The government has ruled out new financial support for companies, including hospitality and retail businesses that face losing crucial sales over the Christmas period, despite introducing fresh coronavirus restrictions (The Financial Times £).
The cost of a pint is expected to rise by 10p as pubs experience widespread cancellations of Christmas bookings because of concern about the Omicron variant and new coronavirus measures (The Times £).
Cities brace for empty streets as working from home ushers in another bleak winter (The Telegraph).
MPs are calling for an immediate review of how the government’s handling of the pandemic has affected high streets (The Times £).
Businesses will have to convince a sceptical Treasury that taxpayer support is really necessary if they want help this winter, Kwasi Kwarteng has suggested, as officials played down the likelihood of a further bailout (The Telegraph).
Major employers, such as PwC, KPMG, JP Morgan and Deutsche Bank, have vowed to keep their offices open to staff and continue with face to face meetings as a City backlash mounts against Boris Johnson’s work from home guidance (The Telegraph).
Britain’s biggest white-collar employers have sent staff home after the government tightened its coronavirus guidance, but some companies have told workers they can continue to come to the office if required for their mental health (The Guardian).
The UK economy hardly grew in October as supply chain disruption hit manufacturing and construction, while the expansion of the services sector slowed (The Financial Times £).
Hundreds of ex-offenders and former military personnel have been recruited by Clipper Logistics to solve labour shortages and supply chain challenges (The Times £). The company, which processes stock for retailers including John Lewis, Marks & Spencer and Boohoo, has taken on 1,200 people through Fresh Start in the past two years.
The UK is battling its worst-ever outbreak of avian flu after a cull of poultry failed to halt the spread of the virus brought in by migratory birds (The Financial Times £).
A new European Union directive could provide extra workplace rights and protections for up to 4.1 million people, such as Uber drivers or Deliveroo couriers, in the so-called gig economy (The Times £).
Gig economy companies operating in the European Union, such as Uber and Deliveroo, must ensure workers get the minimum wage, access to sick pay, holidays and other employment rights under plans for new laws to crack down on fake self-employment (The Guardian).
Sales of the canned cooked meat Spam have hit a record high for the seventh year in a row, despite pandemic-related challenges (BBC News). That helped Hormel, the company that makes the iconic brand, deliver record sales of $3.5bn (£2.65bn) in the three months to the end of October.
Britons partial to a festive glass of port or sherry should nurse it carefully this Christmas as a shake-up of alcohol taxes threatens to add at least £1 to bottle prices next year (The Guardian).
The Guardian shines a spotlight on the ‘emergency avocado’ and asks what ultrafast delivery really costs.
UK hemp farmers are being frustrated by the government’s failure to loosen regulation of a plant that has spawned one of the world’s fastest-growing markets for food and healthcare supplements (The Financial Times £).
A Starbucks store in downtown Buffalo, New York, has become the coffee chain’s first unionised outlet in the US, providing a rare foothold for organised labour in the service industry (The Financial Times £).
One of Australia’s largest beer manufacturers has been rationing its most popular canned beer in the lead-up to Christmas, amid supply chain issues due to the Covid-19 pandemic (The Guardian).
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