Crumbs!

Six face arrest over cake shop chain fraud https://t.co/yppkDNCx1e pic.twitter.com/Wg3JeMHIQh

— Jo Wadsworth (@BrightonNewsJo) February 18, 2019

How the hell the internal control systems and auditors didn't spot any of this is beyond me!

The A380 Europe's White Elephant

Airbus A380 - from European dream to white elephant https://t.co/X14pe96NcI

— James Pearson (@pearswick) February 14, 2019

Economy Stagnates As Politicians Fail To Resolve Brexit Uncertainty

Appalling new monthly figures for the economy in December from @ONS: every single sector contracted. Growing Brexit stagnation as everyone sits on their money for what next... piles yet more pressure on No10 to get a deal. pic.twitter.com/i7Rvn86KV3

— Tom Newton Dunn (@tnewtondunn) February 11, 2019

Bank of England Holds Base rates Steady

MPC voted unanimously to keep #BankRate at 0.75% pic.twitter.com/x2VdNEzasQ

— Bank of England (@bankofengland) February 7, 2019

Interserve Shareholders Wiped Out, Control Handed To Banks

current https://t.co/eppLQHF2XN splash is via @gillplimmer1 on Interserve rescue talks:

"One of the latest proposals would result in banks taking over 90 per cent of the company's shares in exchange for writing off around £300m of its £807m net debt."https://t.co/FEHFTSYrFs pic.twitter.com/7G0sjQMAON

— Jim Pickard (@PickardJE) February 5, 2019

Other Countries Would Kill For China's "Low" Growth

The growth in China is "just not there", says talking head.

China grew 6.4% last year.

How? Just ... like ... HOW?

— Martin Baccardax (@mdbaccardax) January 25, 2019

UK Employment Hits Record High

The number of people in work in the UK has reached a record high of 32.54 million, latest figures from the Office of National Statistics show.

Unemployment was flat, with a small increase of 8,000 between September and November for a total of 1.37 million.

"The share of the population in work is the highest on record," said David Freeman, ONS head of labour market.

"The share of the workforce looking for work and unable to find it remains at its lowest for over 40 years."

Average earnings excluding bonuses increased by 3.3% in the year to November, as wage rises continued to outpace inflation.

Inflation Falls To Lowest Rate in Two Years

UK inflation rate (excluding owner occupiers' housing costs) fell to 2.1% in December, from 2.3% the previous month, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

The Consumer Prices Index including owner occupiers’ housing costs (CPIH) 12-month inflation rate was 2.0% in December 2018, down from 2.2% in November 2018.

The largest downward contributions to change in the 12-month rate came from falls in petrol prices and from air fares, where ticket prices rose between November and December 2018, but by less than a year ago.


Given this and the ongoing Brexit uncertainty there is no way that the Bank of England will raise rates.

Police Probe Suspected Pension Scam

Police make arrests in probe of suspected £18m #pension scam https://t.co/rA7lfEB0Tl via @financialtimes

— Josephine Cumbo (@JosephineCumbo) December 19, 2018

China Retaliates For Huawei

China has detained a former Canadian diplomat at a time of growing tension between the two countries over the arrest of a Chinese executive accused of violating sanctions.

Michael Kovrig, who had served Canada in Beijing, Hong Kong and at the UN in New York, is now a senior adviser for the International Crisis Group (ICG), which researches conflict prevention.

I warned that China would retaliate a few days ago.

Trump Tries To Ease Chinese Tensions

EXCLUSIVE - @realDonaldTrump tells @Reuters in interview that he would consider intervening in case of Huawei CFO if it would serve national security and help with a China trade deal

— Jeff Mason (@jeffmason1) December 11, 2018

Paris Is Hot!

With the French riots, let's spare a thought for the bankers who left Brexit Britain for Paris... https://t.co/xUJvhNVtlL pic.twitter.com/S7uKwLhEc9

— Henry Mance (@henrymance) December 6, 2018

America The Stupid - The Huawei Idiocy "Tactic"

This seems like a bad idea pic.twitter.com/ujwAjBByZo

— Eric Gomez (@EricGomezAsia) December 6, 2018

In the event that America is thick enough to pursue this "tactic", they will find PDQ that many American executives currently in China and related territories will be placed under arrest on all sorts of charges.

This is a policy destined to not only fail, but make things worse!

O2 Has Crashed

O2 has crashed, and is blaming a global software problem for a network outage that has left frustrated customers without access to the internet and 4G services.

Millions of customers are believed to have been affected in the data blackout, which is also impacting customers of Sky Mobile, Tesco Mobile, Giffgaff and Lycamobile who use O2's service.

China Will Retaliate For Huawei

The arrest of Huawei CFO Wanzhou Meng (also deputy chairwoman and the daughter of Huawei’s founder) will throw a spanner into the brief outbreak of sanctions peace between the USA and China.

As I noted earlier today, Huawei is regarded as a security risk (because it is Chinese) and as such part of the "Great Game" being played out between the USA and China for global dominance. Hence, there will be Chinese countermeasures for this.