Online pricing practices are to be investigated by the Office of Fair Trading The Office of Fair Trading has launched a number of studies to investigate a range of online sales practices in a bid to rid make the web more open and transparent in sales transactions.

Birmingham named Europe's best performing city for business Birmingham has been named as the best performing European city in which to do business, having risen more places in Cushman & Wakefield's influential European Cities Monitor than any of its competitors. It is now second only to London in the UK for business.

Royal Mail workers vote to strike Royal Mail postal workers have voted to take strike action over job security and working conditions.

Postal workers voted three to one in favour of action, with 61,623 out of a total of 80,830 workers who voted saying they wanted to strike.

The company and unions have been unable to resolve differences on how best to modernise the postal service.

Royal Mail says it needs to make big changes to combat a fall in the number of letter and parcel deliveries. There have already been a series of regional strikes around the country in recent weeks that have created a backlog of millions of letters. The Communication Workers Union (CWU), which represents the workers, must give seven days notice before any strike begins.

Royal Mail set to deliver a strike this Christmas Royal Mail was last night reported to have lost a £25 million contract with Amazon, its second largest customer, as a national strike looms over the crucial Christmas period.

The struggling company, which has been buffeted by a series of wildcat strikes since July, could suffer more cancellations if its service continues to be disrupted.

Retailers prepare for a gloomy Christmas This week a survey of Britain’s leading store group executives found that 34% do not expect strong growth until 2011 and are preparing for a ‘flat Christmas’ Couple this with August’s findings by the British Retail Consortium (BRC), stating that retail sales in Central London had fallen by 5.9%, and Christmas is not looking very jolly for retailers.

Business Minister Vadera stepping down as business minister It has been confirmed that Business Minister Baroness Vadera is to leave Gordon Brown's government.
She was appointed in January 2008 following a Cabinet reshuffle.

Walker review on bonuses and risk-taking attacked by Institute of Directors Corporate Britain should be protected from proposed sweeping reforms on bonuses and risk-taking, according to the Institute of Directors (IoD). In its first detailed response to Sir David Walker’s review of banks’ bonus culture and risk practices, the IoD will say today that some of his proposed measures are too draconian and should not be forced on companies outside the financial sector.

CBI trends show growth in manufacturing optimism Optimism is growing among Britain’s manufacturers, but conditions in the sector remain challenging, according to the CBI’s latest monthly Industrial Trends Survey.

Business loans fell by record figures in July Business lending fell by the largest amount on record in July after banks wrote off £2.2billion of corporate debt.
Lending contracted by £8.4billion between June and July as banks pulled in their horns amid soaring defaults. The Bank of England figures suggest claims from lenders that they are giving more credit to business customers should be treated with extreme scepticism.

British workers giving employers £1.5bn in unpaid hours a week A national study by the UK’s leading online takeaway site has found that Sheffield is home to the hardest working employees in the country, where employees are giving their companies the equivalent of 1 extra day’s work a week in unpaid labour through missed lunches and staying late.

Regional super funds get Mandelson backing The Business Secretary Lord Mandelson has intervened in what had become a turf war between the regions and Whitehall will lead to the Treasury signing off one £125m fund proposed by OneNorthEast.

A second £140m fund designed by the North West Regional Development Agency is being revised and will be resubmitted for Treasury approval this week.

Dig deep for broadband if you are out in the country If your business is based in a rural location and you want broadband access then you might find that you are hit with higher charges than your inner city cousins as Stephen Timms, MP for Newham East, who has replaced Lord Carter at the head of the government’s Digital Britain initiative, said that he could not rule out higher charges for broadband subscribers who live in remote areas.

Earlier this year, the Government committed to ensuring that every UK household will have access to broadband at a minimum speed of two megabits per second (2Mbps) by 2012. Today more than 10 per cent of households cannot be provided with that basic level of service, many of them because they are too far from the local telephone exchange - that figure rises to 42 per cent in rural areas.

Sugar left with a sour taste after Letts comments Lord Sugar is threatening to sue the sketch writer and columnist Quentin Letts after Letts described Sugar as being a 'telly peer who doesn’t seem to have an enormous intellect'.

Skype could be cut off for good over dispute Skype might have to shut down because of a dispute over the core technology used to make the internet telephone system work.
EBay, which paid $2.6 billion (£1.6 billion) for the voice-over-the-internet system in 2005, is facing a court battle with the original founders of the company who retained the rights to the technology at the heart of the system.

Caan's war of words as Baylis attacks 'Demeaning' Dragon's Den A war of words has erupted between clockwork radio inventor Trevor Baylis and James Caan, one of the multimillionaires who fronts BBC2's Dragon's Den.
Mr Baylis claimed that the programme was tantamount to "a virtual freak show" that "mocks, bullies and demeans" people like him and "takes pleasure in turning inventors into a laughing stock".

Darling demands to know why banks aren't helping business Alistair Darling has this afternoon demanded to know from the heads of Britain's biggest banks why they are reaping vast interest charges from small businesses when the cost of borrowing to them is so low. The Chancellor summoned to Downing Street the chairmen and chief executives of HSBC, Barclays, Lloyds Banking Group and Royal Bank of Scotland.

Move The Apprentice to avoid election campaign, says BBC Trust Next year's series of The Apprentice may have to be rescheduled if a general election is called, after the BBC Trust ruled that presenter Lord Sugar's new role as government "enterprise champion" posed a "greater than normal risk to the impartiality, integrity and independence of the BBC".

Businessman Alan Sugar has taken up his controversial seat in the House of Lords The star of TV's The Apprentice, now named Baron Sugar of Clapton, was formerly introduced to his fellow peers on Monday afternoon. Flanked by trade minister Lord Davies and business minister Shriti Vadera, Baron Sugar stood in the House of Lords chamber dressed in a traditional ermine gown.

As the new peer's family watched from a packed public gallery, the Clerk of the House read out the Queen's proclamation. The monarch, he said, would "advance, create and prefer on our trusty and well-beloved friend Sir Alan Sugar the title of the Baron Sugar of Clapton in our London Borough of Hackney."

Regional business excellence rewarded Over 400 business leaders and guests attended The National Business Awards Regional Programme, sponsored by Orange, in London on Tuesday 14th July, to celebrate the success of South of England’s most innovative, ethical and successful businesses.

Nine organisations were duly rewarded including London-based Clearlybusiness, a Barclays company, triumphed with The Orange Best Use of Technology in Business Award for the operational and financial success of its software services for small UK businesses. Octopus Investments, the leading London investment company, won the prestigious Grant Thornton Business of the Year Award.

Threshers fails to deliver for franchisees Some franchisees of the off-licence chain Threshers are suffering a stock crisis and are furious about how its private equity-owned parent, First Quench Group, is running the operation.