Weekly Digest – 23 November 2022

Welcome back to our Weekly Digest. Read on for the latest updates and some ideas to help us all move forward.

Summary of the autumn statement released 17 November

British finance minister Jeremy Hunt announced a new budget last week that included tax increases and tighter public spending. A summary can be found here.

Think tank believes we’ve entered a “new era” of higher taxes

The Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) says that higher taxes are here to stay. Director Paul Johnson commented that due to the autumn statement, British people “just got a lot poorer.”

Are our economic woes worse than Europe’s?

The Guardian performed an analysis on how our troubles with inflation, higher interest rates, and sluggish productivity stack up against Europe. It can be found here.

Tougher crypto rules are needed to protect the financial system

Following the collapse of the FTX cryptocurrency exchange earlier this month, a senior Bank of England official is calling for tougher crypto rules to avoid another such catastrophe.

UK should just hire local people, immigration minister says

Immigration minister Robert Jenrick says the UK will not ease immigration barriers to address skills shortages. The comments caused a clash with business bosses who are struggling to fill vacancies.

Retail sales lower than pre-pandemic levels

Shoppers are seeking bargains via second-hand goods in order to deal with the cost of living crisis, and the result is a 2.4% drop in retail sales in the three months to October – the worst quarterly performance since March 2021.

Is Twitter over?

BBC tech editor Zoe Kleinman presents some ideas for where the social media giant is headed and provides an overview of the rocky road the company’s been on since Elon Musk’s takeover.

Cost-of-living payments due soon

The second cost-of-living payment for most low-income households has mostly been paid, though it may take until the end of this week for all payments to come through. Some groups will be eligible for further payments of up to £900 from April 2023.

Shell to review investments following autumn statement

Shell says it will review £25bn of investments in British projects after chancellor Jeremy Hunt increased the levy on “excess” oil and gas profits from 25% to 35% in last week’s autumn statement.

Bob Iger returns to steer Disney through tough economic times in surprise announcement

The former CEO has agreed to serve another two years for the company effective immediately. Disney highlighted a fivefold market value increase under his leadership, adding that he had a “mandate from the board to set the strategic direction for renewed growth.”

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