My Final Ever Blog Post

After two wonderful years at Middlesex I am moving on to new pastures. I hope the readers of this blog and the students i have met and taught have enjoyed the experience as much as I have. And best of luck to my successor and whoever takes over the blog.

Some final new round-ups. The US Box Office has seen film going records shattered and certain to be helped by the boost of Star Wars. This video focusing on stressors for the emergent markets in light of low oil prices and a possibly raise in the Federal Reserve rate. In contrast, this video looks at the reaction of Business to the climate change deal agreed in Paris. Chicago Booth business school is collaborating with Ballet dancers and finally a piece from Forbes on what Entrepreneurs should do during the holiday season. FInally, Merry Christmas, thank you and best wishes for all your futures.

Nearly made the end of term!

I am sure you are all feeling the pressure and looking forward to the end of term and on that note I have included some fun reading recommendations towards the end of this blog post. First up a piece on the Climate Change meeting in Paris, please do explore the Financial Times very good coverage of this hugely important summit. Relatedly, here is yet another piece looking at the on-going emissions and corruption scandal at Volkswagen which continues to run and run. Is Yahoo Marissa Meyer's 'difficult second album'cir and is this problem common across the sector? Now two interesting videos, one of the history of Bitcoin and one on the growing challenges faced by the Banks.

On a more light note, this is an interesting piece from The Harvard Business Review on what kind of thinker are you and why that might be as useful to know as your personality type. Some Christmas reading recommendations from Bloomberg and finally the Financial Times weekly quiz. Have a good weekend!

Lower Banking Tax, Digital Disruption and Falls in UK Prices.

Excluding the impact of levies the Banks have paid the lowest proportion of tax this year since 2008. Worldpay are aiming to fill a gap left by high street banks in providing loans to small business. This is a fascinating piece about investing in technology companies and when and when people lose money. There has been a record fall in UK shop prices and this video explores that fact and finally a piece looking at digital disruption and the online estates agent Purple Bricks.

News Quiz, Google. VW and UK Autumn Statement

This is a really interesting piece of analysis looking at how Google is trying to change the function of apps. Here is a comprehensive and in-depth look at the UK Autumn Budget statement which is very worth examining in detail. This looks at Amazon's ads for the nazi-themed Man in the High Castle and how innovative marketing can seriously backfire. Finally Volkswagen's trouble deepen as the admit to using a second illegal device and face a probe into tax evasion.

Fancy the FT weekly news quiz just for fun?

The Business Show Olympia 3rd & 4th December

City Business Library will be exhibiting at the Business Show at Olympia, London, on 3rd & 4th December. 

Tickets are officially running low with the organisers confirming there are are now less than 1,000 remaining! This is an unbelievable opportunity to network with thousands of other businesses and access hundreds of seminars, exhibitors and masterclasses that are all there to help you grow your business. Don't forget it's completely free to attend so make sure you get yourself to Olympia, London on 3rd & 4th December.

Register here. 

It's hard to write a round up this week with so much news focusing on atrocities in Lebanon, Turkey, Nigeria, France and now Mali. But I do have some interesting pieces on other topics for those of you who want to read other news. Firstly bad news for the London property market as Asian and Russian buyers lose interest. Could this be the beginning of the end with the property boom? This analysis of Royal Mail as a private company is rather interesting and worth a watch. Amazon has launched a platform to tap into the UK start up sector and help people market their products. This fascinating if depressing article looks at a new study suggesting that the gender pay gap actually widens as women are promoted. The UK will phase out coal power, how will this affect the energy market and the UK as a whole?Finally the biggest diamond in more than a century has been found in Botswana,

Changes to the FT.com website & New rounds up

As you may know, the FT's Clippings tool will shortly be relaunched as part of myFT on our new site, next.ft.com. As of early December, you will need to use myFT in order to continue to save articles to your lists. In December, your existing clipped articles and lists will be transferred to myFT.

You can start using our new site that is currently in development by opting in here. Your existing clipped articles and lists from Clippings won't appear in myFT until next month. If you choose to opt out of next.ft.com, any articles you have saved in myFT will not appear in the Clippings tool on ft.com.

Below is some more information:

What will happen to my existing Clipped Articles?
Your clipped articles will be migrated to myFT in December, and will be viewable in the 'Saved articles' tab. In our new site, the 'Clip' function has been renamed 'Save'. From early December, your clippings will be available under the 'Saved Articles’ tab in myFT (you must be opted in to next.ft.com to visit this link).

What will happen to my Lists?
As of early December, myFT will be upgraded to include the ability to create and manage lists of saved articles. If you previously clipped articles into custom lists, you will find these lists under the ‘Lists’ tab in myFT after the relaunch.

Can I still use FT.com?
You can opt out of our new site at any time. However, after the relaunch of Clippings as part of myFT, you will be returned to next.ft.com whenever you clip an article or visit clippings.ft.com. Once opted in, you can choose to opt-out via the link in the footer.

Can I still use Clippings?
You can continue to use Clippings until the relaunch in early December, after which the old Clippings tool will no longer be available, and will be replaced by myFT.

What about Clippings in the Webapp?
Your webapp clipped articles will still be available, and you can view them in myFT across mobile and desktop. The webapp is also being updated to allow you to follow topics just as you can on next.ft.com.

Text above is from the FT.com about changes to clippings, so somethignt o bear in mind when using the site. This week the news articles that have caught my attention seem very focused on banks.'Beyond Banking' is a series of articles from the Financial times looking at how the recruitment pool for Banks is drying up as MBAs are shunning banking and are going into Tech instead. The Credit Crunch is affecting Emerging Markets and finally the John Lewis Christmas ad cost 7 million - money well spent?