EDITION 786
7 OCTOBER 2019

As another week slips by, here are 10 things which caught my attention and may have escaped yours. This newsletter is sent to 50,000+ subscribers each Monday. 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 become a better you. It’s normal to feel like you could be doing more when it comes to self-improvement. But being a better you doesn’t involve being overly hard on yourself. In fact, it’s quite the opposite. Here’s a few ideas to build self-improvement into your daily routine: [MORE]
    
2. Cummings insists Britain will leave by October 31st. Dominic Cummings insisted last night that Britain would leave the European Union without a deal if Brussels refused to compromise. Boris Johnson’s most senior aide told government advisers: “Next week we are going to know how things turn out. If the EU says ‘no’ then we are not going to do what the last lot did and change our negotiating position. If we don’t get anything next week, we are gone.” Daily Mail
    
3. Making an argument? Keep it simple. When we’re passionate about making a persuasive case to others, many of us opt to pile on the supporting evidence. But when it comes to argumentation, less is often more. When we take an “everything but the kitchen sink” approach to persuasion, our argument often suffers from a “dilution effect”, where stronger evidence mixes with the weak, making everything seem average. To make your case, go for short and sweet. Editor
    
4. Minimum wage is going up quickly. The UK's minimum wage is on track to be one of the world's highest.  It is currently at £8.21 for those over 25, but Chancellor Sajid Javid this week revealed plans to extend the main rate to all workers above 21 and raise it to two-thirds of median earnings by 2024. About 4m UK workers currently earn less than that, according to the ONS. Some business groups are pushing for more time to adjust and evidence to support the policy. The Economist
    
5. More British workers are skipping meals to make ends meet. According to research by the Trades Union Congress, two years ago, one in eight respondents said they went without a meal because they were short of money – this year, that figure rose to one in five, with a similar proportion also revealing they’d pawned or sold possessions to pay the bills. The TUC said this was caused by a "toxic mix" of insecure work, low pay and weak wage growth. The Independent
    
6. Rise in number of world's rich buying UK 'golden visas'. Tier-1 investor visas allow those willing to spend at least £2m in the UK to live and work in the country for five years. 255 were granted in the first half of 2019 - the most in a six-month period since 2014. This comes despite a suspension of the scheme in 2018, which was later walked back in favour of tougher rules to guard against organised crime and money laundering. The Guardian
    
7. UK edges towards recession as service sector sinks. The services sector - which accounts for 80% of the economy and includes everything from restaurants to finance - unexpectedly contracted last month. This comes at a precarious time for the global economy, and against the backdrop of Britain's looming departure from the EU. The UK economy shrank in the three months to June; a second consecutive contraction would tip it into recession. The Times
    
8. Nice work if you can get it. Former Labour foreign secretary David Miliband is getting paid almost $1m as president and CEO of the International Rescue Committee, a humanitarian charity based in New York. That’s a rise of more than $240,000 over the previous year. The charity has received more than £100m from the UK’s Department of International Development in the last two years to run refugee and poverty-relief projects around the world. The Mail on Sunday
    
9. Look who’s back..! Satirical puppet show Spitting Image hopes to return to the small screen, 23 years after it last aired. New episodes of the comedy, described as "public service satire" will feature appearances by Donald Trump, Mark Zuckerberg, Kanye West, and Prince Harry. So far, however, only a pilot has been filmed. BBC
    
10. The bottom line. Boris Johnson is losing support among women: 47% now describe him as “dislikeable”, up seven points since the end of August. By contrast, the proportion of men who think he’s dislikeable has fallen, from 43% to 42%. Only 19% of women say the PM is honest, compared with 25% of men. YouGov poll for The Times