EDITION 992
23 OCTOBER 2023

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 get a pay rise. Think you deserve a bigger paycheck? Want to ask for a raise but not sure you’ll get one? Plenty of employees are finding themselves in this predicament, because many recession-wary companies that stopped handing out raises during the economic downturn are still hesitant to open their wallets today. Asking for a salary increase can be a nerve-wracking task. Here are three tips to making the ask go smoothly and increasing your chances of getting the raise. READ MORE

2. PM more unpopular than ever. Only 20% of voters believe that Rishi Sunak would make the best prime minister, down five points in a week, and a record low. 32% believe the same of Keir Starmer, down two points. 43% of voters say they are not sure who would make the best leader. Asked whether they think Starmer has a clear plan for the country, 28% say he does, up six points in a week. 19% say that Sunak does, down two points. Just under a third of all voters say they’d vote Labour in an election held tomorrow; 16% would vote Conservative. The Times

3. Career peaks, young and old. The age at which world-leading professionals reach their peak has evolved. Looking at Nobel laureates, research from the 1950s showed that science prize winners were, on average, 39 years old when they published their ground-breaking work. More recent data from 2019 indicates that science and economics laureates now average 44. The results may be explained by young scientists being most productive in late youth to early middle age when they secure research funding. Writers also excel in middle age, with the average Nobel laureate in literature around 41. Individuals destined for ground-breaking work appear to become more creative and productive as they enter their 40s. A lesson for society might be to recognise and celebrate middle-aged talent alongside young prodigies. The Economist

4. Pension 'tweak' concern. Pensioners could be denied the full £902-a-year boost because the government is considering "tweaking" the figures used to calculate it. The state pension should increase by 8.5% next year under the 'triple lock' pledge, which guarantees a rise in line with the highest of inflation, wage growth or 2.5%. But the government is looking at plans to "swerve" the full increase because the latest pay data is "distorted" by one-off public sector bonuses. Campaigners said that changing the basis of the triple lock would be a breach of the Tory manifesto. The Daily Mail

5. Rowing back a resignation. You’ve recently quit, but now you’re worried you’ve made a mistake. Is it possible to retract your resignation with grace? Experts say there is a road back, but it's not straightforward and nothing is guaranteed. One vital piece of the puzzle is to never burn your bridges when resigning, no matter how much you might want to in the moment. If you've already left the company and found the grass wasn't actually greener on the other side, you can reach out to your old manager or HR and try to forge a path back - but again, it's complex and will require humility. If you do negotiate a return, remember that trust will have been lost between you and your old team, so it will take time to repair those wounds. LinkedIn

6. Tories ‘giving up’. Senior Tories said the party seems to be giving up after this week's byelection defeats. Insiders said experiences during the two campaigns "added to the impression", given at the recent Conservative conference, of a party "not so much gearing up for an election fight as preparing the ground for a succession battle once it is defeated". A senior Labour source said it was "important" that Labour members "keep their feet on the ground" after last week's gains. The Guardian

7. Caffeine linked to strength. A cup of tea or coffee each day can keep you stronger in old age, according to a new study. Researchers from the National University of Singapore studied 12,000 participants, aged 45 to 74, with a follow-up period of 20 years. They found that drinking coffee and tea at midlife may be associated with a reduced likelihood of physical frailty in late life. The team added that "further studies are still needed" to "investigate if these effects on physical frailty are mediated by caffeine or other chemical compounds". The Telegraph

8. Pothole anger boils. More than a third of drivers are having to swerve to avoid a pothole, an RAC poll has found. Nearly half (49%) of those surveyed said the condition of local roads was their biggest motoring worry, the highest proportion recorded since 2015. Two-thirds said the condition of the local roads has got worse since 2022, due to poor surfaces, faded markings, litter and signage visibility. "Anger" with the state of local roads has "hit a new high". Sky News

9. It wasn’t all bad. Mortgage holders have been offered some "rare good news" after experts said that the Bank of England is unlikely to increase interest rates when its Monetary Policy Committee meets next month. Although inflation is "stubbornly holding at 6.7%", five out of six experts on the outlet's panel of economists have said this is unlikely to tip the balance in favour of another rise. iNews

10. The bottom line. Owing to the vast range of options at Starbucks in the US (from cup size to type of milk to toppings), there are 383 billion different ways of ordering a caffè latte. Bloomberg