As recently as January, the global boss of Santander, Ana Botin, put on the record this sentiment: “We love the UK.” Unfortunately it seems a short-lived romance as the Spanish banking giant has announced it is to axe 95 branches in Britain, but if my experience at one last week is anything to go by I fear many more will likely follow suit.
It was the simplest of banking requirements but the branch in Kensington, West London, has been turned into a coffee shop, complete with “soft area,” “work pods” and a fully stocked cafeteria offering a wide range of croissants and cakes. Why? I don’t go to the nearest Caffè Nero for a mortgage! To get to see a “cashier” (remember them?) you had to put your name on a list – and the wait was at least 20 minutes – but I could get a latte immediately !
Any chance of banking rather than baking with this lot?
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Despite a review urging a swift about turn, currently criminals are free to pick their gender because the government has refused to force police to record actual biological sex. This means, if they so desire, a criminal could even identify as a horse.
How have we come to a place where this legal lunacy is even indulged, let alone implemented!
The government has promised to “review” this but, as has been stated before, this is an administration that relief on reviews more than the VAR team at Stockley Park.
But there is no review required here. Rather an immediate instruction to police to act as law enforcers, not liberal do-gooders.
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While there might be much to commend current Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch’s stance on the eminently questionable devotion to the mantra of Net Zero, for the love of all that is holy why did they choose the same day for her speech as the government laid out their timid ambitions to cut the £65 billion benefits bill?
Currently, the handling of communications for the Tories is akin to the defence offered by the Welsh rugby team.
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The day before Sir Gareth Southgate gave his piercing assessment of the dangers lurking online, particularly for a generation of boys and young men, I’d seen the play based on his tenure as England manager, “Dear England.”
It is superb, and then to hear Sir Gareth’s laser sharp focus in his speech 24 hours later shows what an intelligent and morally driven man he is. If only the courage of his convictions in this area was matched by similar bravery with substitutions.