Lawyer, Law Student, Law, Education, Commercial Awareness
Gabriella Cinotti
What a freight-ful day to catch the train

Railway strikes in the UK have halted services throughout July and Augst 2022.

What a freight-ful day to catch the train
Commercial Awareness, Education, Law, Law Student, Lawyer
Gabriella Cinotti
Don’t hate the player, hate the game

Sony, owners and creators of the gaming sensation PlayStation, have been hit with a lawsuit with a possible £5 billion pay out.

Don’t hate the player, hate the game
Commercial Awareness, Education, Law, Law Student, Lawyer
Gabriella Cinotti
A New Wave of Russian Sanctions 

What Just Happened?

The UK government has once again extended its trade sanctions with Russia.

A New Wave of Russian Sanctions 
Commercial Awareness, Education, Law, Law Student, Lawyer
Gabriella Cinotti
Business in the age of climate change 

The UK underwent a record-breaking heatwave in July with another hitting the country in August.

Business in the age of climate change 
Lawyer, Law Student, Law, Education, Commercial Awareness
Gabriella Cinotti
You Can't Buy That!

The UK has blocked a Chinese company from purchasing intellectual property from the University of Manchester using its powers under the National Security and Investment Act.

You Can't Buy That!

Law

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02- Three Merger- Given the Green Light

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02- Three Merger- Given the Green Light

What just happened?

The General Court (GC), Europe’s second-highest court, annulled a 2016 ruling made by the European Commission to block a proposed £10.25bn merger between O2 and Three on consumer interest grounds. The court ruled that the Commission had made several ‘errors of law’ and could not prove that competition would be harmed in the crowded UK telecoms market. This landmark ruling strikes a blow for Margrethe Vestager, the EU’s tough-acting competition commissioner, and could pave the way for further consolidation between Europe’s mobile operators.

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‘Rough Sex’ no Longer a Viable Defence to Murder

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‘Rough Sex’ no Longer a Viable Defence to Murder

What just happened?

In a clause added to the Domestic Abuse Bill, on 6th July 2020, the House of Commons ruled out ‘consent for sexual gratification’ as a defense for serious harm caused to a person. This would make it difficult for defendants in cases of sexual harm, rape or murder to take the defense that the offence occurred ‘accidentally’ in the course of sexual act that was completely consensual.

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Labour Abuse: Who Picks my Fruit?

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Labour Abuse: Who Picks my Fruit?

What just happened?

At the beginning of the summer, the government launched its ‘Pick for Britain’ campaign, to encourage the unemployed, furloughed or students to take minimum wage harvesting and packing jobs in the agricultural sector. An inquiry carried out by BBC’s Farming Today has revealed what the new workers experienced when performing roles usually held by foreign workers. The things they were faced with ranged from poor industry practices to fully-fledged human rights abuses and situations that could qualify as modern slavery.

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Benefits Ban Ruled as Indirectly Discriminatory

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Benefits Ban Ruled as Indirectly Discriminatory

A York County Court has ruled that the use of the ‘No DSS’ letting ban is unlawful, due to indirect discrimination.[1] The case was brought by the charity Shelter on behalf of a disabled single mother who enquired about renting a two-bedroom property in the city and was told her application would not be considered as she was in receipt of housing benefit.

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Apple’s Irish ‘Luck’ Angers EU

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Apple’s Irish ‘Luck’ Angers EU

Judges at one of the EU’s leading courts quashed an order by the European Commission (EC) for Apple to repay over €14.3bn in taxes to Ireland. The ruling stated that the EC had failed to achieve the ‘necessary legal standard’ when claiming that Apple had received an illegal and selective economic advantage from Irelands’ Revenue Authority.

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Wirecard’s Woes: Firm Fabricates Existence of €1.8 billion

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Wirecard’s Woes: Firm Fabricates Existence of €1.8 billion

The Wirecard incident is one of Europe’s biggest accounting fraud scandals. It shook confidence in corporate Germany as Wirecard was forced to file for insolvency last month after admitting that €1.9bn of its cash probably did not exist. This has triggered a criminal probe into the group’s former executives as well as an EU investigation into BaFin, Germany’s financial regulator.

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Depreciation of the Nation’s Housing Transactions

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Depreciation of the Nation’s Housing Transactions

A regional reduction in property prices coupled with diminished transaction levels has led to heedful property surveyors producing cautious property estimates. This can be largely contributed to an industry fear of over-valuation and a lack of post-COVID housing market data.

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Is China a Detriment to Hong Kong's Economy?

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Is China a Detriment to Hong Kong's Economy?

The national security law is a new piece of Beijing backed legislation that allows for the extradition of Hong Kong citizens to the Chinese mainland. It leaves some of the world’s largest businesses facing an unenviable choice: between losing out on the island’s unique financial possibilities and tacitly supporting an expansionist government.

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Labour Abuse and Entrapment in the UK

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Labour Abuse and Entrapment in the UK

Across various sectors in the United Kingdom (UK) workers are experiencing labour abuses creating a serious modern slavery problem in the UK. The latest Global Slavery Index released in July 2018, estimated the number of victims of modern slavery in the UK at 136,000

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INTU falls into Administration- Is this just the start?

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INTU falls into Administration- Is this just the start?

The administration of Intu properties has shown that if the current trend towards online over physical retail continues, firms could see a shift in their client’s business focus and an increase in administration and insolvency work for many high street retailers and shopping centres.

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Modern Slavery in a World of Fast Fashion

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Modern Slavery in a World of Fast Fashion

In recent years, online retailers such as ‘Missguided’ and ‘PrettyLittleThing’ can provide you with ‘wear once and throw away’ goods. They are cheap, cheerful and can be delivered to your doorstep within 24 hours of ordering. Yet, despite their benefits, cheaper on-trend garments come with consequences to those who are producing the goods.

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Damn, this Dam is Controversial- should it be?

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Damn, this Dam is Controversial- should it be?

Within the coming days, Ethiopia is to fill the $4.8bn Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERDP), which is set to become the largest on the continent. The ambitious reservoir has been deemed controversial by other nations, who view the mega-dam as a violation of historical water rights within the region.

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Spain and France announce state aid to revive stricken car industries

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Spain and France announce state aid to revive stricken car industries

What just happened?

Last week, Spain’s government injected €3.7 billion into reviving its ailing automobile industry. This followed an €8 billion pledge made by French President Emmanuel Macron to invest in green subsidies and research in hydrogen-powered vehicles and driverless cars.

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Distortion of Competition, 'WhatsApp pay' is Suspended in Brazil

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Distortion of Competition, 'WhatsApp pay' is Suspended in Brazil

What just happened?

WhatsApp has launched the free payment platform in Brazil, indicating the integration of payment services and social media. However, this new service has been suspended by the Brazilian regulator within one week.