Restaurants plead for tax reform, the UK loves Andrex, and more trending news

Managers of 15 well-known restaurants say they will struggle to stay open without business rates reform. The chief executive of Bills and the chairman of restaurant chain Mitchells and Butlers are among 15 signatories of a letter to Chancellor Philip Hammond calling for business rates reform. The letter cited "soaring business rates, rising employment costs and Brexit-fuelled inflation" for a tough market. Chains Jamie’s Italian, Byrons and Prezzo have closed outlets across the nation while Italian chain Carluccio's has called in advisers to restructure the business. The letter said the sector was "at a tipping point and needs focused attention now".

Britain’s favourite homegrown brand is toilet roll provider Andrex. The annual Superbrands survey of 2500 Brits showed the nation’s favourite overall brand was Danish company Lego, followed by Gillette and Apple. Andrex scored the highest of all British bands at number four, with Marks & Spencer and Boots also in the top 10. Last year, British Airways topped the list, with John Lewis close behind. Superbrands boss Stephen Cheliotis said the list should be a wake-up call to British companies: “...brands cannot afford to disappoint and need to continually deliver to retain their valuable reputations”.

Patient safety in the UK is getting worse, according to two-thirds of doctors in a survey of 1500 NHS consultants in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. Nine out of 10 also said they experienced staff shortages. The health system is “pushed to its limit”, warns the Royal College of Physicians, which conducted the study. By all but one measure, service was worse than last year, with 80% of doctors worried about their ability to provide safe patient care over the next year and 84% saying staff was demoralised.

There are four men to every woman who earn a six-figure salary in Britain. Government data published by Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs showed 681,000 men earned ￡100,000 a year or more in 2015-16, compared to 179,000 women. The data also showed the median salary for men was ￡25,700 for men and ￡20,300 for women, and that while 17,000 men earned more than ￡1m, only 2,000 women did. Companies of more than 250 employees have a deadline of April 6 to publish their payrolls by gender.

University vice-chancellors’ pay has risen far above that of other public sector senior leaders, according to research by The Guardian. In Birmingham, for instance, the university vice-chancellor earns ￡378,000, more than twice the pay of the chief executive of the city council, the largest local authority in Europe. University leaders are under scrutiny as bitter disputes over staff pensions have led to strikes in more than 60 British universities in recent weeks.

Idea of the day: Everyone in the world could have access to broadband by 2025, says World Bank President Jim Kim. And by then, nearly everyone will have a smartphone. The same companies building such technology must help tackle the world’s biggest issues, he argues, and create new engines for economic growth.

“By that time, nearly everyone will likely have access to a smartphone, which we know is a powerful accelerator of aspirations. We must make sure these aspirations are met by opportunity – not frustration – or we risk greater inequality and insecurity in the world.”

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From earlier: Bono has apologised for the failure of his charity, One, to protect staff from bullying.

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