Future Timeline

Co-op to start selling groceries on Amazon Prime

57 minutes ago

The Co-op has announced a partnership with Amazon Prime, enabling customers across the UK to do their whole grocery shop online with same-day delivery.

The supermarket chain is also extending its robot deliveries, so it can push online sales up from £70m to £200m.

[...]

The supermarket chain plans to increase the number of robots operating and delivering Co-op groceries from 200 to 500 by the end of this year, extending them from Milton Keynes and Northampton to Cambridgeshire and then into northern England.

Co-op group chief executive Steve Murrells said: "The pandemic has accelerated changes in consumer shopping trends and we're driving forward with exciting plans to provide rapid kerb-to-kitchen grocery delivery services.

"We are delighted to be working with Amazon. Its reach and leading technology and innovative approach means greater convenience for people in their communities."

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-58581809

Prince Philip's will to be secret for 90 years

37 minutes ago

The Duke of Edinburgh's will is to remain secret for at least 90 years to protect the "dignity and standing" of the Queen, the High Court has ruled.

It has been convention for over a century that, after the death of a senior member of the Royal Family, the courts are asked to seal their wills.

It means that, unlike most wills granted probate, it will not be open to public inspection.

There will be a private process in 90 years to decide if it can be unsealed.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-58587147

Very serious energy crisis in the UK right now. Partly attributed to Brexit and our leaving the Single Market.

This is the first actual graph I've seen of the current situation – I had no idea it was this bad. The government is holding emergency talks.

Simply astonishing.

Empty supermarket shelves, skyrocketing energy prices, child poverty, corruption and nepotism are clearly vote winners, then.

Oh, and the biggest tax rise in 40 years.

wjfox wrote: ↑Tue Sep 21, 2021 6:58 am Very serious energy crisis in the UK right now. Partly attributed to Brexit and our leaving the Single Market.

This is the first actual graph I've seen of the current situation – I had no idea it was this bad. The government is holding emergency talks.

Petrol giant Essar on brink of collapse

Sunday September 26 2021

One of Britain’s biggest oil refineries is teetering on the brink of collapse, piling further potential pressure on crisis-riven petrol stations.

The Stanlow oil refinery in Ellesmere Port, which supplies about a sixth of Britain’s road fuel, is in urgent talks with HM Revenue & Customs over hundreds of millions of pounds it has to start repaying this week unless it can agree a new deal.

Britain’s second largest refinery is owned by the billionaire Ruia brothers Shashi and Ravi through their company Essar Oil UK, which has been under huge financial strain during the pandemic.

The company took advantage of the government’s pandemic VAT deferral scheme last year to the tune of £356 million.

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/fuel ... -k9f9zxbr5