EDITION 987
18 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 develop your virtual team. Instilling team self-confidence in the traditional workplace is difficult enough, but the process is even tougher in a virtual environment. But even if your group is scattered across the globe, you can ensure they trust each other by doing the following: READ MORE

2. 'Mild' recession may have started. The economy shrank "surprisingly sharply" in July, as retailers and construction projects were "knocked by wet weather", sparking "fresh fears of a recession". Although analysts had forecast a 0.2% decline in gross domestic product, official data showed it contracted by 0.5%. Experts said that Britain was "walking a tightrope" and some went as far as saying a mild recession may have already begun. The Chancellor insisted that there were "reasons to be confident" about the future, but Labour described it as another "dismal day" for the economy. The Independent

3. Wages outstrip inflation for first time in a year. Workers’ wages outstripped the pace of inflation for the first time in over a year in the three months to July, rising by 8.5% (or 7.8%, if stripping out bonuses) and matching the highest pace of wage growth recorded in 22 years. The news reignited the debate about the long-term sustainability of the UK’s “triple lock” on uprating the state pension (which rises by the highest of wage growth, inflation, or 2.5%), with Treasury officials reportedly considering a one-off break. The Times

4. Young take more mental health leave. A study has found that more than half of young workers have taken sick leave in the past six months because of mental health issues. Some 56% of 16 to 24-year-olds questioned said that they needed time off because of stress, anxiety and depression. Among over-55s, the figure was just 12%. “There is a perception that young people are soft but actually they have uniquely difficult challenges,” said Dr Nick Taylor, chief executive of Unmind, because “younger people are under the most financial pressure”. The Times

5. Sunak 'less popular than Truss’. A new poll has found that Rishi Sunak is viewed as less competent on economic affairs than most recent Conservative prime ministers, including Liz Truss. The Opinium poll found that the PM also ranks below David Cameron, Theresa May and Boris Johnson, with only 27% thinking that his Conservatives are handling the economy well. Some 60% think they are handling it poorly. The researchers also found out that 48% of voters think the UK economy will worsen over the next 12 months, with 22% thinking it will get better. The Observer

6. The 200 nationalities of the NHS. More than one in six staff working in NHS England are not British: over 5% are from Europe, and over 11% are from the rest of the world. This varies according to role; about 33% of all doctors are foreign, and 25% of nurses and health visitors. In London, they make up nearly 30% of all staff; in the North East and Yorkshire, under 10%. More than 200 nationalities are represented. The five biggest contributors, in order, are: India, the Philippines, Nigeria, Ireland and Poland. Foreign workers have played a vital role since the beginning. Many of the nurses during the NHS’s infancy were Irish-born, and in 1949 it began recruiting from across the empire, particularly the Caribbean. Office for National Statistics

7. A sign of the times. 73% of people in the UK say that work is a very or rather important part of their life, the lowest level in the 24 countries surveyed. This compares with 96% in Italy and 94% in France. In the Philippines and Indonesia, 99% say it’s very important. Asked if work should come first, even if it cuts into leisure time, 22% of Brits agree, compared with 39% in France and 45% in Spain. World Values Survey

8. Commuters facing eye-watering fares. Rail commuters in England are facing the "biggest fare increase since privatisation". Fares will "jump" by almost 8% in March if ministers adopt the same formula as they did for this year’s increase, said the paper. The government aligned this year’s cap on fare increases with Britain’s average weekly earnings growth for July last year, which was 5.9%, and new official data showed that average weekly earnings rose by 8% in July this year. The Campaign for Better Transport, said that "rather than hammer rail passengers yet again”, ministers should "freeze rail fares". The Times

9. It wasn’t all bad. More than a million lives have been saved in the past four decades owing to developments in cancer care, according to Cancer Research UK. Its analysis found that advances in the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of the disease had cut death rates by a quarter since the 1980s, and that without this progress, an extra 1.2 million lives would have been lost. Falling rates of deaths from lung cancer account for the largest number of lives saved (well over 500,000), followed by stomach and bowel cancer. Meanwhile, NHS waiting times for treatment are the worst on record; and cancer remains the leading cause of death in the UK. The Independent

10. The bottom line. Some 2.6 million people are off work because of illness. Half of them have depression, anxiety or stress. The Times