EDITION 986
11 SEPTEMBER 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 your employees to stay. No employer likes to deal with turnover, especially when losing good people. But your employees need good reasons to stick around. So learning how to retain employees is often one of the most important tasks for managers and human resources professionals. READ MORE

2. UK ‘drifts towards work-life balance’. People in the UK are among the least likely to say work should always come first, a new study has found. According to the World Values Survey, 73% of people in the UK say work is “very or rather important in their life” – the lowest of 24 countries. Some 96% of people in Italy and Spain agreed with the statement, 94% in France and 99% in the Philippines. Bobby Duffy, director of the policy institute at King’s College London, which analysed the results, said there is a “steady drift towards a greater focus on getting work-life balance right” in the UK. KCL

3. Rates rises may be over. The Bank of England (BoE) may stop raising interest rates as soon as this month, its governor has hinted. Speaking to MPs, Andrew Bailey said that the period when it was “clear that rates needed to rise going forwards” was now over. The BoE’s Monetary Policy Committee is “delicately poised” on the matter as inflation falls. Several figures have indicated they will vote against another rise in two weeks. Financial Times

4. UK to rejoin EU’s Horizon Programme. The UK will rejoin Horizon, the EU scientific research scheme, both bodies confirmed. It means that British scientists and programmes can once again apply for grants from the €95.5bn (£81bn) fund. The UK has been excluded from Horizon for the past three years because of negotiations around the Northern Ireland Brexit trade arrangements. As part of the re-joining deal, the UK will not have to pay into the scheme for the three years it was locked out, which would have cost €800mn (£687.4m). The Guardian

5. World saw hottest summer ever. Summer may not be officially over, but the data already suggests it was the hottest one ever for the northern hemisphere. Last month was the hottest August globally since records began in 1940, following record temperatures for June and July, the UN's World Meteorological Organization and the European climate service Copernicus said on Wednesday. The global average surface temperature for June through August was more than one degree above the 1991-2020 average. CNN

6. Electric car sales are souring in Europe. They grew by 62% in the year leading up to July 2023. Germany sold the most electric vehicles [EVs], selling 48,662 this July alone. The UK comes second with 23,010 sales, 8% more than the year before. EV manufacturers are now filling months of back orders caused by a shortage of semiconductors. Overall, there was a 17% rise in sales of cars of all types, but diesel sales fell by 9%. Bloomberg

7. Milestone for London rents. The cost of renting a single room in London has surpassed £1,000 a month for the first time. As “demand continues to outstrip supply”, rents for a single room have risen by 15%, twice the rate of inflation, from £883 a year ago to £1,013 in August this year, said the paper. There are now 5.7 renters looking at each available room in the capital on the flatmate finding website SpareRoom. Although this figure is down from a peak of nearly nine last year, the figure is still three times the pre-pandemic average. The Telegraph

8. We should go to sleep at the same time all week. Small differences in sleeping habits between work and rest days could lead to unhealthy changes to the bacteria in our guts, a study suggests. The study of nearly 1,000 adults by Kings College London scientists found that even a 90-minute difference in the midpoint of your night's sleep over the course of a normal week could influence the types of bacteria found in the human gut. BBC

9. Rugby World Cup returns. The Rugby World Cup returned for perhaps the most competitive edition yet, with 20 teams vying for glory in France. The tournament, which runs to 30 October, takes place in nine French cities and I’m totally hooked. Two decades on from England’s triumph in 2003, both the host and favourites Ireland will harbour real hope of adding a second northern hemisphere nation’s name to the Webb Ellis Cup. Editor

10. The bottom line. Among voters in traditionally safe Tory seats in the South, Labour is now more trusted than the Conservatives to combat crime, by 28%to 21%. Daily Mail