Plans to restrict low-skilled visas could hurt UK, Ted Baker staff demand end to 'forced hugging', and more top news
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Britain’s largest industry body has warned that restricting UK visas for low-skilled workers risks doing “massive damage” to communities and livelihoods. Carolyn Fairbairn, head of the Confederation of British Industry (CBI), spoke following comments by Prime Minister Theresa May, who said British firms struggling to fill low-skilled jobs should train British workers rather than hiring migrants. Although details of May’s new post-Brexit immigration system have not yet been published, it has been suggested that immigrants earning less than ￡30,000 will face greater restrictions than higher-earners.
Ted Baker’s founder and boss Ray Kelvin has been accused of establishing a culture of “forced hugging” at the fashion brand. A petition, launched by an employee of the firm, claims that Kelvin’s inappropriate comments and behaviour “is part of a culture that leaves harassment unchallenged”. But the company says that while hugs are indeed part of Ted Baker’s culture, they are “absolutely not insisted on”. It says the firm’s founder often greets people with hugs, "be it a shareholder, investor, supplier, partner, customer or colleague,” the BBC reports.
National Grid is using drones to inspect 7,200 miles of overhead power lines in England and Wales. The firm’s fleet of drones are equipped with video and infrared cameras and are able to detect faults with both the lines and towers, carrying out work that was previously done by human operators or using helicopters. Although drones have been used for over two years, National Grid confirmed that it was now applying machine learning to cut the amount of raw footage a human operator needed to view.
Crossrail and HS2 Chairman Sir Terry Morgan has said he expects to be sacked over delays and overspends on both projects. Sir Terry, who has been involved with Crossrail since 2009, spoke following reports in the Financial Times that he was about to be fired. "I'm expecting that to be confirmed more formally in the next few days,” he said. The government recently announced a ￡350 million bailout of Crossrail, after its opening was pushed from the end of 2018 to autumn 2019.
A Christmas dinner will cost nearly 6% more this year than in 2017 after a rise in the price of turkeys, Christmas pudding and sprouts. An annual survey by Good Housekeeping magazine found that even the cheapest of festive meals will cost ￡3.11 per head, up from ￡2.94 last year, and seven of the 10 supermarkets surveyed were more expensive than a year ago. It blamed extreme weather — both early in the year and this summer’s heatwave — alongside a weakened pound.
Idea of the Day: Many of us associate our embarrassing moments, or our slip ups, with failure. But, as actor and entrepreneur Jennifer Lopez recently told LinkedIn’s Dan Roth, it’s only when we’ve given up on trying altogether that we have failed.
“Failure is not falling down and making a mistake, or choosing the wrong movie, or doing the wrong thing at the wrong time. It's stopping. Stopping is the failure, not continuing forward is the failure, not keeping going.”
What's your take on today’s stories? Share your thoughts in the comments.
Commercial Director at Massey's Agency
5 年I really don't know why people persist in thinking that companies will only take EU workers and offer them below min wage or that EU workers have "stolen" UK citizens jobs. Load of rubbish plus EU workers aren't stupid, they know what they should be getting paid.... I have worked previously in commercial and industrial recruitment and I can categorically state that my clients would have taken any nationality if they were reliable and hard working. It was a low skilled job but they paid well - well over the minimum wage and offered high rates of overtime, a clean environment and a good chance of a permanent job. I am sad to say that many, many of the UK citizens were unreliable and lazy, not all, but a lot!
Cambodia at kampot
5 年?????????
Co owner of Blue17 vintage, London
5 年? Interesting post and thank you for sharing. We also are involved in vintage fashion clothing and accessories. When you can, do check us out here on Linkedin and at our website, www.blue17.co.uk?
Energy Efficient Strong ICF Construction, Protecting Environment, and Extraordinary Rewards Opportunities
5 年“Let’s see what happens.”