By John Walker on July 1, 2010
Some interesting results from a survey by Insurantz.com showing Small businesses are still not catching on to social networking.
Just 16% of UK SMEs embrace sites like Facebook or Twitter as essential tools for business
56% of businesses put off by lack of understanding
65% have yet to see any benefit from social networking
Leisure and tourism industry most [...]
Posted in Brands, Critical Infrastructure, Customer Support, Distribution Channels, Equipment & Operational Resources, Fashion, Trends and Memes, Ideas and Innovation, Information Technology, Internet Services, Market Research, Marketing, Marketing Facilities, Product Research and Development, Recruitment, Reputation, Sales, Surveys, Technology, Telecommunications Services, UK |
By John Walker on June 22, 2010
Chancellor George Osborne announced today that the standard rate of VAT will rise to 20% from 4th January next year (2011).
This is one of his measures for accelerating the reduction of the nation’s deficit.
Other measures included:
2 year pay freeze for public sector workers earning over £21,000.
reducing tax credits for families earning over £40,000.
and what he [...]
Posted in Forecasts, Taxation, UK, UK Budget |
By John Walker on May 20, 2010
PCG (the professional association supporting freelancers, contractors and consultants) was established to fight the introduction of IR35, so today’s announcement that it is to be replaced will be welcomed by freelance workers throughout the UK.
It is a triumph for common sense over political dogma.
In the Coalition’s full programme for Government, published today (20th May) the [...]
Posted in Freelancers, Politics & Legislation, Professional and Business Services, Regulation, Regulatory Compliance, Taxation, UK |
By John Walker on May 7, 2010
The final seat, contested in yesterday’s general election, returned its result just before 5pm today.
The resulting number of seats won, as collated by the BBC, are distributed as follows:
Conservative: 306
Labour: 258
Liberal Democrats: 57
Democratic Unionist Party: 8
Scottish National Party: 6
Sinn Fein: 5
Plaid Cymru: 3
Social Democratic and Labour Party: 3
Green Party: 1
Alliance Party: 1
Independent (Sylvia Hermon): 1
The [...]
Posted in Political and Economic Philosophies, Politics & Legislation, UK |
By John Walker on April 20, 2010
Met Office scientists have been working with the Universities of Reading and Hertfordshire to gather comprehensive data about the potential danger to aircraft from the volcanic plume that has been emitted from the recent eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland.
The volcanic dust was measured using newly-developed probes that attach to meteorological balloons that can be used [...]
Posted in Business Continuity Planning, Critical Infrastructure, Customer Support, Environmental Issues, Equipment & Operational Resources, Europe, Scotland, Surveys, Transport and Distribution, UK | Tagged Eyjafjallajökull volcano |
By John Walker on April 6, 2010
The Department of Health and GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) today announced that they have reached an agreement on the Department’s outstanding orders of swine flu vaccine resulting in significant savings for the Government.
The final settlement was mutually agreed as representing fair value for the UK Government and the manufacturer and means savings of around a third of [...]
Posted in Cosmetics, Medicinal and Chemical Products Wholesale, Deals and Agreements, Health Services, Pharmaceuticals, Health and Beauty Products Retail, Public Spending and State Aid, UK |
By Robert Steadman on April 2, 2010
Form and function have seamlessly merged in the development and introduction of an utterly new and unique Barwares device, the Ice Jacket.
Designed to conveniently and attractively encase a manufacturer’s bottle of spirits in ice for service and presentation, the Ice Jacket — developed and introduced by The Ice Jacket accommodates a wide range of manufacturers’ [...]
Posted in Accommodation, Bars, Catering, Fashion, Trends and Memes, Ideas and Innovation, Party Planning, Product Launches, Worldwide |
By John Walker on March 25, 2010
The UK Treasury has released further information following the Chancellor’s Budget Statement (Wednesday March 24th 2010). The following is an excerpt from the notice that outlines the particular measures for supporting business and growth.
The Government took decisive action to support the economy during the financial crisis and its aftermath. As the UK emerges from [...]
Posted in Agriculture, Farming and Farming Support Services, Arts and entertainment, Bars, Critical Infrastructure, Education, Energy and Utilities, Environmental Issues, Financial Resources, Food, Drink and Tobacco Manufacturing, Food, Drink and Tobacco Retail, Food, Drink and Tobacco Wholesale, Forecasts, Grants and Funding Pronouncements, Lending and Borrowing, Loans and Finance, Media and Creative Services, Monetary Policy, Petroleum and Fuel Products Wholesale, Political and Economic Philosophies, Public Spending and State Aid, Real Estate Services, Regulation, Regulatory Compliance, Sales, Mergers & Acquisitions, Skills and Training, Taxation, UK, UK Budget, Waste Management and Environmental Services | Tagged Accelerated Development Zones, Annual Investment Allowance, Better Regulation measures, Energy Market Assessment, Entrepreneurs’ Relief, Green Investment Bank, Higher Education Modernisation Fund, small business rates relief, The Treasury, Time to Pay arrangements, UK Finance for Growth, University Enterprise Capital Fund |
By John Walker on March 17, 2010
TOKYO, March 16, 2010—Canon Inc. announced today that it will begin the acquisition process for the top-level domain name “.canon,” based on the new generic Top Level Domain (gTLD) registration system.
The non-profit organization ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers), which maintains and regulates the Internet’s addressing system, has rigorously evaluated the current gTLD [...]
Posted in Awards and Accreditations, Brands, Critical Infrastructure, Design and Photographic Services, Distribution Channels, Electrical Equipment Manufacturing, Electronic Equipment and Computer Manufacturing, Information Technology, Internet Services, Marketing Facilities, Registries, Technology, Telecommunications, Telecommunications Services, Worldwide | Tagged Canon, Dot Canon, gTLD, ICANN, WHOIS |
By John Walker on March 9, 2010
Barclays has become the first bank in Europe to launch commercial contactless debit cards to its business customers. From March, all Barclays Business customers receiving new or re-issued cards will find that they come with contactless technology as standard. This enables them to pay for low value transactions by holding the card over a reader, [...]
Posted in Debit and Credit Card Merchant Services, Financial Services, Ideas and Innovation, Product Launches, Sales, Technology |
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