Insolvent Die hard. From a decade low in 2015, UK insolvencies have shot up 20%. Out of 2018’s 17,439 corporate failures, construction was hit hardest with 3,940 insolvencies, despite the demand for new homes. Then admin/support firms (3,346), retail (2,608) & manufacturing (2,092). Causes include Brexit uncertainty, business rates, pension enrolment & unsecured debt Guessed the…
Tag: UK
Vegetables A 40ft x 60ft plot can grow most of the veg needed to feed a family of 4. UK allotments go back 1,000 years to the Saxons, who held in common a field cleared from woodland. Peak: 1.5m allotments, today only 330,000 left, with >90,000 people on waiting lists. Fewer car parks & more…
Zeitgeist “Staycations” in the home country fit the zeitgeist. Rather than travel abroad, Britons took 59m UK holidays in 2017. Average spend: £599 ($727), 2018 estimate £823 ($999). Besides value, top requests are pet-friendly, hot tub & an “experience” (alternative accommodation, activities). Nearly 50% of Britons are more likely to holiday in the UK than the…
Garden 32% of tourists who visit Britain go to parks & gardens. More than the 28% who visit castles, historic houses, museums & art galleries. 35% make sightseeing trips to famous monuments/ buildings. Lucem demonstrat unbra = the shadow shows the light. Peripheries between the tamed & the wild, gardens lure everyone Guessed the Word? …
Dry The number of Britons ‘going dry’ has hit a 12-year high. 20m consider alcohol-free drinks, while 1 in 5 doesn’t drink alcohol at all. Many sophisticated zero-proof aperitifs, beers, spirits & wines now on the shelves, solving the problem of what to drink when you’re not drinking Guessed the Word? Series…
Leave In UK & US, poverty has flipped from Reason to Leave to Reason Not to Leave,despite widening opportunity gap between dynamic & struggling areas. Should policymakers re-vitalise poor areas? Or incentivize people to move? Fewer Americans moved States in 2017 than in any of the previous 50 years Guessed the Word? …
Apprentice Drop out? 29% of UK university graduates earned less than average worker with apprenticeship experience recently – against a backdrop of lowest unemployment level in UK for 43 years, in Eurozone for 9 years and in the US for 18 years Guessed the Word? Series 29 (5/8) …
Investor visa Over 400 wealthy people ready to invest £2m ($2.55m) to get Tier 1 ‘golden visa’. Up 46% over 2017, esp. from China, Russia, Turkey. Can stay in UK for 40 months & apply for British citizenship after that. Increase is despite stricter rules from 2015, & other EU countries offering 2nd citizenship options Guessed…
Shoebox home UK has smallest homes in Europe. Average 3-bed home is 88m². Germany is 109m², Holland is 115m² and Denmark is 137m². Change commercial to residential use, and minimum stipulated sizes of 37m² for flats and 93m² for houses, do not apply Guessed the Word? Series 19 (7/7) …
Repeal If passed, the Great Repeal Bill will end the supremacy of EU law in Britain. Key dates: Today 29 Mar- UK triggers Article 50. 4 Apr- EU responds. 29 Apr- EU Brexit summit Guessed the Word? Series 2 (4/10) [photo: Yahoo]