Businesses in the arts, entertainment, and the recreation industries have had fewer people carry on working than any other sector. According to the latest data from the Office for National Statistics, 28% of their workforce continues to remain on full or partial furlough — highest across all industries. With no indication of when they might be able to reopen and reduced support from Chancellor Rishi Sunak’s new Job Support Scheme, things are looking grim.
by Naimish Keswani / 26th October, 2020
When Louise Miles-Payne took up her job as the director of the arts agency Creu Cymru earlier this year, she had not anticipated that the nature of her work would drastically change.
A developmental agency for theatres and arts centres in Wales, Creu Cymru ran training programs, facilitated networking between venues, and provided ‘Go & See’ schemes to events like the Edinburgh Fringe Festival among other things. But like everyone else, they’ve had to quickly adapt to the challenges brought by the Coronavirus pandemic.
“As lockdown began, I saw all the theatres…
The first three months of the pandemic saw only a very small drop in the number of new UK businesses, compared to the same period the year before. Almost 90,000 new businesses were registered, down from 101,990, as entrepreneurs exploited extra time at home, unemployment or voluntary redundancy to strike out by themselves.
by Naimish Keswani / 17th September, 2020
A few weeks into the lockdown, Caroline and her partner Jai found themselves missing their date nights. Being cooped up in their London apartment with plenty of free time and nowhere to go, they quickly ran out of activities to do together.
“We couldn’t find any great alternatives other than the classic suggestions to ‘cook together’ or ‘work out together’ — neither of which felt romantic!” says Caroline.
That is what sparked the idea for their venture Box42, a date night subscription service. Each box is based on a theme and comes…
The world wide web turned 30 years old in 2019. Since then, about 3.408 billion people on the planet started using the internet. And that’s not even everyone. According to World Bank data, as of 2017, only 50% of people across the world are online.
The number is only going to grow.
The internet provided a massive opportunity to broadcast and print news mediums to expand their reach and businesses, but the internet is also mutable, quite like its users. It has advanced from mind-numbingly slow dial-up connections to 5G speeds at the tip of our fingers. It’s had love…
According to Statistics for Wales, the Social Housing Stock is defined as the number of dwellings owned or partially owned by local authorities and Registered Social Landlords (RSLs), also known as Housing Associations.
This stock has averaged around 226,687 units between financial year 2002–03 and 2018–19.
While the total stock has remained within a narrow range over the past two decades, there has been a 50% reduction in stock owned by local authorities.
Similarly, the amount of stock provided by Registered Social Landlords has seen an uptick of over 140%.
One of the reasons for this fall has…
By Naimish Keswani
From large economies like the USA to small isles in the Caribbean, the United Kingdom imported clothing and textiles worth over £20 Billion from 175 countries in 2019.
China became the top exporter of clothing to the UK in 2005, and has held on to that position ever since. The highest amount of imports in 2019 came from China, valued at about £3 Billion, followed by Bangladesh, Italy, Turkey, Netherlands, and India.
Before China established its dominance over the industry, Hong Kong — a former colony of the United Kingdom — played a significant role in…
By Naimish Keswani
One month into lockdown, the UK economy saw its fastest contraction in 20 years as the Coronavirus pandemic brought businesses to a grinding halt. Several economic indicators suggest that the country could be heading towards a recession.
The IHS Markit’s Purchasing Managers Index, which tracks activity in the manufacturing and the service sectors, fell to record lows of 12.9 in April, compared to 36 in March. This is well below the 38.1 figure recorded during the troughs of the 2008 financial crisis.
Any figure below 50 denotes a contraction in business activity.
“It seems that we are…
By Naimish Keswani / 9th March 2020
Transformation, turnaround, revival, shake-ups, are some of the buzzwords that have become a regular part of Marks & Spencer’s vocabulary. The company has seen three turnaround plans since the beginning of the decade, the latest one in 2017, when Archie Norman (ITV, Asda) took over as Chairman of the retail giant.
“This business has been drifting, under-fulfilling its customer promise not for five years, not 10 years but 15 years and maybe beyond,” Norman said in November 2017. “We’ve got a lot of work to do.”
The company set out on a three-stage…
And so far, Facebook has turned a blind eye.
by Naimish Keswani / 10th January, 2020
India’s ruling BJP party used proxy Facebook accounts to break advertising regulations during elections last October, data from Facebook’s ad library shows. While the party’s official Facebook account went silent for two days before the vote, in line with election rules, three other accounts apparently run by the party continued to push out pro-BJP advertising.
After acknowledging Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. elections through Facebook ads, the social media giant has been taking steps to safeguard the platform from being misused again. …
A question that I’m forever curious about, and always ask people I meet from the LGBTQ+ community is how they’ve come out to their parents. As a gay man(child) living in India, it’s a bridge that I’ll have to cross one day, and I’ve been seeking out as much gyaan as possible.
While most people I know are still in the closet when it comes to their parents, I know a few brave ones who actually had the courage to tell their families and come out alive on the other side of it. My favourite one comes from a 30-something…
Naimish Keswani
Freelance Data Journalist.
