2 minute read
Back to the office
COMPANIES introduced remote and flexible working during the Covid pandemic and many employees are reluctant to lose their newfound freedom.
Tony Danker, director general of the Confederation of British Industry (CBI), said recently that most bosses wanted to end workfromhome.
“The whole world of work has gone crazy since the coronavirus pandemic,” Danker told the BBC.
“This led to a shift to working from
WATER bills in England and Wales will rise by 7.5 per cent in April, their biggest increase in 20 years.
A normal household’s annual bill could set them back around £448 (€502), with customers paying an average £31 (€34.7) more than in 2021.
Consumer groups warned that the increase would adversely affect households when one in five already found it difficult to pay bills.
Water UK argued that the rise for most customers would still be below inflation, maintaining that in real terms, bills were lower than 10 years ago.
It’ll cost you!
SPANISH shoppers who buy online from Zara must now pay if they want to return a purchase.
“Returns after February 1 will cost €1.95, deducted from the amount reimbursed,” the Zara web page explained. This applies only to postal returns, as no charge is made for items bought online if they are taken to a Zara outlet in the same region or country.
Referring to the returns policy, Oscar Garcia Maceiras, CEO of parent company Inditex, said that this had been “wellreceived” in other countries, with “absolutely no impact on sales.”
A no show
DAME ALISON ROSE, NatWest’s CEO, was accused of avoiding scrutiny by failing to appear before the Treasury select committee on January 21 home for many people who used to work solely from the office.
The UK’s four biggest bank chiefs were called to explain savings rates, as politicians believe that lenders are procrastinating over an increase but pass on higher mortgage and other costs.
“You ask most bosses, everybody secretly wants everyone to come back to the office,” added Danker, who represents the interests of 190,000 UK businesses.
“I just don’t think that is going to happen overnight,” he admitted.
“I think we are all coping with this but we’re going to be talking about it for a few years. We have no idea where it will end.”
Lloyds CEO Charlie Nunn and HSBC head Ian Stuart agreed to attend, while Barclays will send Matt Hammerstein, CEO of Barclays UK, since Vencat, the group’s chief executive is receiving cancer treatment.
The taxpayer owns 46 per cent of NatWest, but Rose claimed she was too busy to attend although insiders predict she will finally appear to silence her critics.
NOT only is Vladimir Putin a gangster, he is actually your classic gangster. I think the facts speak for themselves. He is undoubtedly an ego maniac and a bully. He is surrounded by thugs, hit men and bent politicians. He rubs out or ‘subdues’ any opposition. As a warning to others, those he considers ‘ratfinks’ are ruthlessly hunted down and ‘eliminated’. Both he and his henchmen are worth billions, and the general public of his domain consider him a hero. You don’t get more classic than that. Of course, that is where the resemblance ends.
His operation makes the Capone, Gambinos and Mafia Dons of yore look like *******. However, in my opinion, through all this worrying new ‘subzero war’ era, I believe we can all console ourselves with one fact; Putin won’t attack the West, certainly not nuclear.
Why would he? He still earns a big chunk of his illgotten gains from the West. He’s not involved in his skullduggery operation from a view of patriotism, or the old communistic idealsheaven forbid. He’s in it purely for the power and the money. To take out Boris, which would presumably include London, would be like Al Capone destroying Chicago. He definitely doesn’t want to terminate a future golden egg layer of our magnitude.
All that aside, with the advent of the
