News Articles

Twitter surges 93%
The number of people visiting social networking site Twitter has increased by 22 fold in the last twelve months, according to internet monitoring company Hitwise. Twitter has now become the fifth most viewed social networking site compared with the 84th last year, with an amazing 93% growth in 2009. Another measure of Twitter's success is its jump in the overall internet rankings ... more

Graduate jobs dilemma
A survey of the top 100 graduate employers has shown that vacancies have dropped by more than a quarter this year. More than 8% of graduates, around 16,835, were still unemployed six months after finishing their studies, a rise of 2% on the previous year. And those that did find work were often found to have taken low paid retail jobs. Experts are predicting doom and gloom for t... more

Swine flu set to hit UK business
New cases of swine flue could reach 100,000 per day by August according to government ministers, causing big problems for UK businesses. The number of cases has almost doubled in the last 7 days to 7,400 and the government has admitted that they are no longer able to contain the spread of the virus. Many business bosses who have cut staff to the bone due to the downturn are already stru... more

EU mobile phone costs reduced
Mobile phone tariffs have been reduced across all 27 of the EU states. The maximum charge for outbound calls to another EU country is now 37p and receiving call costs are also down to 17p per minute. Additionally calls will now be billed by the second after a duration of half a minute. The cost of sending a text is also reduced to 10p. The new reduced tariffs will be particularly good ne... more

Credit card cheques are banned
Banks will no longer be allowed to send out unsolicited credit card cheques or raise credit card limits without the prior written permission of the account holder. The ban is part of the government’s plans for consumer protection to stop inappropriate selling of financial products. According to a survey by Uswitch, 20% of account holders have had their credit card limit increased without t... more

Heatwave causing staff problems
Britain's heatwave is expected to continue until the weekend, raising problems for small business owners, particularly those who operate from offices without air conditioning. Tuesday was the hottest day of the year so far with a temperature of 31.8C, and with staff having to work in uncomfortable conditions business owners must ensure that they do everything possible to assist their staff in s... more

CBI: Red tape must not increase
The Confederation of British Industry (CBI) have warned the government about the dangers of over-regulation in the current economic climate. Mr Lambert, director-general of the CBI, cited the axing earlier this year of plans for regulatory budgets to curb red tape across Whitehall as an alarming indication that ministers could add to the high regulation burden already felt by companies in the U... more

House prices rise 0.9% in June
House prices increased by 0.9% in June, the third rise in the last four months, according to data published by Nationwide. This rise in house prices brings the annual rate of decline down to 9.3% from 11.3% from May's figures, and has led to hopes that the housing market is beginning to recover. "House prices have now risen in three of the last four months, suggesting that the improvement th... more

Economy falls at fastest rate in 50 years
The UK economy contracted by 2.4% in the first quarter of 2009 - the fastest rate of decline since 1958, according to data released by the Office for National Statistics (ONS). The data also revealed that economic output fell 4.9% during the first quarter of this year compared to the first quarter of 2008 - the largest year-on-year fall on record. Despite the poor figures, economists are str... more

Staff working longer hours in recession
Almost half of workers in the UK are putting in extra hours in order to keep their jobs in the recession and cope with a growing workload, according to research by BT Business. The research revealed that 43% of employers expect their staff to put in overtime, with many now working so many extra hours that they are effectively doing a six-day week. Almost half of respondents admit to being mo... more