EDITION 1041
14 OCTOBER 2024

On this day in 1066, William, Duke of Normandy, defeated the Anglo-Saxon Harold Godwinson at the Battle of Hastings, unleashing the Norman Conquest of England. An upcoming eight-part BBC series, "King and Conqueror", will retell the story of the era-defining struggle for the throne and the most famous battle in English history.

On that sober note, 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.

Just before you dive in, remember our POTENTIAL workbook [see below] is on offer for only £99. This unique workbook will help guide your organisation to its highest potential. Contact us today to start your transformation.

William Montgomery
Editor and CEO of TEN

1. How to get what you want. To get what you want, you must first define it. It sounds obvious, yet so many people go through life without defining what they want. With a clear sense of what you want, you're able to create goals and a step-by-step plan for getting there. Likewise, getting people to do what you want is difficult, especially if you lack authority. READ MORE

2. Details of new employment rights revealed. The government has revealed the details of its "watershed" employment rights bill. It marks an overhaul of workers' rights including statutory sick pay, paternity leave, zero-hours contracts and flexible working. The bill introduces day-one rights for workers, protecting them from unfair dismissal from the day they start employment. The practice of "firing and rehiring", whereby employers dismiss workers and rehire them under worse conditions, will also be banned except in extreme circumstances. All in, 28 individual employment reforms are included in the bill. The Fair Work Agency, created under the employment rights bill, will enforce the new workers' rights, as well as current existing ones, including the national minimum wage and aspects of the Modern Slavery Act. BBC

3. The biggest threat to global peace. The world is less peaceful today than at any time in the past decade, according to research from the Institute for Economics and Peace (IEP). This, coupled with warnings from the security service that Russia is “plotting mayhem” in the UK and reports that MI5 also fears that the escalating conflict in the Middle East could lead Iran to “target Britons on UK soil”, this week we ask, in the long term, which country do you think is the biggest threat to global peace? Please share your views in our latest poll. VOTE HERE

4.  Just the two of us. Kemi Badenoch and Robert Jenrick won the last round of MPs’ voting in the Tory leadership race this week. Tom Tugendhat was knocked out on Tuesday, and James Cleverly lost the final round on Wednesday, with 37 votes to Jenrick’s 41 and Badenock’s 42. It means Tory members will be choosing between two candidates from the right of the party. The new leader is due to be announced on 2 November. BBC

5. A couple of cuppas a day is the right medicine. The anti-inflammatory benefits of caffeine could mean daily tea and coffee drinkers have better heart health, new research suggests. Drinking two to three cups a day could be “added to other traditional recommendations” to prevent heart disease, said The Times. The study by Sapienza University in Rome found that participants who drank more caffeine formed greater numbers of a type of cell that “protects against heart attacks and strokes”. The Times

6. Last week in the city. The escalation of conflict in the Middle East left stock markets largely unruffled but prompted oil prices to spike to around $80/barrel. The pound ended its rally against the dollar, falling from over 1.34 to just under 1.31 following hints from the BoE that the Bank “could be a bit more aggressive” about cutting rates. The UK economy returned to growth, expanding by 0.2% in August. The increase, which follows two months of stagnation, is in line with economists’ forecasts and was largely driven by a good month for construction, retail and accountancy. Halifax reported that the average UK house price came close to June 2022’s record high in September, reaching £293,399. Prices have risen for the third month in a row, mainly due to improved confidence about “mortgage affordability”  FInancial Times

7.  The middle-aged are embracing tattoos. More than a third of 35- to 54-year-olds now have a tattoo, according to research - the same proportion as 16- to 35-year-olds, and almost double that of 55- to 75-year-olds. Often, middle-aged people get tattoos to mark later-life milestones – 50th birthdays, retirement and so on; and they are twice as likely to think it’s acceptable to display them at work as older people. The Guardian

8. People prefer Sunak to Starmer. Keir Starmer’s government is now less popular than the last Tory administration, according to research by the More in Common think-tank. The poll found that 31% preferred Rishi Sunak’s government to the current one, while 29% preferred life under Labour. A third (33%) of voters who backed Labour in the July election said they regretted doing so, compared with 5% of Tory voters. The Telegraph

9. Poll reveals the ‘ultimate’ British pop group. The Beatles have been crowned as the “ultimate British group” in a poll of BBC Radio 2 listeners. Queen came second, with The Rolling Stones in the third spot, in the vote by hundreds of thousands of music fans to celebrate National Album Day, on Saturday 19 October. Pink Floyd came fourth, and Fleetwood Mac fifth, who qualified despite their American members, as the majority of bandmembers were born or lived in the UK, or held British citizenship. The Independent

10. The bottom line. The total number of hours each year that tea-drinking office workers spend away from their desks to brew up stands at 59. A study by retailer Haypp found that workers made an average of three 15-minute trips to the kitchen each day, adding up to eight days over 12 months. Daily Mail