Prime Minister, David Cameron, held an emergency meeting this week to decide what the future holds for troubled steel operator, Tata Steel. Though there’s unlikely to be any major decisions made immediately, Cameron has all but ruled out full nationalisation. Said to be losing up to £1 million a day, the Indian conglomerate decided it could no longer sustain the business and, short of buyers, eyes have turned to the public sector to save up to 40,000 jobs that may be lost if Tata Steel goes under. Tata’s crisis has been dragged into the looming European Union (EU) referendum debate with many pro-Brexit campaigners claiming that leaving the EU is the only way to protect the British steel industry. The immediate outcome for Tata and its massive Port Talbot plant remains to be seen.
Oh, rats! Crumbs!
German discount grocer Aldi suffered this week after being forced to recall a number of cheese and biscuit products that may have been exposed to pests during production. The affected products were made by a company called Baketime whose factory in Teeside, it emerged, manufactured items in “unhygienic conditions” as stated by the Food Standards Agency. The unfortunate news comes following a hugely successful fourth quarter for the company with sales up 13.3%. Given the volume of crackers consumed over the Christmas period, Aldi shoppers aren’t happy with the revelation. You could say the news really takes the biscuit.
Yellen, whisperin’
Stronger US economic data may have had investors worried this week about the potential for a hawkish US Federal Reserve (Fed) in 2016. However, Fed chairwoman Janet Yellen quelled fears in a dovish speech given at The Economic Club of New York on Tuesday, telling her audience that the Fed would remain very cautious about raising rates this year. Yellen has been criticised following her speech. Economists described her message as even murkier than usual, and some even claiming the chairwoman is outsourcing the decision of when next to raise interest rates to the markets. Meantime, expectations of further rate hikes this year have diminished considerably.
And finally…
A Brighton woman attempted to conquer the Britain’s highest mountain armed only with a selfie stick. The brave(?) young woman made the absurd attempt to climb all 4,400 feet of Ben Nevis on a whim whilst on a mountain bike tour of Scotland. The novice climber, who was wearing just a flimsy top and summer shorts at the time, said her motivation to attempt to reach the peak could be summed up with: “Oh I’ve got this far – it’s not too bad – let’s carry on.” She was rescued a number of hours later amid blizzard conditions and suffering from hypothermia. She was escorted back down the mountain by a rescue team to safety, selfie stick still in hand.
Image credit: © Antar Dayal/Illustration Works/Corbis
