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Pavel Paulinich was working as a chef in Washington DC when coronavirus shut down most of his industry. With more free time on his hands, Mr Paulinich began to focus on his social media accounts, including a new page he created called Karens Going Wild.For a while, Mr Paulinich, who is originally from Peru, says he was hearing stories from friends about prejudiced interactions and seeing a growing number of videos posted online that showed racist behaviour across the US. He wanted to do more to ensure these incidents got public attention and he says he wanted to form a “safe space” for those who filmed the videos to publish them.The account – which has more than 700,000 followers on Instagram – posts images and videos of individuals behaving in prejudiced and bigoted ways. It was receiving so many submissions that Mr Paulinich created a second back-up account.The title Karens Going Wild refers to a popular meme, “Karen”, seen as an entitled or demanding person, typically a white woman, who often expresses racist or prejudiced views.The goal for Mr Paulinich and activists like him is to use social media to draw attention to these actions, publicly shaming the people involved and ultimately getting the people “cancelled”.”These times of doing whatever you want without consequences are over,” he says.What is ‘cancel culture’?So what exactly does it mean to be cancelled?In its simplest form, cancelling someone on social media is a way to say, “I’m done with you.” Cancel culture can also be used to call on others to reject a person or business when their behaviour goes against the social norm – for example, making sexist comments.For “cancellers” such as Mr Paulinich, the goal is to create public awareness, shame the person or group involved and create consequences, including economic consequences.One of the simplest ways to accomplish this is to create enough public outrage that the cancelled person loses their job. Has cancel culture gone too far?On 27 June, a video of a man shouting at an elderly woman at a Costco in Florida was shared on social media, along with a call to identify him. The video went viral and by the following day, the man had been identified from a picture on his company’s website. Hours after he was identified, with a growing number of posts expressing outrage at his action, he was fired.In a statement, the company thanked those commenting on the internet for raising awareness about the behaviour of its “former employee”.”Their behaviour in the video is in direct conflict with our company values,” it said.Other examples of cancel culture costing someone their job include:Amy Cooper, fired after a viral video showed her filing a false police report on a black birdwatcher
Michael Lofthouse, forced out of his start-up for a racist tirade.
Reputational damageBut when a business fails to live up to the values of its customers, it can quickly become the target of cancel culture and face financial consequences.”I think that one of the best things about social media is it allows people to speak back to institutions and corporations with enormous money and power,” says Kimberly Foster, the founder of black feminist community For Harriet, who has written about the impact of cancel culture.Recently, pancake brand Aunt Jemima was cancelled for perpetuating racist stereotypes.In response, Quaker Oats, the owner of the Aunt Jemima brand, announced it would “retire” the name. That result sparked cancellers to double their efforts to get another food brand, Uncle Ben, to change its name for the same reason. It worked: the brand’s parent company, Mars, said it would change to Ben’s.Some of the brands targeted by cancel culture:
Pepsi: Criticised for a controversial ad that appropriated global protest movements including Black Lives Matter

Equinox: The gym club brand faced a backlash after it emerged that its owner was holding a Trump fund-raiser

Starbucks: Was targeted for telling employees not to wear Black Lives Matter T-shirts and badges

Nike: Released a shoe with the original US flag. The flag has only 13 stars and comes from a time when slavery was legal

Uncle Ben’s: Changed its name and branding after criticism over racial stereotyping
But it’s not always an offence by the brand that causes a company to be targeted. Over the summer, as cancel culture’s impact was swelling, Goya Foods, the largest Hispanic-owned food brand, found itself as the target. The cancelling came after the company’s chief executive, Robert Unanue, attended an event at the White House where he praised President Donald Trump. Cancellers claimed that praising President Trump, whose policies they said were harmful to the Latino community in the US, showed that Goya and its executives did not support the same values as its customers. The cancel culture pile-on was swift. Pictures of people throwing away Goya products and buying other brands circulated, along with the hashtags #Goyaway and #BoycottGoya trending within hours of the event.Politicians including Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, celebrities such as Lin-Manuel Miranda and ordinary people all took to social media to say they would no longer be buying Goya products.Alexis Odesser, an expert in crisis public relations at Bliss Integrated, explains there is not just a desire but “real expectation” that brands will live up to their customers’ values.”People are making buying decisions with these things in mind,” she says. Making amendsNotably for Goya, the target of cancellation wasn’t the chief executive, it was the company itself. Targeting the company rather than the individual can be more likely to produce long-term change, according to For Harriet’s Ms Foster. Like Mr Paulinich, she says the internet has empowered marginalised groups to speak up about offences. But she cautions that cancel culture needs to find ways to let their targets make amends.”If we are going to invest in letting people know when they have stepped out of the bounds of what society finds tasteful or appropriate, then we also need to be sure we have ways of letting people know how they can repair the harm they have done,” Ms Foster says. For business. that may be changing a brand name or firing an employee to demonstrate that the company’s values match those of its customers. But for individuals who are cancelled, the costs are likely to be more long-term.

Hong Kong’s status as a key Asian financial hub will remain intact according to business experts. Speaking to the BBC they said new security laws and protests are unlikely to scare off investors to other countries. Supporting this, Hong Kong’s stock exchange raised $11bn from 59 new listings in the first half of 2020.And the blockbuster debut of Ant Group is likely to see that number grow considerably later this month. The Chinese financial technology group could raise more than $30bn (£23bn), more than any other stock market debut this year. Numbers like this make Hong Kong irresistible for many investors, according to Tara Joseph from the American Chamber of Commerce Hong Kong. “The flow of money that comes in and out of Hong Kong on a daily basis, that goes into mainland China and comes out, is very hard to replicate,” she told the BBC’s Asia Business Report. Critics have previously raised the possibility that security legislation and the ongoing trade war with China will push businesses and investors to look elsewhere. But the sheer ability to raise money outweighs many other factors, according to Drew Bernstein, co-chairman of Marcum, Bernstein and Pinchuk, an accountancy firm.”These companies are basically going to do whatever they have to do to have access to capital,” he said.Asian contendersA recent survey by the chamber found that nearly 40% of US companies were considering moving capital, assets or operations out of the city due to concerns about the new security laws. Other Asia Pacific centres are trying to burnish their credentials as financial centres. On Monday Japan’s Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga told financial news outlet Nikkei that his government will consider lowering tax rates and promoting diversity in boardrooms to attract foreign talent in an effort to reinvent Tokyo as a global financial hub. Australian Liberal Senator Andrew Bragg has been pushing his government “to capitalise on the disintegration of Hong Kong as a financial centre by attracting businesses to Sydney.” Some have suggested that Singapore, a country with similar tax rates and a business-friendly environment, is the natural successor to Hong Kong.However, it lacks Hong Kong’s proximity to the Chinese market and its stock exchange is far smaller. Tough times Despite the positivity about Hong Kong’s future as a financial hub, its economy has still taken a hit from last year’s protests, as well as from the Covid-19 pandemic. Even before the pandemic started to bite, Hong Kong was in recession, which has only deepened this year. “In many ways it’s the tale of two cities. One, it’s the international finance, here’s where Hong Kong continues to be an amazing place,” said Curtis Chin, a former US Ambassador to the Asian Development Bank. “But then there’s the daily life of Hong Kong people and some of the issues Hong Kong people face have predated these protests, issues, such as inequality issues, such as that divide between rich and poor.”

Singapore is offering a one-off payment to encourage people to have babies during the coronavirus pandemic.The worry is that citizens are putting off parenthood as they struggle with financial stress and job layoffs.Details of the amount that could be paid have yet to be released. It is in addition to several hefty baby bonuses offered by the government.Singapore has one of the lowest birth rates in the world, which it has struggled to boost for decades.It is in stark contrast to some of its neighbours such as Indonesia and the Philippines, which are facing the prospect of a massive spike in pregnancies from their coronavirus lockdowns.”We have received feedback that Covid-19 has caused some aspiring parents to postpone their parenthood plans,” Singapore’s Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat said on Monday. Mr Heng said more details about amounts and how they will be paid would be announced at a later date.Singapore’s current baby bonus system provides eligible parents up to S$10,000 ($7,330, £5,644) in benefits. Singapore’s fertility rate touched an eight-year low in 2018, according to government data, at a rate of 1.14 births per woman.Many Asian countries face a similar issue of falling fertility rates, which could worsen during the pandemic downturn.Earlier this year, China’s birth rate fell to its lowest since the formation of the People’s Republic of China 70 years ago. This came despite the easing of the much criticised one-child policy.Baby boomBut some of Singapore’s neighbours face the opposite problem.In the Philippines, unintended pregnancies are forecast to spike by almost half to 2.6 million if Covid 19-induced movement restrictions remain until year-end, according to the United Nations Population Fund.”These numbers are an epidemic in itself,” Aimee Santos, a spokesperson for UN agency in the Philippines, said last month.The Philippines has the second-highest population in South East Asia at 108.4 million. It has one of the region’s worst virus outbreaks with more than 307,000 infections.”These issues of women and children have largely remained invisible during the pandemic. It’s time to put them front and centre,” Senator Risa Hontiveros, head of the chamber’s committee on women, said last month. She has backed calls for more female officials in the nation’s task force against the coronavirus outbreak.

The annual Golden Week holiday is dubbed “the world’s largest human migration” as it usually sees millions of Chinese tourists travelling internationally. China accounts for almost one-fifth of the world’s international tourism according the United Nations World Tourism Organisation.But this year, the pandemic has made international travel nearly impossible. So they’re travelling locally instead. As a result, domestic tourism during this national holiday season is expected to recover to near pre-pandemic levels, helped by pent-up demand and cheap airfares.China’s tourism ministry said around 425m people travelled within the country during the first four days of holiday alone.And ticket sales from China’s biggest online travel portal Trip.com show local tourism recovering to around 80% compared to last year. China’s recovery”There is pent-up demand for Chinese travellers and their consumption, but there is still a kind of cautiousness there,” said Veronica Wang, a Chinese consumer analyst at OC&C Strategy. However, some local governments including Shanghai’s are not heavily promoting domestic travel, and are asking students and their parents not to leave the cities at all. “But we are seeing a boom of the luxury industry driven by consumers who love to travel internationally but cannot do so now. So they’re pouring their money into the domestic market,” added Ms Wang. She said this year many Chinese travellers have been making their way to Hainan island, the southernmost part of China, to shop because local tourists can now buy duty-free luxury goods there. Big spendersThe World Travel and Tourism Council says tourism generated more than $2.9bn (£2.24bn) for Asia Pacific’s economic growth in 2019. That’s nearly 10% of the region’s entire economy. One-sixth of that spending came from international visitors. But the pandemic led to a 72% drop in international tourists in the first half of the year, decimating local businesses including hotels and restaurants that rely on tourism. Some analysts say governments in Asia are hoping that domestic tourism spending can fill this void. Thankfully, Asian tourists are big spenders. The region accounted for $524bn in international tourism spending in 2018, about 36% of the global total. “The push for domestic tourism is important, because different countries, regions and jurisdictions have so far found it challenging to agree on standardised Covid-19 guidelines,” said Simin Ngai, an aviation industry expert at Cirium. “This applies not only to Asia Pacific, but any country connected to the global economy and any airline that competes internationally,” she added. Staying afloatMuch like China, other countries in the region are also looking to redirect spending into their domestic markets to help keep their economies afloat. “Besides China, Vietnam has stood out as a successful example of encouraging locals and residents to explore their own backyard. This has been a concerted, top-down effort, with the support of the hospitality industry,” said Ms Ngai. South Korea and Japan are also encourage more domestic tourism, tapping into the pent-up demand for air travel.But for a small city-state like Singapore the concept of domestic tourism barely exists. However, its government has introduced a S$230m tourism relief bill, including cash vouchers for residents to use when visiting local attractions. “While domestic travel is a key growth driver in the industry, Asia has yet to fully reap the benefits of the revival of domestic tourism, as many countries in Asia are historically reliant on international and intra-regional travel,” a spokesperson for global online travel site Booking.com told the BBC.Going nowhereAs part of that push for domestic tourism, some airlines are selling tickets to customers for “flights to nowhere” – the plane takes off and lands at the same airport but passengers enjoy a scenic trip.More than 7,000 people applied for the 60 available seats offered by Taiwan’s Songshan Airport in July for its flights to nowhere.Since then, many airlines have offered similar experiences although some have faced headwinds from environmental groups concerned about unnecessary carbon emissions for the sake of profit. But there is another reason for these flights.”Engines will deteriorate if unused for a long time, and tyres may be damaged if not rotated regularly,” said Kenneth Chen, a former aircraft maintenance engineer.”Pilots also need to log three flights in a 90-day time period for their licenses to stay valid.”

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In a quiet aisle of a small supermarket in Tokyo, a robot dutifully goes about its work. Reaching down, it grabs yet another bottle of a flavoured drink that humans like, lifts it and places it on the shelf of a refrigerated unit. Then the next one. People come and go. It looks like a well-integrated autonomous mechanical worker, but that is something of an illusion. This robot doesn’t have a mind of its own. Several miles away, a human worker is controlling its every movement remotely and watching via a virtual reality (VR) headset that provides a robot’s eye view.This is the work of Japanese firm Telexistence, whose Model-T robot is designed to allow people to do physical labour in supermarkets and other locations from the comfort of their own homes.In this case, the robot is working at a FamilyMart shop in Tokyo. Eventually, it will handle more than just drinks bottles – rice balls, bento boxes and sandwiches should all be within its grasp.The Model-T is a “human avatar” says Yuichiro Hikosaka, board director at Telexistence. “You can go anywhere without moving yourself,” he says. The concept is called telerobotics or teleoperation, and it has been dramatized in dystopian sci-fi films such as Surrogates and Sleep Dealer. Remote-controlled bomb disposal robots have been around for decades but teleoperated devices are now doing more than ever before – including delivering food to people’s homes in the Covid-19 era. Mr Hikosaka points out that Japan, with its ageing population, is currently facing a labour shortage – particularly with regard to low-income jobs. He argues that this could be partly solved through deploying thousands of robots in locations where physical work occasionally needs to be carried out, and allowing companies to remote-hire people in order to operate the robot when needed. “It’s maybe a ten-minute job,” he explains. “First of all, work in Tokyo but then ten minutes later you can work in Hokkaido.”Workers would log on to an online marketplace, choose tasks they want to do and then don their VR headset to transport themselves, virtually, to work. The idea may be especially appealing right now, suggests Mr Hikosaka, because workers don’t have to come in to physical contact with other people – reducing their risk of catching or spreading Covid-19.There are snags the firm has yet to overcome, though. For one thing, the Model-T doesn’t move nearly as quickly as a human supermarket worker. And the VR headset can cause dizziness or nausea for people especially if they wear it for prolonged periods. Mr Hikosaka says he and his colleagues are working on solutions to these problems. More Technology of BusinessBut, really, the main hurdle is getting supermarkets to buy in to the technology at scale, which is necessary to reduce the cost of manufacturing each robot. Mr Hikosaka doesn’t hide his firm’s ambitions. He notes that there are tens of thousands of small supermarket shops scattered around Japan, most of which are owned by one of three companies. A deal with just one of these firms to supply thousands of branches could catapult Telexistence’s technology into the mainstream.”If they like it, boom,” says Mr Hikosaka.The hype may not be shared by everyone, however. Carl Frey, who directs the Future of Work programme at the Oxford Martin School, says he struggles to see the benefit of teleoperated robots in most scenarios.And when it comes to handling and moving objects in shops or warehouses, he says robots are a very long way from matching human skills.”The reason for that is that robotic hands are not as dextrous as human hands,” he explains. “We can pick up just about any object and manipulate it. “We know what pressure to apply, how not to break objects and so on.”Telexistence’s robots can be fitted with pressure sensors and suction devices, notes Mr Hikosaka, but time will tell if the three-fingered hands on the Model-T are reliable enough for daily work in the real world.The costs of paying humans to operate robots may make them less attractive prospects for most businesses in the short term, says Dr Frey.In the longer term, he adds, autonomous robots could make such technology redundant and threaten swathes of jobs currently done by humans.In one much-discussed 2013 paper, he and a colleague estimated that 47% of US jobs could be lost to automation.At present, Mr Hikosaka says Telexistence wants to land somewhere in between, with the Model-T robots gradually becoming partially automated but still controlled at a high level by human beings. Instead of deftly managing every movement of the robot, for instance, a human operator might simply select the next item to be picked up and moved – the Model-T would then do those steps automatically.The robots could be trained to do this, Mr Hikosaka suggests, after they have spent years gathering data on how humans carefully manipulate the robotic hands in order to get a good grip on specific objects. In a way, workers would be training the devices that might partially replace them in the future.Ultimately, teleoperated devices will likely lead to greater levels of automation and fewer jobs being available for human workers in certain low-paid industries, says Dr Frey. It’s true that the list of jobs that were once manual but which are now done by machines with just a small amount of human oversight, or none at all, grows ever longer. “When these robots are good enough, you don’t necessarily want them to be remote-controlled, you want them to be automatic,” he says.”That’s when you cut out the workers.”

The age at which most people start to receive the state pension has now officially hit 66 after steady rises in the qualifying age in recent years.Men and women born between 6 October, 1954, and 5 April, 1960, will start receiving their pension on their 66th birthday.For those born after that, there will be a phased increase in state pension age to 67, and eventually 68.The full state pension for new recipients is worth £175.20 a week.To receive the full amount, various criteria including 35 qualifying years of national insurance must be satisfied.Use the government’s calculator to find out your state pension ageThe age at which people receive the state pension has been increasing as people live longer, and the government has plans for the increase to 68 to be brought forward.However, the increases have been controversial, particularly for women who have seen the most significant rise.Campaigners claim women born in the 1950s have been treated unfairly by rapid changes and the way they were communicated to those affected.Some of those involved in the campaign recently lost a legal challenge, claiming the move was unlawful discrimination.The coronavirus crisis has led many people to reconsider retirement plans, especially those who feel they are more at risk from the outbreak.Former pensions minister Ros Altmann argued that the crisis meant there was a “strong case” for people to be given early access to their state pension, even if it were at a reduced rate.She also pointed out the large differences in life expectancy in different areas of the UK.’Plan ahead’Younger workers have also been urged by pension providers to consider their retirement options, with a strong likelihood of state pension age rising further as time passes.”As people live longer, it’s clear many will also have to work for longer,” said Pete Glancy, head of policy at Scottish Widows.”The increase to the state pension age provides a timely reminder to everyone to check your pension pots and ask yourself whether the savings you’ve built up are enough for the kind of life you want in retirement.”Tom Selby, senior analyst at AJ Bell, said: “As average life expectancy continues to increase, the state pension age will inevitably follow suit.”This means younger savers probably need to plan assuming they might not reach their state pension age until 70 or even beyond. Anyone who aspires to more than the bare minimum in retirement needs to take responsibility as early as possible to build their own retirement pot.”How have you been affected by the changes to the state pension age? Share your experiences by emailing [email protected] include a contact number if you are willing to speak to a BBC journalist. You can also get in touch in the following ways:WhatsApp: +44 7756 165803

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Quitting his IT job two years ago to start a beer tour business was a dream for Mike Hampshire.But his hopes of breaking even in his second year of operation were crushed when the coronavirus crisis hit in spring.Now the future of his Leeds-based business is in serious doubt as he’s been unable to get a bounce-back loan.”Without a loan to tide me over I’m going to have to look for other work,” he said.In September, the chancellor extended the deadline for the government’s coronavirus loan schemes to the end of November.Yet Mr Hampshire is not the only small business owner struggling to survive without being able to get a loan through the government scheme.Mr Bounceback, an anonymous businessman behind a website which helps struggling small firms, said he has heard from lots of people with problems.”Several banks are not accepting new customers, and the majority of them have chosen to only allow their existing customers to apply, or even worse some lenders appear to be handpicking customers and inviting them to apply,” he said.”With many firms facing continued cashflow pressures, it is concerning that businesses who bank with non-accredited lenders remain largely unable to access these vital financial lifelines,” said Suren Thiru, head of economics at the British Chambers of Commerce.But banking trade body UK Finance told the BBC that “the vast majority of applicants have been able to rapidly access the finance they need through the bounce-back loan scheme.”It pointed out that more than 1.26 million smaller businesses have already received more than £38bn in finance so far. “There are now 28 accredited lenders offering finance through the scheme, including some that are open to new customers,” it added.Sudden haltMike Hampshire’s guided beer tours came to a sudden halt in March when pubs shut their doors.”I’ve pretty much had no income since March, but had a bit of cash put by, so thought I’d try and ride it out,” he told the BBC.”When pubs re-opened, the social-distancing rules made it impossible to run the tours and I’ve also had to cancel the annual beer festival I run in November.”With his money running out he turned to government support and decided to apply for a bounce-back loan.”I need about £5,000 to see me through to the spring when, hopefully, things will be better,” he said.But he banks with Monzo which isn’t one of the 28 lenders which signed up for the government scheme.He tried to apply through HSBC, but the bank closed its doors to new customers last week, the day before he made his application.Now he reckons he’ll have to take on a different job, just to help him get through the winter.”There are so many unknowns. If I do find another job, it could well become a permanent thing which would mean the end of my business.”HSBC said that it has made £12bn of bounce back loans and that it is trying to prioritise existing applications, which is why it closed applications to new customers on 30 September.”We are no longer accepting new applications for Bounce Back Loans from companies that don’t have an existing HSBC business account and we will also stop taking on any new small business banking customers until 14 December,” the bank said.Lloyds Banking Group, which includes Bank of Scotland and Halifax, says limiting bounce back loans to existing companies makes applications speedy as well as fraud and money laundering checks. Closing dateBounce-back loans allow small firms to borrow up to £50,000 over nine years at preferential rates, with the loans 100% guaranteed by the government. The closing date for bounce-back loan applications is 30 November which means time is running out for firms who have yet to secure a loan.The latest Treasury figures show lenders have approved 1,260,940 applications for the BBL scheme.Of the 28 accredited lenders on the bounce-back loan site, only two appear to offer loans to non-customers: peer-to-peer site Funding Circle, and Capital on Tap.Skipton Building Society accepts non-customers but only if they sign up for an invoice finance facility too, which requires credit checks.”Government-backed loans are just one part of the industry’s wider support for businesses during these difficult times, with providers also offering commercial lending, capital repayment holidays, extended overdrafts and asset-based finance – meaning there is a range of help available for any firm that needs it,” said UK Finance.The BCC’s Suren Thiru said: “Government, regulators and banks must work together to ensure that a greater number of firms can access this support during this challenging period.”

British employers planned 58,000 redundancies in August, taking the total to 498,000 for the first five months of the Covid crisis.Some 966 separate employers told the government of plans to cut 20 or more jobs, compared with 214 last August, a more than fourfold increase.However, the figures were down from the levels seen in June and July, which both saw 150,000 job cuts planned. The figures were released to the BBC after a freedom of information request. Employers planning 20 or more redundanciesHR1 forms submittedThe economy bounced back in the summer after the unprecedented economic downturn earlier in the year, as workers were urged to return to the office, and customers encouraged to spend more by schemes such as the Eat Out To Help Out restaurant vouchers.However a number of big businesses from many of the hardest-hit sectors, such as retail and restaurants, announced big redundancy plans, including Debenhams, DW Sports, Marks & Spencer, Pret a Manger, currency exchange company Travelex, and WH Smith. The 58,000 positions put at risk in August was considerably lower than previous months, but it was still more than 150% up on the previous year. “There was a sense of optimism in August, we were starting to see more spending and more activity, there were hopes for a quick recovery,” said Rebecca McDonald, senior economist at the Joseph Rowntree Foundation think tank. “That seems a lot less likely now.”Planned redundanciesProposed dismissals submittedA government spokesperson said: “Supporting jobs is an absolute priority, which is why we have set out our plan for jobs to protect, create and support jobs across the UK.”We are helping employees get back to work through a £1,000 retention bonus, creating new roles for young people with our £2bn Kickstart scheme and doubling the number of frontline work coaches.”How will the end of the furlough scheme affect redundancies?The big summer rush may have been partly caused by firms preparing to cut staff before the end of the furlough scheme on 31 October. That scheme, where the government pays part of workers’ wages when their employers cannot, has helped to reduce the number of pandemic-related redundancies. A total of 9.6 million jobs were furloughed.But given that most redundancy processes take months to complete, firms planning significant dismissals by the end of furlough would have had to notify government in the summer.The Chancellor, Rishi Sunak, unveiled a new employment support scheme last month, where government will subsidise the pay of employees who are working fewer than their usual hours due to reduced demand. It is less generous than the furlough scheme, and the next few months of redundancy data will give an early indication of how successful it has been in protecting employment.”Many employers will have difficult decisions to make in the coming months. Given the design of the new scheme it seems likely that there will be a significant number of redundancies in the winter,” said Ms McDonald.”We are concerned that it will be the lowest-paid workers in the hardest-hit sectors who will be affected the most.”
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Employers are obliged to notify government when they plan to make 20 or more staff redundant in any single “establishment” using an HR1 Advance Notice of Redundancy form. However, they often make fewer positions redundant than the number they initially notify.These figures pick up an increase in redundancy plans long before the Office for National Statistics’ redundancy figures, which appear with a lag of several months. ONS numbers showed 156,000 redundancies from May to July, up from 107,000 in the previous three-month period. However, any redundancy process involving fewer than 20 people doesn’t show up in these figures so the eventual total is likely to be larger than the HR1 numbers suggest.Companies in Northern Ireland file HR1 forms with the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency and they are not included in these figures.Have you been made redundant as a result of the coronavirus pandemic? Are you worried you will be? Share your experiences by emailing [email protected] include a contact number if you are willing to speak to a BBC journalist. You can also get in touch in the following ways:WhatsApp: +44 7756 165803

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One of Britain’s biggest investment companies has demanded that all FTSE 100 companies hire a non-white director by 2022.Legal & General has warned it will vote against companies that still have an all-white board by the deadline.It owns up to 3% of every British blue-chip firm as part of its management of £1.2tn-worth of pension funds.”We’re trying to give companies an early warning,” said Sacha Sadan, head of governance at L&G.The move echoes a call from business group the CBI last week that the biggest UK firms should have at least one black, Asian, or minority ethnic (BAME) member on their boards by 2021.The industry group said research from consultants McKinsey showed that companies with more gender and ethnic diversity were likely to be more profitable than their peers.Company boards ‘must have at least one BAME member’
‘My African name stopped me getting jobs’
L&G has written to all FTSE 100 members as well as those in the US S&P 500 index telling them it expects the companies to have at least one black, Asian, or other minority ethnic (BAME) director by 1 January 2022.Those that fail to act will face L&G voting against the re-election of the firm’s nomination committee chairmen, who are responsible for board appointments.”Our proxy voting policy currently calls for boards to be cognisant of ethnic diversity when selecting new directors,” L&G said.”We focus on the board, as this is where accountability for the issue belongs, and where we can have most influence as we are able to elect board members annually.”Board representationEthnic minority representation on boards fell to 7.4% last year from 8.8% in 2018, according to the annual Leadership 10,000 report from recruitment consultancy Green Park. That was up only 2.2% on 2014, marking just seven new BAME appointments per year on average.Almost a third of companies in the UK’s leading index of companies still have all-white boards, according to figures published earlier this year.GETTYFTSE 350 ethnic board representation8companies have nearly 25% of the directors of colour172directors of colour across the firms15directors of colour who are a chair or CEOSource: Parker Review ReportThe Parker Review was formed to consult on the ethnic diversity of company boards and published its first report into the subject in 2017 and updated figures in February.Sir Jon Thompson, chief executive of the Financial Reporting Council, said then: “It is unacceptable that talented people are being excluded from succession and leadership simply because companies are failing to put in place appropriate policies on boardroom ethnicity, are not setting targets or are not monitoring their progress against policies.”The Parker Review report recommended that each FTSE 100 company should have at least one director of colour by 2021.Lord Karan Bilimoria, the first non-white president of the CBI, said: “The time has come for a concerted campaign on racial and ethnic participation in business leadership. Progress has been painfully slow.”‘Good move'”The public reaction to recent tragedies of institutional and structural racism makes clear that society is increasingly unwilling to tolerate discrimination or corporate platitudes on race,” L&G said. “This is why we are determined to accelerate and amplify our engagement on ethnic diversity.”Tanya Joseph, managing director at public relations firm Hill and Knowlton Strategies, said: “L&G is recognising that organisations with diverse boards and senior leadership teams are more successful.”She has just been appointed to the board at the Public Relations and Communications Association, which had an all-white board until it took action in July. “I think it is a good move and would like to see more investors following suit,” she said.”There are loads of exceptional candidates out there who aren’t public school educated, middle-aged white men but who do understand corporate governance and how to help a business be successful.”

Working at Cineworld “sometimes just doesn’t feel like work,” says an employee who’s just heard the cinema chain is temporarily shutting down.She hasn’t been told what will happen to her job but the company employs about 5,500 people in the UK.The worker, who wants to stay anonymous, is a manager at a Cineworld in the north of England.”Every single cinema I’ve worked at, it’s a family,” she says.Cineworld closure puts 5,500 jobs at riskThe worker says she heard the news “just like everybody else did – via the press.”It came as “a little bit of a shock, but not a surprise, because it has been been tough. “Since we reopened [in July] the numbers haven’t been what they were pre-pandemic.”Part of the excitement of coming to the cinema is to see something new… and there is nothing new.”Cinemas – along with other event spaces like theatres and live music venues – have had a tough time since lockdown.Cineworld made the announcement a few days after the new James Bond film, No Time To Die, was delayed again until next Easter.That film was expected to bring in a lot of customers.But the truth is cinemas were struggling even before that announcement.A number of big releases have been delayed, including Black Widow, Wonder Woman 1984 and Fast and Furious 9.And Disney released its $200m (£154m) blockbuster Mulan online instead of in theatres.Sci-fi epic Tenet is the biggest film to get a cinema release – which did give cinema workers hope.”When Tenet came out, it was fantastic. And a lot of people came to see that and are still coming to see that today,” says the Cineworld employee.”It did give me hope you know that this isn’t forever.”However, the film’s so far failed to make back its big budget – partly because of Covid restrictions in the US.Cineworld is not the only cinema to have made cuts. Odeon says about a quarter of its 120 cinemas will only be open on weekends because of a lack of customers.Odeon to open weekends-only at some cinemasIt could have knock-on effects for other businesses, too.Many cinemas attract customers who then go for food or drinks nearby afterwards.”We are part of a kind of entertainment facility, we have ten-pin bowling, a casino and multiple restaurants,” says the Cineworld worker.Hannah Aylett, 27, works in a cocktail bar next to Cineworld in Loughborough.”A fair bit of our weekday evening trade comes from people having a few cocktails and a bit of food, both before and after going to the cinema,” she tells Newsbeat.”It’s really hard to say at the moment, but it does make me nervous for the future of hospitality at the moment.”Why are cinemas so important?One person who knows the importance of having a healthy film industry is Steven Ryder from the educational film charity Into Film.Steven helps pick films which fit in with the curriculum to screen to schools. “Usually, we do focus on the big releases, but at the moment, there’s been less and less of those,” he says.He says his job shows him “just how powerful cinema is,” adding: “Cinema is, at its heart, a collective experience.”We get to sit in a room with people and experience a window to the world – or this dream – all at the same time.”That’s been missing during the pandemic – with packed-out cinema screenings on hold right now.But, Steven says, there’s still plenty on offer in cinemas. “The more we tell people in the media that it’s not worth going to the cinema until James Bond is out, the more we’re missing the point of what cinemas should be.”He’s been to see a few low-budget and indie movies since cinemas reopened, and while he admits it’s different to usual, he says it’s still worth it.”The film is still the film, it’s still amazing to see on that giant screen and, you know, in a dark room with other people. And that’s the power of cinema.”Additional reporting by Annabel Rackham.Follow Newsbeat on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.Listen to Newsbeat live at 12:45 and 17:45 weekdays – or listen back here.