Investment managers join call for companies to pay real living wage across entire supply chains

Many of Britain’s largest employers must do more to increase pay for workers struggling with the cost of living crisis or face votes against pay increases for executives, investment managers have warned.

Peter Hugh Smith, the chief executive of CCLA, an investment manager for the pensions of charities and church organisations, said many employers were failing “to do the right thing” and meet the “basic standard” of paying workers a living wage.

“The cost of living crisis is a long way from over,” said Hugh Smith. “There is movement in places, but not nearly enough.”

UK annual consumer prices index inflation remained above 10% in March, after peaking at 11.1% in October. Within that, food prices rose by 19.1% in the year to March, putting the most pressure on lower-paid workers, for whom food represents a greater share of total spending.

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2023/apr/30/help-low-paid-workers-or-face-curbs-to-executive-pay-fund-managers-tell-uk-firms-living-wage

‘[...] the murmur of an olive grove has something very intimate, immensely old about it. It’s too beautiful for me to dare paint it [...]’, Vincent wrote to his brother Theo from Arles. Soon after, in Saint-Rémy, he dared to try and did so via an explosion of colour.

This is Star. He's very excited to go to his forever home. And very grateful to have had a temporary home that made saying goodbye so hard. 13/10 #SeniorPupSaturday

43-year-old used her life savings to open a bar that only plays women's sports—it brought in almost $1 million in 8 months



When Jenny Nguyen signed the lease to create her dream bar, she wasn't sure it would stay open for more than a few months.

But earlier this month, 43-year-old Nguyen's first-of-its-kind establishment in Portland, Oregon, celebrated its one-year anniversary. Aptly named The Sports Bra, it's a sports bar where only women athletes appear on the TVs.

Business has been good, despite the niche business model and record inflation sending food and beverage prices soaring. The Sports Bra brought in $944,000 in revenue in the eight months it was open in 2022, according to documents reviewed by CNBC Make It.

It was profitable in that first year of business, Nguyen adds.

"It turns out, it's pretty universal — that feeling of being a women's sports fan and going into a public place, like a sports bar, and having a difficult time finding a place to show a [women's] game, especially when there are other men's sports playing," Nguyen says.

https://www.cnbc.com/2023/04/27/jenny-nguyen-how-the-sports-bra-became-haven-for-womens-sports-fans.html

But Republican presidential hopeful Ron DeSantis failed to impress British business chiefs at a high-profile London event Friday, in a tired performance described variously as “horrendous,” “low-wattage” and “like the end of an overseas trip.”

The Florida governor, expected to launch his bid next month to challenge Trump as the Republican nominee for the 2024 presidential race, met with more than 50 representatives of major U.K. firms and business lobbying groups as a part of a four-country “trade mission” ending in London Friday.

His trip was officially billed as an attempt to build Florida’s economic relationships with the U.K., Israel, South Korea and Japan, but it has been widely seen in Washington as a chance for DeSantis to present himself as a statesman on the world stage.

For several of those present, however, the statesmanship was lacking.

One U.K. business figure said DeSantis “looked bored” and “stared at his feet” as he met with titans of British industry in an event co-hosted by Lloyd’s of London — the world’s largest insurance marketplace.

https://www.politico.eu/article/ron-detedious-how-desantis-underwhelmed-britains-business-chiefs/