EDITION 983
21 AUGUST 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 give positive feedback. When people are offered consistent, actionable feedback, they gain insight into their successes and opportunities for improvement. Positive feedback is especially important because it increases morale encourages good work and helps provide a sense of purpose. Praise should motivate your team, however, in some cases it does just the opposite. READ MORE

2. School leavers face degree dilemma. As school leavers prepare for their path ahead, many will be weighing up what to do next. According to research from YouGov, 86% of Year 10-13 pupils in England and Wales believe a degree offers good earning potential, compared to 72% for apprenticeships. But a focus purely on degrees may be declining new data suggests that for recruiters, skills are increasingly important. In 2021-2022, there was a 90% increase in the share of UK job postings that didn't require a degree, and three-quarters of recruiting professionals believe skills-first hiring will become a priority for their company in the next 18 months. Amazon

3. Return to office's impact on women. As employers mandate more in-office days, the shift is hitting a surge in the number of hours that women spend on the job. Analysis found that backtracking on flexibility is a deterrent for women investing more hours in work or transitioning from part-time to full-time jobs. Women have also borne the brunt of inflation, having to take on second jobs. The hours worked per woman have risen by almost 5% compared to pre-pandemic levels, according to government data. Bloomberg

4. Inflation falls, but wages jump. UK inflation dropped sharply in July, from 7.9% to 6.8%, driven largely by a fall in the cost of energy. However, figures last week showed wage growth rose at a record pace in April to June, raising questions around a further interest rate hike by the Bank of England. Regular pay excluding bonuses jumped 7.8%, the highest rate since 2001, while total pay including bonuses surged 8.2%. The Office for National Statistics data also showed signs that the labour market was loosening as unemployment ticked up to 4.2%. Job vacancies continued to fall but remained above pre-pandemic levels. Financial Times

5. A certifiable disgrace. Some £20bn has already been spent on HS2, which was originally expected to cost £37.5bn but is now expected to cost at least double that. The planning process alone for the Lower Thames Crossing, which is intended to relieve the congested Dartford Crossing, has so far cost more than it took Norway to build the longest road tunnel in the world. National Highways reckons it will cost up to £500m to add a lane in both directions to the four-mile A46 Newark bypass; for that sum, California built 22 miles of express lanes for Route 101. Proud to be British? You betcha! Editor

6. Hungry kids stealing food. Charities say that hungry children have resorted to stealing food as more than 120,000 young people are now living in extreme poverty in the UK. A survey found the situation is deteriorating, with soaring poverty keeping children out of school as they worried they would be bullied for not being able to afford well-fitting clothes. Parents were forced to skip meals to feed their children and live with no heating or hot water, found researchers. One child was forced to steal an apple out of hunger “like a story from the 1800s”. The Independent

7. Support grows for second referendum. Some 46% of Britons want a second Brexit referendum in the next 10 years, according to a new YouGov poll. More than a quarter of people support such a referendum by the end of 2023. Less than a third of people (30%) said they thought Brexit is “done”, while almost half (49%) said it is not complete. Among 2016 Leave voters, 63% think there shouldn’t be another referendum in the next ten years. 70% of 2016 Remain voters believe there should. The figures “suggest that if a referendum were to be held now, Britain rejoining the EU would come out on top. YouGov

8. Bleak covid picture ahead. Experts have called for the public to start wearing face masks again as a Covid-19 variant “mutation” spreads. Fresh data showed that the number of people recorded with the virus jumped from an estimated 3.3 per 100,000 to 7.2 in the space of less than a month.  Eris, a subvariant of Omicron, now accounts for 10% of Covid cases, but a brand-new sub-strain, provisionally named “BA.6”, has led some to fear that a “bleak coronavirus picture” could emerge in the weeks ahead. The Mirror

9. It wasn’t all bad. By keeping track of our movement, smartwatches can help doctors spot who is vulnerable years before symptoms show up. Cardiff University scientists looked at data from 100,000 smartwatch wearers tracking speed of movement over a single week between 2013 and 2016. Using AI, the team could distinguish those who went on to develop Parkinson’s from those who didn’t and detect early signs up to seven years early. The same AI could even predict when the condition would surface. The team hopes smartwatches could become an accessible screening tool, as 30% of us regularly use a smartwatch or fitness tracker. BBC

10. The bottom line. UK’s annual inflation rate dropped to 6.8% in the year to July, down from 7.9% in June. However, analysts warned that prices are still rising faster in the UK than in other comparable economies. Daily Mail