EDITION 903
24 JANUARY 2022

There is no escaping it: too much news is bad for you. It should come with a government health warning: “This intellectual diet is fine taken in small doses, and preferably in weekly instalments, via a well-balanced newsletter, such as 10 things from William Montgomery."

So, as another week slips by, here are 10 things which caught my attention and may have escaped yours. Please feel free to share on social media and forward to your colleagues and friends so they can also subscribe, learn and engage. I would be very grateful if you did.

William Montgomery
Editor and CEO of TEN

1. How to grow your career from home. Many workers are now navigating new workplaces without ever stepping foot in an office, especially young professionals. That means they're missing out on the slew of benefits that come with in-person work. As a result, remote work is putting young workers at a disadvantage for promotions and other career development opportunities. READ MORE >>

2. PM calls back leadership team. Boris Johnson has reinstated his Tory leadership team to save his premiership. Amid growing belief that a confidence vote is inevitable, the PM has told the group of lieutenants who helped him to win the leadership contest in 2019 to record the position of every Tory MP, detailing those who are loyal, wavering or determined to oust him. Meanwhile, the Tory backbencher who accused No 10 of trying to “blackmail” MPs seeking to oust Johnson is to meet police to discuss his allegations. “If Boris Johnson is still prime minister by the end of this week, I’d be very surprised,” a minister has said. The Times

3. UK next to trial four-day week. A six-month pilot of a four-day work week with no reduction in pay will take place in the UK later this year, the 4 Day Week Global organisation announced. Around 30 British companies are expected to sign up to the scheme, which will take place from June to December. Similar trials will run at the same time in the US, Ireland, Canada, Australia and New Zealand; Spain and Scotland are also reportedly adopting related schemes. Advocates for the four-day week point to the “social and environmental benefits of the shorter working week”, and multiple firms have adopted the practice in recent months. The Independent

4. Do you need a sabbatical? Would you consider taking a sabbatical from work to try and avoid burnout? Extended breaks are now being offered by firms to staff as a way to avoid overworking – but do they work? Some experts say that sabbaticals don’t fix issues; they simply delay the pressure to deal with them. What’s actually needed is better communication with managers, reduced hours or workload, and firmer boundaries. What do you think about the idea? Vote in our poll and tell us more in the comments. VOTE HERE >>

5. FTSE returns to pre-crisis highs. The FTSE 100 has continued its positive start to the year, approaching pre-pandemic highs. The blue-chip index gained 0.9% to pass the 7,600 points level for the first time since January 2020. The Telegraph said sentiment was boosted by takeover talk after it was confirmed that Unilever had tabled an unsuccessful £50bn bid for GSK’s consumer healthcare arm. More mergers and acquisitions are expected, as many FTSE-listed firms are regarded as undervalued. The Times

6. Workers need 8.7% pay rise to keep up. Workers must demand that their pay rises by 8.7% just to keep up with spiralling inflation and upcoming tax increases, said The Telegraph. The consumer prices index climbed to 5.4% last month – the fastest rate in three decades – and workers will be hit with fresh waves of tax rises. The Bank of England has warned that Britons face a cost of living crisis until the end of next year, after inflation crashed through forecasts to its highest level in 30 years. The Daily Mail

7.  ‘Pay-per-mile’ for London drivers. Drivers in London could be charged for every journey from 2024 under plans being drawn up to reduce carbon emissions and improve air quality. Sadiq Khan, the capital’s mayor, said the city should be a global leader in introducing smart road pricing, as a report found car journeys in the capital needed to be cut by more than a quarter to meet net-zero emissions targets by 2030. Drivers could expect a “pay-per-mile road charging system” in the future. BBC

8. Sentencing powers. Magistrates in England and Wales will be able to jail offenders for up to a year, under plans to tackle a backlog in the crown courts and speed up justice, the Government has announced. The change will allow the more serious cases heard by magistrates to be sentenced by them too; currently, cases where the offence carries a jail term of more than six months must be referred to the crown court for sentencing. The Guardian

9.  Worth a listen. I strongly recommend the superb Hunting Ghislaine, which has now rebranded as Hunting Ghislaine: The Trial to bring the story up to date. The show is a little harder to ferret out than some pods: it’s exclusive to a website called Global Player, though it is still free. If you are interested in the Maxwell saga it’s unmissable – and John Sweeney is a natural podcaster: a charismatic talker, encyclopaedically well informed and full of thrilling moral indignation. Editor

10. The bottom line. Chelmsford, in Essex, has been crowned the “Costa capital” of the country, with more Costa coffee outlets than any other town in Britain. It has 25 within two miles of its centre (ten of them actual cafés, the others takeaway machines in supermarkets and petrol stations). Cheltenham came second, with 22. Across the country, Costa has 2,681 outlets, to Starbucks’ 1,025. The Daily Mail