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Robert White Money Reporter |
As the argument rages over the effectiveness of those who work from home, more than 1,000 staff at the Bank of England have spent almost 13,000 days working from abroad, The Telegraph can reveal.
Those who opted to take their laptops through passport control spent, on average, more than 12 days overseas last year, in addition to being allowed to work from home three days a week.
To facilitate this raft of remote working, the Bank has shelled out more than £12m on staff laptops over the last three financial years, purchasing 10,796 devices, despite employing fewer than 6,000 members of staff.
Opponents have argued that the Bank’s policy has led to inefficiency and could even present a risk to confidential information. While the Bank defended the costs, saying “continued investment in modern technology and secure systems” helped to ensure staff could carry out their roles while not in the office, some are yet to be convinced.
Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg, the former Cabinet minister, said: “It seems rather extravagant to buy a new laptop for every member of staff every 20 months while the level of absence abroad is unbelievable.
“It is, after all, the Bank of England, not the Bank of Timbuktu.”
This report is available only to subscribers.
Read the full story ➤ |
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Nick Gutteridge Chief Political Correspondent |
Andy Burnham is coming under pressure over his refusal to block the early release of Pc Andrew Harper’s killers.
The Prime Minister faced fierce criticism yesterday from Pc Harper’s mother, his widow, and the chairman of the Thames Valley Police Federation, who said it was “not justice”.
Aileen O’Connor, the chairman of the Thames Valley Police Federation, said that setting Albert Bowers and Jessie Cole free just halfway through their sentences would signal that there was “no deterrent” for taking the life of an officer, adding it was “not justice”.
She pledged to “throw everything I can” at getting Burnham to overturn his decision, but senior MPs may have already presented the Prime Minister with his own get out of jail free card.
Dr Neil Shastri-Hurst and Sir Ashley Fox, two Tories who sit on the Commons justice committee, both said he should introduce a special carve-out from the early-release scheme for people convicted of killing emergency service workers.
Doing so would keep Pc Harper’s killers behind bars while avoiding the need to extend the exemption to all criminals convicted of manslaughter, which would place significant pressure on the overcrowded prisons system.
Will the Prime Minister take their advice?
Elsewhere, the decision not to exclude domestic abusers from the scheme has prompted criticism from female backbenchers, who have warned that the nature of the crime and lack of rehabilitation in prisons mean that domestic abusers pose a higher risk to victims upon release.
Sarah Champion, the Labour MP for Rotherham, told The Telegraph: “With patchy rehabilitation in prisons, and less time served, there is no reassurance that these manipulative aggressors will have changed.”
Continue reading ➤ |
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Harry Howard The Cambridge academic claimed he had a brain tumour removed a fortnight before his academic grilling. I am rather sceptical Continue reading ➤
Rowan Pelling Adam Ramsay-Peaty is the figurehead of an ungrateful generation Continue reading ➤
Joanna Williams They are celebrating the death of Rod Liddle on Bluesky, and it’s even worse than you think Continue reading ➤ |
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The east German town of Dessau-Rosslau is half empty. Tens of thousands fled when the Berlin wall came down, like many across the region. The demographics, or lack of them, have contributed to a stunning rise in fortunes for the AfD. The hard-Right party has capitalised on discontent and is set to take power here for the first time – with some eye-catching policies to draw Germans back. For subscribers only ➤ |
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Tate & Lyle brought its 90-year presence on the London Stock Exchange to a juddering halt last week, when shareholders voted to approve a £2.7bn takeover by a US rival. For many, the exit of one of Britain’s oldest listed companies is highly symbolic, underlining fears about London’s waning influence as companies bet that their future lies on Wall Street or in the hands of venture capitalists. Continue reading ➤ |
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Ani Sinclair, 28, left for Australia seeking a future she couldn’t find here. Frustrated by stagnant wages and the impossible cost of housing, she’s part of an accelerating exodus of young Britons heading Down Under. Australia is rolling out the welcome mat, offering the pay and work-life balance Britain is failing to provide. As young professionals pack their bags, we look at the cost of losing a generation. Continue reading ➤ |
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Caroline Munro’s most high-profile role came in 1977 when she was cast as assassin Naomi in The Spy Who Loved Me |
When David Bailey took Caroline Munro’s photograph she became the face of 1966. Now, 60 years on, she reflects on a career as a model for Lamb’s Navy Rum, and as an actress – she became a Hammer “scream queen” and later a Bond girl. It’s a story that takes in 1970s predators, deportment lessons at charm school and perhaps the most baffling light entertainment series ever made. Continue reading ➤ |
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You might assume you’d only suffer the consequences of the infamous £100k tax trap if you earn more than £100k, but that was not the case for one Telegraph reader, who lost all government childcare funding despite earning well below the threshold. Tax expert Mike Warburton took the case to HMRC to find out what had gone on. Here’s what he learned, and how you can avoid this yourself. Continue reading ➤
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Britain will soon be Europe’s energy powerhouse
The UK will soon benefit from a broad base of energy sources, including nuclear from Hinkley Point C |
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Ambrose Evans-Pritchard World Economy Editor |
Cast forward five to 10 years and Britain will be the only major country in Europe with a flourishing energy system across the whole technology spectrum.
The prevailing – dated – narrative of this country as the energy sick man of Europe will be turned on its head. Britain will be able to meet its core internal needs for both power and fuel from its own territorial sources, with enough joules to spare for rising energy exports to the European market.
Without quite realising it, Britain is moving towards a pragmatic “anything that does the job” regime akin to Xi Jinping’s China, albeit with a different carbon mix.
There is something to like for both sides of the culture war: the Right gets nuclear, oil and gas while the Left gets wind, solar, energy storage and better new buildings. Techies get digital kit, smart shifting, virtual power plants (yes, really), AI and the clever stuff at which Britain excels. Look how Kraken Technologies is conquering the world.
The National Energy System Operator (Neso) says the country will become “a net exporter of electricity across the year” by 2030, rapidly reversing the current large deficit.
Britain will be the electricity backbone of north-west Europe by 2035. Its domestic power prices will converge with those of France and substantially undercut Germany, Italy or Poland.
Read the column in full here ➤
This is an extract from yesterday’s Economic Intelligence newsletter, which delivers unique expert analysis on the world’s biggest economic issues straight to your inbox every Tuesday and Thursday. Sign up so you don’t miss out again.
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Driving Miss DaisyEvery weekday, Orlando Bird, our loyal reader correspondent, shares an off-piste topic that has brought out the best of your opinions and stories. Orlando writes...
By the time my first driving lesson had finished, I felt sure I was a natural. This surprised me, but facts were facts: I knew what I was supposed to do with my hands and feet, and had even driven a short distance without causing a major traffic incident.
I bounded home and told my wife how easy it had been. She raised an eyebrow. “So no problems with the clutch?”
“What’s a clutch?” I replied.
The lesson had been arranged as a birthday present, and I turned up knowing so little about cars that I wasn’t even aware there were different kinds. I was booked in to learn in a manual, but had been assigned an instructor with an automatic by accident.
Having been persuaded that the former was more respectable, I switched, then took four blundering years to pass my test.
I still wonder if it was worth it, but Sean Thomas’s article helped to reassure me. “Manual cars make for better drivers,” he contended. Many readers agreed with him.
“I think driving a manual car is good for the brain,” wrote Alice Rae. “It requires coordination and much more decision-making.”
J E Hutchin added: “Going through the mirror, signal, manoeuvre routine – all while changing gear – ensures that you pay proper attention to what you are doing.”
Michael Stewart’s experience led him to concur: “I live in the US now, where most cars are automatics. In the main, their driving is atrocious.”
Alexander Simpson took a different view: “I’ve had both types of car and think that automatic is possibly slightly better. It removes the need for part of the brain to be monitoring the engine, meaning that full attention is then on the road.”
Steven Young, too, was a convert: “I’ve been driving for 61 years and my last five cars have been automatic. I will never go back to manual.” Was I right to persevere with a manual? Send your responses here, and the best of the bunch will feature in a future edition of this newsletter.
Please confirm in your reply that you are happy to be featured and that we have your permission to use your name. |
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1100 | Henry I is crowned King of England
1925 | Plaid Cymru is formed
1966 | The Beatles release Revolver
2012 | Usain Bolt wins the 100m at the London Olympics in 9.63 seconds (see our sport coverage from the following day)
Birthdays: Mimi Keene (28), James Gunn (60), Mark Strong (63)
Also in the news today, a model village has restored a figurine of a topless streaker after being criticised for removing it. What is the streaker’s name?
The streaker after being restored to the Godshill Model Village |
1. Mary
2. Janet
3. Erica
4. Edna
Click one of the options to reveal the answer... |
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Find as many words as you can in today’s Panagram, including the nine-letter solution. Visit Telegraph Puzzles to play a range of head-scratching games, including The 1% Club, Cogs, and Quick, Mini or Cryptic Crosswords.
Yesterday’s Panagram was EARWIGGED. Come back tomorrow for the solution to today’s puzzle. |
Thank you for reading. Have a fulfilling day and I hope to see you tomorrow. Chris Evans, Editor
P.S. I’d love to hear what you think of this newsletter. You can email me your feedback at fromtheeditor@telegraph.co.uk. |
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