Daniel Kretinsky is set to become West Ham's largest shareholder, increasing his stake to 43% by buying shares from the Gold family. This comes as co-owner David Sullivan faces allegations of abuse of power, with the Independent Football Regulator potentially forcing him to divest his shares. Kretinsky aims to inject capital to help the club return to the Premier League.
Ofcom has launched an investigation into Royal Mail for failing to meet its annual delivery targets, with nearly a quarter of first-class mail arriving late. The company has been fined £37m since 2023 for similar breaches.
With their last title a decade ago, young players moving on and coach churn, Middlesex are no longer even the most famous team that call Lord’s homeMiddlesex is unlike every other English county in at least one very important way. It doesn’t actually exist. It was abolished by the London Government Act of 1963, persisted, in dotage, as a postal subdivision, until Royal Mail put it to sleep in 1996. Today, you’ll find it on the tiles of Swiss Cottage Tube station – which are embossed with its badge of three seaxes – the pediment of the Sessions House in Clerkenwell, the mailing addresses of people who just won’t let go, the minutes of Spelthorne council, the titles of three hospitals, a university, assorted sports teams and tournaments, and the cricket club.Those who don’t know any better will tell you English cricket is a country pursuit. It’s not. Sport England’s latest data showed 250,000 Londoners played at least once last year. That’s around 20% of the adult playing population in England and Wales. Walk from Lord’s into the playing fields in Regent’s Park and you will find five, six, seven games going on all at once on the public pitches. Over the road at Fab’s Food & Wine they always have the Indian Premier League on in the afternoons, streaming on a mobile phone. The guy who runs it tells me he is a Royal Challengers Bengaluru fan; I ask if he knows which county plays at the ground around the corner. “No idea.” Continue reading...
Royal Mail is investigating allegations that a postal worker claimed to have dumped Reform UK campaign leaflets in a bin ahead of Thursday's local elections. A post on a private 30,000-member Facebook group for Royal Mail staff showed someone claiming to have discarded the leaflets. Reform UK has written to Royal Mail's chief executive demanding a full investigation within three days, compensation, and confirmation of disciplinary action. Leader Nigel Farage called it 'an attack on the democratic process itself' if true.
Rolling coverage of the latest economic and financial newsRoyal Mail has promised to invest £500m over the next five years to improve its UK delivery service.The service is now working towards meeting its new postal delivery targets by May next year, after agreeing a plan to roll out changes to scrap second-class post on Saturdays.We recognise our service hasn’t always been the standard our customers rightly expect and we’re determined to do better. The plan we’ve set out today shows how we’ll make a step change in performance across the UK, backed by £500 million of investment over the next five years.”As well as fining Royal Mail £37 million for failing to deliver what customers expect and deserve, we’ve also been calling on the company to publicly set out a credible plan for change, backed by investment. Now that’s published, Royal Mail needs to get on and implement it. Their plan must deliver significant and continuous improvement, with performance getting back on track.”We welcome any serious proposal that seeks to reverse customer service failings at Royal Mail, but what really matters is what happens on the ground to make that change happen.Postal workers remain committed to delivering for the communities they serve, but they need the tools to do this.In campuses, we are seeing accelerating demand from a new wave of AI and innovation-led occupiers, driving strong rental growth in what remains a supply constrained market. Continue reading...
Royal Mail announces £500m investment plan over five years to improve letter delivery service, offering part-time workers option for longer hours. The company aims to meet Ofcom's 93% first-class delivery target within a year, currently achieving only 75%. Second-class mail will shift to alternate-day delivery while the company continues pushing for Universal Service Obligation reform.
Royal Mail will end Saturday second-class post deliveries and switch to every-other-weekday delivery from May as part of a £500m turnaround plan. The changes follow a union deal ending dispute over the overhaul, with the company promising to meet Ofcom targets of 90% first-class next-day and 95% second-class within three days by next May. The company was fined a record £21m last October for missing targets, delivering only 77% of first-class and 92.5% of second-class post on time in 2024-25.
