EDITION 725
6 AUGUST 2018

As another week slips by, here are 10 things which caught my attention and may have escaped yours. This newsletter is sent to more than 50,000 subscribers each Monday morning. Please share on social media and forward to your colleagues and friends so they can subscribe, learn and engage. I'd be very grateful if you did.

1. How to boost employee engagement. If you can increase the level of engagement in your organisation, you'll likely see the productivity of your workforce rise, too. And almost any organisation can foster greater engagement if leaders: [READ MORE]
    
2. 60/40 chance of no-deal Brexit. Britain is odds-on to crash out of the European Union without a deal the international trade secretary. Liam Fox rates the chances of a no deal departure at "60-40". He points the finger of blame at the "intransigence" of the European Commission, which he says has a "theological obsession" with EU rules rather than "economic wellbeing". The Sunday Times
    
3. Apple reaches the $1 trillion landmark. Apple has become the world's first public company to be worth $1 trillion (£767bn). The tech giant’s market value reached the landmark figure in New York on Friday as its shares closed at a new record high of $207.39. Speculation it would reach the target had been rising since Tuesday when it reported better than expected quarterly results. BBC
    
4. Interest rates to stay low, says Bank of England. The Bank of England raised interest rates for the first time in nine years, bringing the base rate up from 0.5% to 0.75%, but warned as it did so that there would be no return to the high rates such as 5% seen before the global financial crisis for decades because of factors including an ageing population, which is more likely to save money. Daily Mail
    
5. Volume of calls drop despite mobile addiction. Many of us may seem glued to our handsets but the number of calls made on mobile phones in the UK fell for the first time ever in 2017. The total volume of calls made on mobiles fell by 1.7% in 2017, even though making them is the cheapest it has ever been. Ofcom says that on average people check their phones once every 12 minutes during their waking hours. The Independent
    
6. Rents rise 60% faster than wages in England. Rents have risen 60% faster than wages across England since 2011, according to Shelter. The housing charity claims the crisis is spilling out of cities into middle England strongholds such as Tunbridge Wells. The report shows that private rents have risen by 16% since 2011, outpacing average wages which have risen by just 10%. The number of households that are renting privately has soared by 74% in the 10 years from 2007. The Telegraph
    
7. Weather wetter and hotter than in 100 years. The Met Office has published its annual climate report and says the UK is hotter and wetter than it has been in the last 100 years, with 20% more rain falling every year during the last decade than did in the 30 years before 1990. Last year was the fifth-warmest on record and nine of the 10 hottest years have been since 2002, the report says. BBC
    
8. Not drinking alcohol ‘increases risk of dementia’. A study of 9,000 people in the UK has found that not drinking alcohol in middle age was associated with an increased risk of contracting dementia later in life – though the reason for the link is not known. Conversely, those who drank very heavily in middle age were found to have an increased risk. Moderate drinkers were less susceptible. BBC
    
9. New organ donor plan 'could save hundreds'. The government says a new law to tackle organ donor shortages in England could save up to 700 extra lives every year. The legislation would see the arrangement change to an opt-out scheme, under which people will be assumed to be willing to donate organs after death unless they have stated otherwise. Some 411 people in the UK died on the transplant waiting list in 2017. Daily Mail
    
10. The bottom line. Transport spending in London rose 11.4% from 2016 to 2017. By contrast, during the same period transport spending in the north of England fell by 3.6%. The difference in spending per head in London and the north of England over the past decade is £419. The Guardian