EDITION 929
25 JULY 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 overcome ageism while job searching. Ageism  is an unfortunate reality in the world of work. Everyone has a responsibility to reduce the systemic barriers that pop up in the workforce as people get older. It is also important to give people tools to help combat ageism while looking for work. READ MORE >>

2. Then there were two. Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss emerged as the last two candidates in the Tory leadership election, after winning the final knockout round of voting by MPs. Being prime minister is a staggering responsibility. How absurd then, that the question of who should lead us will now be decided – for the third time in six years – by some 160,000 Tory party members. These people comprise only 0.3% of the electorate, (the) and are not very representative of it. A 2019 study found that they were predominantly male (70%) and overwhelmingly white (97%), and both older and more middle class than the general population, which is estimated to be around 67 million. Editor

3. PM warned on peerage list. Boris Johnson’s plans for a major list of peerages could erode “public confidence in our parliamentary system,” said the Lord Speaker. Senior Whitehall sources said that the House of Lords Appointment Commission, the body responsible for vetting peerages, was holding up Johnson’s plans. During her three years as PM, Theresa May, appointed 43 peers but Johnson, over a similar period in office, has already ennobled 86, bringing the number of members sitting in the Lords to more than 800. The Sunday Times

4. Public/private pay gap widens. Private sector pay has grown almost five times as fast as pay in the public sector over the past year, according to data from the Office for National Statistics. The report came as the government announced below-inflation pay rises for many across the public sector. Inflation reached a record high of 9.4% on Wednesday. Thousands of workers across different industries have voted in favour of strikes over pay in recent weeks. At the same time, remuneration in some of the private sector's most lucrative jobs continues to rise. The Financial Times.

5. UK hands Amazon £1m tax credit. Amazon’s core UK business was given a £1m tax credit last year by the UK government as it continued to expand its operations across the country. HM Revenue & Customs handed the rebate to Amazon UK Services, the tech giant’s warehouse and logistics operation, though its profits rose almost 60% to £204m and its revenues grew almost a quarter to £6.09bn. The Guardian

6. Done is better than perfect. It’s easy to fall victim to perfectionism when handed a big project, but is that the strategy to producing your best work? Not necessarily, as it can lead to pushing work off until it’s too late, missed deadlines or work that isn’t up to your standards. Here are tips on how to handle your most important projects: [1] Start working today instead of waiting for the right time. [2] Catch your perfectionist tendencies early on. [3] Focus on the work, rather than potential feedback. [4] Stick to your deadlines. Editor

7. Show off your soft skills. If you want to stand out as a job seeker, you should highlight soft skills on your resume. More than 90% of employers say soft skills "play a critical role" in who they decide to hire, according to a new report from a global recruiter. What skills will catch an employer's eye? Analysis found that the top in-demand soft skills are: communication, customer service, scheduling, time management, project management, analytical thinking, ability to work independently and flexibility. CNBC

8. Half of UK women don’t exercise. A survey has found that 47% of women in Britain have done no vigorous weekly exercise such as jogging, gym classes or playing netball in the past year. For men the figure was 34%. Two in five women said that they dropped the habit of exercising during the pandemic and were finding it difficult to restart. One in seven said they had “stopped exercising completely”. Eight thousand adults were questioned for the Healthier Nation Index. The Times

9. Choose your emoji wisely. Office workers have been warned that the meaning attributed to emojis differs widely according to age. Older people, for instance, use the winking face to mean “I’m kidding”, whereas young people see it as flirty. Whereas, the smiling face is used by older people to suggest joy or approval, the young use it to convey deep exasperation. The Guardian

10. The bottom line. Three million pensioners (one in four) live in households with property and pensions wealth worth more than £1m. Two million are living in poverty. The Financial Times