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A worried accounting executive at Lehman Brothers, who raised the alarm about what he saw as dubious number-crunching at the doomed Wall Street bank, lost his job barely a month after alerting the auditor Ernst & Young, his lawyer claimed yesterday, in a case prompting calls for tighter protection for corporate whistleblowers. Matthew Lee, a [...]
Official figures showed this morning that the number of people claiming unemployment benefit posted its biggest fall since 1997 in February. This surprised economists, who had expected unemployment to go up by 8,000 George Buckley, Deutsche Bank It just confirms the labour market has done better in this recession than we thought it would. You [...]
The Bank of England monetary policy committee is keeping inflation expectations under close review Bank of England policymakers remained in “wait and see mode” when they voted unanimously to keep interest rates at a record low of 0.5% earlier this month, but warned that the upside risks to inflation had increased due to the weak [...]
Unemployment has fallen unexpectedly. Photograph: Graham Turner/Public Domain Gordon Brown was given an unexpected pre-election boost this morning as the number of people claiming unemployment benefit saw its biggest fall since 1997. The figures raised hopes that the jobs market has turned the corner and that the economy’s recovery from recession is gathering steam, although [...]
Primark’s like for like sales climbed 8% in the past six months. Photograph: Graeme Robertson Strong sales at the Primark retail chain continue to boost profits at its owner, Associated British Foods. In a trading update, ABF said Primark sales rose 8% in the first half of the year, including a better than expected performance [...]
Prime minister Gordon Brown and business secretary Lord Mandelson arrive at the Saatchi Gallery, London, for the Global Investment Conference. Photograph: Katie Collins/PA Gordon Brown attempted to persuade business leaders from overseas that Britain is still a good investment opportunity, at a conference in London today. The prime minister told the Global Investment Conference that [...]
BA is training volunteer cabin crew to help to staff flights in preparation for what could be a lengthy strike. Photograph: Andy Rain/EPA British Airways passengers face prolonged travel disruption next month as cabin crew push for a strike lasting at least 10 days if a ballot endorses industrial action. The Unite trade union announces [...]
Stephen Hester, chief executive of Royal Bank of Scotland, has decided that he will not accept a bonus this year Photograph: Ben Stansall/AFP/Getty Images Stephen Hester, chief executive of the Royal Bank of Scotland, has decided to turn down his bonus for 2009 amid a growing public outcry over the scale of rewards, piling further [...]
Toyota chief executive Akio Toyoda will face the US congressional committee on Wednesday. Photograph: Junko Kimura/Getty Images Toyota’s reputation for safety has come under renewed scrutiny after an internal memo showed that the carmaker’s executives boasted of saving $100m (£65m) through a limited recall of floor mats connected to a potentially dangerous acceleration defect. The [...]
There’s a theory around that yogic meditation can heighten the experience of eating and drinking. Can one truly be a yogi and a foodie? Food yoga doesn’t seem to be an entirely new idea. Photograph: Lisa Larsen/Getty Images/Time Life Pictures Being a food lover in your mid-40s involves carrying something of an occupational health burden. [...]