a career in show business spanning fifty years and fan-base spanning the entire country. Born Priscilla White in 1943 to a working-class family in Liverpool, she studied shipping management, though her passion always lay...

By Noy Shani @NoyShani One of Britain’s most prolific reality TV stars, Stuart Baggs, died yesterday, Thursday morning, in unknown circumstances in his home in Douglas, the Isle of Man. Baggs, who celebrated his 27th birthday just a few days ago, participated in the BBC show back in 2010, and is remembered for his witty one-liner catchphrases, including ‘I'm Stuart Baggs The Brand’ and ‘Everything I touch turns to sold’. He was fired during the semi-final of that season which...

By Fay Gibbin, Training Manager, Busy Bees Training Today, completing an Apprenticeship is a perfectly acceptable route to a stimulating and rewarding career or embarking upon a degree course, yet it is often wrongly assumed that those forgoing the traditional route of academic learning to pursue vocational training lack the aspirations or academic ability to achieve. Over 130,000 businesses across the UK offer Apprenticeship programmes because they recognise that they produce enthusiastic, dedicated individuals, who hold a company’s values and...