6:48 am, April 26, 2022
Tesla CEO agrees to buy Twitter for £44bn
Elon Musk has reached an agreement to buy Twitter for about $44bn (£34.5bn), promising a more lenient touch to policing content on the platform.
The outspoken Tesla CEO, who is also the world’s wealthiest person, has said he wanted to buy and privatise Twitter because he thinks it is not living up to its potential as a platform for free speech.
Mr Musk said in a joint statement with Twitter that he wants to make the service ‘better than ever’ with new features, such as getting rid of automated ‘spam bots’ and making its algorithms open to the public to increase trust.
Uber launches taxis for pets
Uber is launching a new service allowing passengers to book journeys with their pets.
The minicab app firm said the service will be available in the UK from Tuesday.
Fares for Uber Pet journeys will include a surcharge of £3.20 in London and £2 outside the capital.
Previously it was at the discretion of drivers whether they allowed passengers to travel with an animal.
Pay gap grew in 2022 for people with disabilities
The pay gap between people with disabilities and those without grew last year, new data shows.
The Office for National Statistics revealed that the average employee with a disability was paid 13.8 per cent less than their peers in 2021.
It was a small increase from 13.5 per cent the year before, and the pay gap was nearly a fifth wider – or 2.1 percentage points – than it had been in 2014.
Rising annual petrol and diesel prices could cost Brits £10bn
Britons are facing a £10bn hike in annual petrol and diesel costs as ‘soaring’ prices put the squeeze on working families, Labour has warned.
The party reiterated its call for an ’emergency budget’ to tackle the cost-of-living crisis, with a cut to energy bills funded by a windfall tax on oil and gas companies.
Labour said the cost of a litre of unleaded petrol rose by 37p over the past year, based on figures from April 19 2021 and April 21 2022. For diesel, the rise was 47p over the same period, the party said.
40 per cent of Brits last drove for work in January 2021
The pandemic has had a huge impact on our driving habits, with new research suggesting 40 per cent of Brits haven’t driven for work since January 2021.
The survey of over 2,000 people British by Volkswagen Financial Services found that driving less wasn’t restricted to business, with 38 per cent saying they’d driven less for leisure than before.
Official figures from the Department for Transport’s National Travel Survey show that the average number of miles travelled for commuting declined 37 per cent to 799 in 2020. This was down 43 per cent on 2002.
Chancellor will consider permanent ‘thank holiday’
The Chancellor will consider proposals to create a new bank holiday in honour of the Queen.
Britons are already set for an extra day off on June 3, 2022 to mark the monarch’s Platinum Jubilee.
But campaigners have been calling to make the holiday permanent from 2023 – with the move backed by the Confederation of British Industry (CBI), Hospitality UK, the Archbishop of Canterbury and others.
Nissan demonstrates next-gen collision avoidance
Nissan has demonstrated its next-generation driver assistance technology, which can help avoid collisions.
The system can see the world in real-time, analyse its surroundings, and interpret when a collision is about to take place so that it can safely work to avoid it.
It uses LIDAR, radar and cameras to detect the shape and size of objects as well as the environment that is being driven through.
Monday’s Car Dealer stories you might have missed
- Car dealer caught at 106mph in Peugeot 108 that was on its way to new owner
- Ineos to open first of its UK Grenadier dealerships in June
- Car dealer’s vehicle stolen from valeter and found less than a mile away days later
- Twitter ‘is holding talks with Elon Musk to buy platform’
- Police arrest two men after Caffyns Audi dealership is burgled
- The Auto Experts launch a brand new trade portal for UK car dealers
- Used car bubble shows signs of shrinking but there’s no crash on the way, says Cox Automotive
- New motor retailing women’s network GROW is launched by MotoNovo Finance
TUC calls for boycott of P&O Ferries and DP World
The Trade Unions Congress (TUC) has called for a public and commercial boycott of P&O Ferries.
Government ties with its Dubai-based owner DP World should also be severed, according to the union organisation.
P&O Ferries sacked nearly 800 seafarers with no notice last month, replacing them with cheaper agency workers.
TUC general secretary Frances O’Grady said: ‘P&O and DP World must not be allowed to get away with their scandalous and unlawful treatment of staff.’
FTSE dragged lower by miners
London was led lower by its mining giants on Monday as a bruising session for global stock markets saw the FTSE 100 register its worst day for weeks.
The FTSE ended at 7,380.54 points, a loss of 141.14 points, or 1.9%.
It was the index’s lowest point for more than a month and its worst-one day performance since March 4.
Largely dry with some showers
Today, there will be large amounts of cloud and some showers particularly in the north and east.
Elsewhere it will be dry and fine, with it feeling warm in the sunshine.
Tonight those showers in the north and east will go and there will be frosts in some rural areas.
