Ockbrook Community Information Portal

EDITION 752
11 FEBRUARY 2019

As another week slips by, here are 10 things which caught my attention and may have escaped yours. This newsletter is sent to 50,000+ subscribers each Monday. Please share on social media and forward to your colleagues and friends so they can subscribe, learn and engage. I'd be very grateful if you did.

1.      How to determine if you should confront a colleague. It can be hard to know what to do if you’re having problems working with a colleague. Should you confront the issue head-on, or is it better to stay quiet? Ask yourself these questions to decide the best way forward: [READ MORE]
 

2.      Psychopaths drink their coffee black. If you like your coffee black, you may be someone who prefers strong flavours, takes good care of their health, or just wants to drink their coffee the way it’s supposed to be drunk. Or, you may be a psychopath. At least, that’s according to a new study carried out by researchers at the University of Innsbruck which found a correlation between a love of black coffee and sadist or psychopathic tendencies. Appetite
 

3.      Carney says one-in-four chance of 2019 recession. The Bank of England said there is a one-in-four chance of recession by the summer because of uncertainty over Brexit. Governor Mark Carney blamed the “fog of Brexit” as he forecast that the economy would grow this year at its slowest rate since the financial crash of 2008. As expected, the Bank kept interest rates on hold at 0.75%. Metro
 

4.      BBC Radio 4 loses 750,000 listeners. Speech station BBC Radio 4 lost 750,000 listeners last year, while commercial rivals have boomed, new figures show. Audience figures for LBC, where presenters include Nigel Farage and former Radio 4 stalwart Eddie Mair, have climbed to 2.2 million a week. By contrast, BBC 5 Live has lost 10% of its audience, which is now less than five million. The Guardian
 

5.      Women victims in 63% of romance scams. Victims of romance scams - the majority of whom are women - lost an average of £11,145 each last year. The data, from police reporting centre Action Fraud, showed that £50m was lost in these scams in 2018 when fraudsters pretend to be romantically attached. Fraudsters trick victims into sending money or gather enough personal information to steal their identities. These scams of the heart are being highlighted ahead of Valentine's Day. BBC
 

6.      Illegal electronic waste: UK worst in EU. Britain is the worst offender in Europe for illegally exporting so-called electronic waste – used circuitry and broken electronic devices – says environmental watchdog the Basel Action Network. The rubbish is being sent from recycling facilities to third-world countries, even though such exports are banned under EU law because the waste contains mercury, lead and other toxins. euronews
 

7.      Magnetic north pole ‘moving fast’ to Russia. The Earth’s magnetic north pole is drifting faster than anticipated, forcing scientists to revise the data used in consumer electronics and navigation systems. Magnetic north - the point that a compass recognises as north - is drifting at about 34 miles a year and is now leaving the Canadian Arctic and heading towards Siberia. GPS navigation is not affected because it relies on satellites. The Independent
 

8.      Nearly half of bus routes 'under threat due to cuts'. Nearly half of bus routes are in danger of being scrapped due to a funding crisis. Some 12,700 services are at risk because their funding may have to be diverted to deal with a £652m shortfall for the free bus pass scheme. Town hall leaders say older people could end up “having a free bus pass but no bus to travel on” as a result. The Mirror
 

9.      How beer before wine will not leave you fine. Researchers in Germany have found that the order in which alcoholic drinks are consumed makes no difference to the calibre of the resulting hangover - putting the lie to the old saying: “Beer before wine, you’ll feel fine.” Volunteers were tested under lab conditions, with one in ten throwing up the next day. The researchers said they only tested beer against white wine. Daily Mail
 

10.  The bottom line. Legacy banks are worried about the digital insurrection. The market share for current accounts of the big four legacy banks – Barclays, Royal Bank of Scotland/NatWest, HSBC and Lloyds – is shrinking rapidly, from 92 per cent of all bank customers a decade ago to around 70 per cent today. The horsemen of the fintech revolution are Monzo, Revolut, N26, Atom and Starling Bank. Wired