EDITION 908
28 FEBRUARY 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 build longer-lasting friendships. For many of us, it gets harder to maintain friendships as we get older. At school, being friends can be as simple as going to the playground together. But in adulthood, careers or parenting can intervene, and old friends may just move away. If we don’t act, it’s easy to become isolated. READ MORE >>

2. Experts query PM’s Covid move. Just hours after Boris Johnson declared his “pride” in England leading the world by shedding its final Covid restrictions, top scientific and medical experts warned that the virus is expected to return “in more virulent and dangerous forms”, said The Independent. Professors Chris Whitty and Patrick Vallance said that the pandemic was “not over” and urged people testing positive to continue to isolate. The British Medical Association described the PM’s plan for “living with Covid” as “premature”. BBC

3. Almost 40% of FTSE 100 board roles held by women. Nearly 40% of the board positions at the UK's biggest companies are now held by women, a government-backed review has found. The FTSE Women Leaders Review found 414 women held company board roles at FTSE 100 firms last year, up from 374 in 2020. But the review also exposed a lack of women in executive director roles. Just 13.5% of the executive director positions were held by women in 2021, down from 14.2% the year before. But the Fawcett Society, a charity which campaigns for gender equality and women’s rights, said the figures did not capture the “shocking lack of diversity” revealed in its 2022 Sex and Power Index, with “women of colour, disabled women and LGBTQ people missing from positions of power”. The Guardian

4. Covid loans remain confidential. The names of thousands of companies that benefited from billions of pounds of Covid loans schemes are to be kept secret, reported The Observer. Under new rules ushered in after Brexit, the government will only publish state subsidies of £500,000 or more. This means just 3% of businesses that claimed support under the bounce back loan scheme are expected to be named. The loan schemes have been described as a “bonanza for fraudsters”.

5. Is a degree still worth the money? Under new government plans, university students would have to pay off their loans for up to 40 years before the debt is written off, an increase of 10 years on the current system. The government will also lower the salary threshold for repayment from £27,295 to £25,000 but cut interest rates on loans from 2023 so that they are no higher than inflation. The government has also announced a consultation on plans in England that would make university student loans unavailable to pupils who fail their maths and English GCSEs, or do not get two A-levels at grade E or above. Is a university degree still worth it in today’s employment landscape? Have your say in our latest poll. VOTE HERE >>

6. Boeing under fire. A new Netflix documentary is rekindling questions about the 737 Max tragedies of late 2018 and early 2019. “Downfall: The Case Against Boeing” makes a series of scathing implications connecting the aerospace giant’s corporate decision-making to the Lion Air and Ethiopian Airlines crashes. The documentary “does not break news or break ground cinematically,” but it does suggest that the 737 Max “was cobbled together for the wrong reasons, to boost short-term stock gains” at the expense of 346 lives. The New York Times

7. Pottering’ helps your heart. Experts have found that spending four hours a day “up and about” on “pottering” activities such as cooking, washing up, gardening and showering can reduce your risk of heart disease. The study, undertaken by researchers at the University of California, San Diego, found that “all movement counts” towards preventing heart disease. The News should encourage older people “to get out of their chairs and onto their feet as much as possible every day”. The Times

8. Veggies have ‘lower cancer risk’. Vegetarians have a 14% lower chance of developing cancer than meat-eaters, according to researchers from Oxford University, who analysed the data of more than 470,000 Brits. Male vegetarians have a 31% lower risk of prostate cancer, while the risk is 20% lower for male pescatarians. The Vegetarian Society said the study’s result “adds to a growing body of research reinforcing the positive, protective effects of a vegetarian diet”, but the researchers pointed out that smoking and body fat could have also been contributing factors. Daily Mail

9.  Poll says PM would lose seat. Boris Johnson and half the cabinet would lose their seats if an election were held now, according to a new poll. Researchers found that Conservatives would lose 164 seats, leaving them with 201, only three more than when they were led by Michael Howard. They would lose 55 of the 65 “red wall” constituencies that powered Johnson’s landslide win in 2019. The study puts Labour on 352 seats, a gain of 150, with an overall majority of 14 for the current opposition. The Sunday Times

10. The bottom line. A Savanta ComRes poll has revealed that 60% of British adults wish their life was “more simple”, while 41% say the pace of life is too much for them, up from 30% in 1983. More than half wish they could “slow down”. Daily Mail