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主題：Arthur L.的Zoom會議時間：2023年1月31日 05:00 下午香港特別行政區

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日本最近似乎掀起一陣香港飲食的熱潮。除了熱浪薯片及出前一丁相機成功反攻入日本市場之外，日前再有消息指東京將有一家飲茶專門店開幕，集團更打算年內加開至20家分店，逐漸發展至全國規模！

飲茶絕對是香港文化的一大部分，不論男女老少都有喜歡吃的點心。日前日本飲食集團「すかいらーく」（SKYLARK）向傳媒公開將於2月1日在東京都町田市鶴川開張全新「飲茶TERRACE『桃菜』」。

店舖旨在提供道地的飲茶體驗，除了店內以中式裝修之外，他們亦會提供燒賣、小籠包、腸粉、皮蛋粥等約50種點心、甜品、飯麵料理。據報他們大部分產品都是在中央廚房自家生產，其他的都是在店裡即叫即做。店內更會有店員推著餐車賣點心，非常正宗！

「桃菜」亦設計了一些在日本不常見的原創點心，例如蝦餃創作為「芝士蝦餃」，另自創「黑松露餃」，外型也是黑漆漆的。除了單點之外，食客還可以選擇點套餐或吃放題。自選點心套餐可以自由組合1種麵或飯和3至5種點心；售價由1,309円起至1,749円（大約港幣79至105元）。而放題方面分ABC餐，A餐可以限時90分鐘任食24款料理，B餐和C餐則限時120分鐘，分別可以吃到40及52種料理；價錢由2,089円起至2,639円（大約港幣126至159元）。而且若是小學生，放題ABC餐劃一收費1,099円（大約港幣66元），3歲以下小童則免費，對家庭客人很友善。

負責人表示去年3月SKYLARK旗下中華料理餐廳「バーミヤン」曾進行飲茶放題，誰知反應熱烈本來預定1個月的活動，只用了2個星期就售罄，成為這次新店「桃菜」開張的契機。他們計畫2023年內在南關東地區加開至20家店舖，並逐步發展至日本全國。

日本網民似乎對「桃菜」很期待，不少人都表示打算一開店就去試食，「唔知同喺香港食過嘅比較會點呢？」。有網民認為未來飲茶有可能會流行，而且價錢也算合理，相信會吸引不少食客。亦有網民表示很好奇會不會有鳳爪吃，希望他們不會為了迎合日本人而不提供鳳爪。

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How can you escape the rent rat race?

By Jess Clark

The Guardian 28/1/2023 Some people are paying only £150-£300 a month to rent in London. We explore options that can help you cut housing costs.

The cost of renting a home has soared, prompting tenants to seek out cheaper options that could save some people thousands of pounds a year during the cost of living crisis. Some who have turned to alternatives such as housing cooperatives and homeshares are paying only a fraction of what they used to shell out.

In recent months a string of surveys have shown that typical private rents in the UK have hit record highs. Experts say that severe shortages of rental properties have led to intense competition for what is available, with queues for viewings, desperate renters paying over the odds, and some landlords insisting on a year’s rent in advance.

In December, the London Renters Union said its members had reported average rent increases of almost £3,400 a year (about 20%).

The sharp rises mean tenants who are priced out of the market are looking for other solutions.

Housing cooperatives

Housing cooperatives, which have their roots in the squatting movement of the 1970s, are groups of people who manage and control the housing in which they live, according to the charity Shelter.

Advantages of living in a co-op include lower rents, sense of community and control over how the building is run. In London alone there are said to be more than 300 housing co-ops.

At Sanford, home to about 120 people in New Cross, south-east London, the standard rent for a room and shared use of facilities is about £65 a week including bills, according to the co-op’s website. The monthly cost of less than £300 for a room is considerably less than the amount charged by most private landlords in the area.

While cheaper rent is appealing, cooperative living will not work for everyone. It is usually best suited to single people without children or pets but some organisations do accept families.

In 2011 and 2012 the Guardian featured in-depth articles on a then brand-new housing co-op based in a derelict former children’s care home in Walthamstow, north-east London. The good news is that more than a decade later, the Drive Housing Co-operative (to give it its full name) is thriving, and has big plans for the future.

It is an 11-bedroom “intentional community” that “provides an alternative, sustainable and collective way of living in the city”, and has plans to build another house on the site to accommodate eight more members – taking the total to 18.

The current residents are all renting from the co-op. They each have their own bedroom, plus the run of a large Victorian house with a library, lounge, two kitchens, conservatory and a large garden. The co-op says the Drive “is always open for applications for new members, and interest from friends and investors”.

Some housing co-ops require prospective residents to sign up with their local council’s housing register and then fill rooms from the waiting list but others do accept a percentage of direct applications.

Each co-op has a different application process and criteria, and many have long waiting lists or are currently closed to new members.

Once you have applied there is likely to be an interview process before a new tenant is accepted.

The style of accommodation available also varies, from selfcontained flats to bedrooms with shared kitchens and bathrooms.

Some are targeted at specific groups, such as homeless families, young mothers or refugees.

Meanwhile, a growing number of student housing co-ops are popping up in pricey university cities such as Edinburgh – for more information, check out the website of Student Co-op Homes.

Members are typically expected to engage with the running of the co-op, for example, by attending meetings and helping with repairs. Some organisations also expect residents to eat together a certain number of times each week.

To find out more about co-ops, visit the websites of organisations such as Community Led Homes and Co-operatives London.

Homeshare

Homeshare providers match people seeking cheaper rent – often young professionals or postgraduate students – with an older person in need of help with household chores or some company.

Homeowners provide a bedroom in exchange for companionship and support – for example, with cooking and shopping – and the reassurance of having another person living in the property.

In return for perhaps a few hours of help a week, the sharer gets a discounted rent. Rooms often come with use of their own bathroom, and sometimes a kitchenette.

For example, at the time of writing, one advertised property in north London was available for £180 a month, with an extra £60 a month for bills, which was several hundred pounds cheaper than a double room in a standard houseshare in the same area.

With homeowners potentially able to save money on energy bills and food shopping, homeshare providers are expecting more people to sign up as the cost of living crisis bites this winter.

Sam Brandman, the founder and chief executive of the Londonbased homeshare provider Two Generations, says: “We are by no means the only solution but we are part of the chain between people who are fully independent and want to let out a room as a landlord and people who need full-time care. We sit in the middle.”

Many providers say they need more people to offer their spare rooms. The scheme is relatively unknown, and sharing space with a stranger can be a daunting prospect for some older people.

Brandman says: “Of course we want to provide affordable accommodation – that is part of our social goal – but ultimately the most important thing is making the match between two people who are going to get on and help each other and be of benefit to each other. That means things like shared interests, willingness to give support and a willingness to give back.

“If someone is just looking for a

cheap place to live, then homeshare isn’t for them.”

Amanda Clarke, a director at Share and Care Homeshare, agrees: “There certainly is a commitment and it doesn’t suit everyone.”

She says interest has jumped by about 50% during the cost of living crisis.

Demand has always been strong in London but adverts for homeshares in other areas of the country are now getting hundreds of applications as rents have increased nationwide.

“We’re incredibly busy,” Clarke says. “Every time we place an ad we get literally hundreds of people applying.”

The average age of a homesharer is about 34, according to her firm, but in recent years there has been an increase in people in their 50s and 60s signing up, and Share and Care’s oldest tenant is in their 70s. Clarke says older sharers may have experienced a divorce or their children moving away, and they don’t want to live on their own.

Natalie Pegg, 29, has been living in a homeshare with an 87-year-old woman since January 2022. They live in a south London suburb, and the homeshare was arranged by Share and Care. Pegg helps the homeowner by cooking and helping to clean the house, and spending time with her, for example watching TV in the evenings and going for walks at the weekend.

In exchange, the mental health nurse pays £150 a month in rent, compared with the £700 a month she paid when renting privately in London.

The discounted rent has allowed her to save a 10% deposit for her own home, and she is now considering buying a property in the next six to 12 months.

Natalie says: “It’s not just about the financial aspect – I think you do need to be the right kind of person to do homesharing. I think you need to be the kind of person who is naturally caring and compassionate and wants to help.

“The most valuable thing about the homeshare is that me and the lady I share with have developed a genuine friendship, and whether or not I stay on with the homeshare, I’ll still keep in touch with her because I really enjoy spending time with her.”

Homeshare UK operates a network for providers in the sector, and has details of some on its site.

Rent to buy

Under this scheme, tenants in England can rent a home typically at 20% below the local market rent to help them save for a deposit.

To be eligible you must have a job, be a first-time buyer and be able to pay rent and save for a deposit at the same time.

You may also be eligible if you are returning to home ownership after a relationship breakdown.

To access the cheaper rent, you apply to rent a property that is in the scheme. They are advertised on different websites for properties in the north of England, the south – excluding London – and the Midlands.

The initial tenancy agreement will be for up to two years but it may be possible to extend it if you need more time to save for your deposit.

Tenants can buy their home as soon as they have saved up enough for the deposit and can get a mortgage.

The Guardian has previously featured the “affordable rent-tobuy” provider Rentplus.

In the capital the scheme is slightly different and is called London Living Rent. Rent to buy is not available in Scotland, and different schemes operate in Wales and Northern Ireland.

London Living Rent

London Living Rent is the capital’s version of rent to buy.

To be eligible for a home in the scheme, applicants must live or work in London, currently live in private rented accommodation (or have some other kind of formal tenancy) or with friends and family, have a maximum household income of £60,000 and not own any other residential home.

They must also be currently unable to buy a home in the area where they live, including through shared ownership.

The amount of rent you pay will vary according to where you live in the capital – the average for a twobed home is about £1,077 a month.

The discounted rents mean these properties are in high demand and are often snapped up quickly.

Tenancies are usually offered for a minimum of three years, and residents are encouraged to buy their home within 10 years.

At the time of writing, homes being advertised included newbuild apartments in Walthamstow, north-east London, with prices starting at £1,010 a month for a studio, rising to £1,262 for a twobedroom flat. In comparison, there were two-beds in the area listed on Rightmove for about £1,650 a month, with studios listed for about £1,200.

To find out more, check out the relevant section on the Greater London Authority website.

Property guardianships

Property guardianship firms let out disused buildings on behalf of owners at discounted rates.

The buildings are often traditionally nonresidential properties such as former schools, offices and care homes but can also include houses and blocks of flats.

Property guardian firms charge less than market rent for people to live in the buildings, and in turn the guardians prevent the buildings falling into disrepair.

The schemes are for profit, and licensees – property guardian company jargon for tenants – have fewer rights.

In September last year, the Guardian told how property guardian companies had been accused of ramping up costs, with one firm reportedly increasing some fees by more than 100%.

While the licence fees that people pay have risen and the sector has received criticism for its treatment of residents, it is still cheaper than renting on the open market, and could be an option for those hoping to save money.

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Economists warn the only way is down

Elliott Economics editor

The Guardian 28/1/2023

Estate agents normally radiate optimism, but they will be watching anxiously on Thursday when the Bank of England is expected to deliver the latest blow to a rapidly weakening property market. Crunch time has arrived for a sector that has for years appeared to defy gravity. Threadneedle Street’s monetary policy committee (MPC) is poised to raise official borrowing costs for a 10th meeting in a row, with mortgage approvals already running 30% below their pre-pandemic levels and house prices down by 4.3% from last August’s peak, according to the Halifax bank.

Further falls are inevitable as borrowers adjust to an era of persistently higher interest rates. The City is braced for a halfpercentage point rise to 4% and for the rate to remain at least as high until the Bank is sure inflation is on course to hit its 2% target.

Analysts are agreed that 2023 will see further falls in house prices, with one predicting a peak-totrough fall of more than 25% once inflation is taken into account.

There are structural reasons why house prices tend to go up in the UK – tough planning laws, a tax system that rewards home ownership, a sharp fall in the number of new homes being built since the 1950s and 1960s – but occasionally there are breaks in the trend. This year is set to be one of those break periods. A long boom driven by record-low interest rates has run its course.

The party was always going to end sooner or later as, even with

rock-bottom interest rates, finding a deposit for a home and meeting mortgage payments became more and more of a struggle. Figures from the Halifax this week showed a first-time buyer was paying just over £300,000 to get a foot on the property ladder and needed a deposit of £62,000. More than 60% of mortgage completions were in joint names last year.

But two other factors have contributed to the rapid cooling in demand: the steady increase in official interest rates since late 2021 and the impact of Liz Truss’s brief premiership, which involved mortgage rates rising to almost 6%.

Andrew Wishart, a property economist at the consultancy Capital Economics, said average quoted mortgage rates had climbed from 1.4% at the end of 2021 to a peak of 5.7% last November. While the effects of Kwasi Kwarteng’s budget had worn off slightly, mortgage rates were still likely to be above 4.5% by the end of the year.

“While the current level of house prices was affordable when interest rates were 2%, that’s not the case with mortgage rates at 5%, 4% or even 3%,” Wishart said. “Higher mortgage rates mean buyers will be less able and willing to borrow, reducing their budgets and putting downward pressure on house prices. To return affordability to a sustainable level by yearend would imply a drop in the price-toearnings ratio from almost eight times income now to below six, consistent with a drop in prices of about 20%.”

George Buckley, the chief UK economist at Nomura, said house prices would need to fall because rising interest rates had made it more expensive to service home loans. The extent of the fall would depend on how quickly this adjustment happened. According to Nomura, to return the mortgage repayments-to-income ratio to its long-term average by the end of this year would require a drop of

20% in prices. If the adjustment took place more slowly between now and the end of 2027 the decline would be just under 10%. Nomura’s central forecast is for prices to fall by 15% by mid-2024.

Kallum Pickering, a senior UK economist at Berenberg bank, said the scale of the correction in house prices mattered because the wider UK economy was sensitive to large swings – either upwards or downwards. Judging by the latest bulletin from the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS), he said, the imminent downturn was likely to be on a par with the early 1990s – when interest rates peaked at 15% – and the global financial crisis, when the banking system teetered on the brink of collapse.

“In contrast to the recent string of surprisingly positive data for the economy as a whole, the December RICS housing market survey makes for grim reading,” Pickering said.

The headline house price balance – the gap between RICS members saying prices were going up against those saying they were going down – stood at -42.0% in December compared with -25.7% in November, the lowest monthly balance since October 2010 and the third-largest annual drop going back to 1978.

“Although a housing market downturn was widely expected by economists, including us, the monthly drop in the December survey far exceeds our and consensus’ expectation,” he added.

In the early 1990s, a doubling of unemployment prolonged and deepened the house-price crash as people who lost their jobs had to sell their homes in a falling market. While the low level of unemployment currently makes a repeat of the record repossessions unlikely, Wishart said there would still be a sizeable fall in prices.

“Overall, even in the absence of forced sales we think that higher mortgage rates will lead to a severe repricing in the housing market this year. The nominal peak-to-trough house price fall of 12% we expect is shy of the falls of almost 20% seen in 2007-09 and 1989-92, and only takes house prices back to their March 2021 level. But note that in real terms it amounts to a 27% drop, on a par with those episodes.”

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HS2 will run all the way to Euston, Hunt insists, after latest uncertainty

Grierson Gwyn Topham

The Guardian 28/1/2023

The chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, has moved to quash speculation that HS2 trains will not run to central London, saying he did not see “any conceivable circumstances” in which the planned Euston terminus would not go ahead.

It had been reported that the high-speed rail line could instead terminate permanently in the western suburbs of the capital, stopping short of central London, to save money.

Asked if ministers were committed to HS2 going all the way to Euston, Hunt told BBC News: “Yes we are. And I don’t see any conceivable circumstances in which that would not end up at Euston.”

Hunt said he had “prioritised HS2 in the autumn statement,” adding: “We have not got a good record in this country of delivering complex, expensive infrastructure quickly but I’m incredibly proud that, for the first time in this last decade, under a Conservative government, we have shovels in the ground building HS2 and we’re going to make it happen.”

His words were later echoed by Downing Street’s official spokesperson. No 10 also played down fears of delay, saying that the planned phases of construction “remain the expected delivery dates”.

HS2 officials were reportedly considering scaling back the multibillion-pound project by delaying to 2038 – or scrapping completely – the Euston terminus, the Sun reported.

HS2 had already planned to initially run services from a new hub under construction at Old Oak Common, five miles away in the suburbs of west London, when the line opens in about 2030, after proposals in the 2019 Oakervee review. The Sun claimed, however, that the government was considering leaving it as the permanent terminus, with passengers having to finish journeys into central London on the Elizabeth line instead.

Tunnelling has started west of Old Oak Common but work to cut through to Euston is not yet under way. However, large numbers of homes around Euston have already been demolished during years of works around the station for HS2.

The government did not earlier specifically deny the reports. A Department for Transport spokesperson said: “The government remains committed to delivering HS2 to Manchester, as confirmed in the autumn statement. As well as supporting tens of thousands of jobs, the project will connect regions across the UK, improve capacity on our railways and provide a greener option of travel.”

The project has been dogged by criticism over its financial and environmental impact. Last October, Michael Gove, the levelling up secretary, suggested investment for HS2 would be reviewed – but Hunt subsequently backed the project.

The target cost of phase one between London and Birmingham was £40.3bn at 2019 prices. A budget of £55.7bn for the whole of HS2 was set in 2015.

Penny Gaines of the campaign group Stop HS2 said it was “not at all surprising” costs were rising. “These reports just show that there are so many problems with HS2,” she said. “It should be cancelled in its entirety as soon as possible.”

Tony Berkeley, who in 2019 was deputy chairman of the Oakervee review into HS2, argued yesterday that the entire project should be scrapped.

The Labour peer told the PA news agency: “The alternative in the news this morning is using Old Oak Common as a terminal station, which would work for half the number of trains that they want with a bit of redesign but it wouldn’t do the lot. There’s not enough space for it so they couldn’t do it except maybe a shuttle service from Birmingham.

“What’s the point of building HS2 just to get to Birmingham? I think the whole thing should be cancelled.”

He claimed investment in the project would be “much better spent on improving the railway lines in the north, east and west, than going to London a bit quicker”.

Henri Murison, the chief executive of the Northern Powerhouse Partnership, said: “The problem with whittling down major infrastructure projects … is that the new, cheaper versions do not deliver the productivity transformation we were promised and, ironically, are less good value.”

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Government owns vast network of UK property

Davies

The Guardian 28/1/2023

The BBC chair, Richard Sharp, more than 20 Conservative donors, a string of billionaire businessmen and the Formula One driver Lewis Hamilton are among those who have declared they own UK property through offshore jurisdictions, a Guardian investigation has found.

The declarations are made on the government’s new register of overseas entities, brought in to increase transparency and help the tax authorities by showing the ultimate owners of British property held offshore.

The register shines a light on how wealthy business people, Gulf royals and states such as China have legally bought up billions of pounds of mostly London property via jurisdictions such as the British Virgin Islands (BVI) and the Channel Islands.

Sharp, who is under pressure over a loan secured by Boris Johnson, is the beneficial owner of a £4m flat in London via a Jersey-based trust.

A spokesperson for Sharp said: “Mr Sharp … has always been meticulous about always paying the full amount of tax here. The flat in question is Richard’s elderly mother’s home.

“Like many parents he has been thinking about how to provide for his children on his death. This arrangement isn’t about a personal tax benefit to him as he pays more UK tax under this arrangement, but about him planning for provision for his children.”

Hamilton owns a £16.5m property in Kensington via the BVI.

His spokesperson

The Chinese government owns a vast network of UK property via offshore jurisdictions such as Luxembourg and the Isle of Man, the Guardian can reveal, raising questions about Beijing’s grip on links in the UK supply chain.

Disclosures made as part of a new government register of property owned via offshore entities show that China’s investment division owns more than 250 properties across Britain via dozens of companies. They include distribution centres that are key to the flow of food and goods in multiple regions of the UK.

The properties are all ultimately owned via the China Investment Corporation (CIC), which manages the foreign exchange reserves of the People’s Republic of China and is estimated to have more than £970bn of assets.

Land Registry records suggest that CIC has spent at least £580m on UK properties, although the true figure is likely to be significantly higher as some records are incomplete. While CIC was known to be an investor in UK property, the scale and detail of its purchases has remained hidden until now owing to the use of a vast array of offshore companies.

The register, which brought the details to light, indicates that CIC has focused on distribution depots, retail parks and trading estates, including some that are critical to regional infrastructure.

Chinese investment in the UK has been a source of concern and division within the government. In 2020, the government ordered that the telecoms company Huawei be removed from Britain’s 5G mobile phone infrastructure before 2027, a decision that Beijing described as “groundless”.

The government also went cold on plans for China General Nuclear to be involved in the building of the Sizewell C nuclear power plant, buying CGN out of its stake.

The former Conservative leader Iain Duncan Smith said it was concerning that so much of the investment was “disguised” via offshore companies. He drew comparisons with the attempted takeover of the UK tech company Newport Wafer Fab, which initially appeared to be the target of a Dutch company before its ultimate Chinese ownership was revealed. The government eventually blocked the deal on security grounds.

Duncan Smith, who chairs the international Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China, said: “This makes the case that we now need to have a strategic audit of the total amount of Chinese finance inside UK key areas.”

CIC and the Chinese embassy did not return requests for comment.

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Thousands of entities holding UK assets via offshore firms

Joseph Smith, Ben Quinn, Pamela Duncan, Carmen Aguilar García, Zeke Hunter-Green, Sabina Bejasa-Dimmock

The Guardian 28/1/2023

said he gained no tax benefits from the arrangement.

Yoko Ono is confirmed as the owner of her late husband John Lennon’s first home in Wavertree, Liverpool, via a company incorporated in the US state of Delaware.

As of noon yesterday Companies House had registered 17,754 overseas entities, with thousands more expected before the 31 January deadline. With 55% of overseas owners declared to date, the register shows that the royal families of Gulf states including Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar own about £1bn of UK property via tax havens.

It shows that the Chinese Investment Corporation, an arm of the Chinese government, owns at least £580m of property through offshore entities, including distribution centres vital for UK goods, such as food. Chinese investment in Britain has been a source of division within the government, with some MPs raising security concerns about the role of Chinese firms in strategic assets.

Conservative donors on the register include two peers: Irvine Laidlaw, who donated about £3.2m when the party was in opposition, and Stanley Fink, a former party treasurer, who has given about £3.7m over 20 years. Fink owns part of the St Pancras Renaissance hotel building through a Guernsey-based vehicle. He said: “To the best of my knowledge and belief I have gained no tax benefits from this structure whatsoever.” He said the deal had been structured like that when he was given the opportunity to invest.

Laidlaw, who is retired from the Lords, has a portfolio of offices and residential homes held through at least nine Isle of Man-based companies. Laidlaw has not responded to a request for comment.

Other Tory donors with UK property held offshore are the billionaire Reuben brothers, property developers with 106 vehicles spanning the BVI to Guernsey. A spokesperson for Reuben Brothers said: “All the entities are liable to UK taxes, and any taxes due have been paid.”

Wafic Saïd, the billionaire businessman and philanthropist credited with helping Saudi Arabia buy British weapons in 1985 in the huge Al-Yamamah deal, is listed as one of the ultimate owners of a Bermuda company that holds a commercial property in the City of London.

Saïd said: “My family hold some UK investments through overseas companies. I am assured that is perfectly legal. In any case, I am not resident in the UK and I am not a beneficiary of the trust.”

The Guardian believes there is a public interest in reporting business interests and property ownership structures of wealthy, politically connected and influential people.

Some individuals may have genuine privacy or security concerns or business reasons for using property in offshore trusts.

Experts say it can be done to minimise tax liability. Robert Palmer, executive director of the campaign group Tax Justice UK, said the government had closed down quite a lot of tax advantages “but there are still ways you can pay less tax by owning property via offshore companies”.

Politicians have taken action to make the practice more expensive, imposing stamp duty of 15% and an annual charge of £3,800 to £244,750 for the most expensive properties.

The ultimate owners of hundreds of entries are not public but are available to HMRC. Those on the register have complied with legal obligations declaring their ownership.

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Harvard neuroscientist: The ‘most underrated’ skill all successful people have—‘especially introverts’

Published Wed, Jan 25 202310:09 AM ESTUpdated Wed, Jan 25 2023At 10:37 EST

andreonegin | Envato Elements I’ve always been an introvert. When I got my first job after earning my PhD in neuroscience, I was concerned that I’d have a tough time communicating with others.

But I quickly learned that I didn’t need to force myself to be extroverted. The most underrated skill that successful people, especially introverts, have is the ability to write clearly.

It doesn’t matter what industry you’re in. If you are a thoughtful and strategic writer, you’ll be more confident in your interactions — in emails, public speaking or even just small talk.

Here’s my best advice:

Pick the right format for your message.

Before you communicate an idea or request, decide on the best format to deliver your information.

For example, if you are sharing research involving complex data, then a PowerPoint displaying charts and images may be the best format.

If you are announcing management decisions, send a detailed email. Bullet points are a great way to get readers to focus on and digest information. You can also use the “STAR” method: situation, task, action and result.

For discussions like progress updates or collecting feedback, a short email or in-person visit is generally sufficient.

Avoid industry jargon.

Plain and simple language is the most effective way to articulate complex topics. Avoid jargon or industry acronyms, no matter how universal you think they are.

Consider using graphics or analogies to drive your point home. One of the best examples I’ve ever seen of this was when an executive designed his annual financial strategy presentation to mimic a children’s book.

But don’t include extraneous details that can go off topic or overwhelm the audience. If it’s not necessary for the conversation, move it to the bottom of your note.

Reduce the amount of effort the audience needs to put in.

Your recipients are bombarded with emails and documents all day. So before you send anything:

Remind them why you are reaching out (e.g. “regarding yesterday’s meeting...”). Format the email so it’s easy to read on phone screens (e.g., short, bulleted sentences). Call out action items (e.g., “the next steps are...,” “the deadline is...”). If your message exceeds one page, create a separate document to attach and use the email to provide highlights. Don’t assume that the audience has the same amount of context that you have. Provide baseline information to bring everyone to the same starting line.

Show your work.

If you are dealing with a potentially controversial topic (e.g., allocating a budget or restructuring a company department), walk readers through your thought process.

This approach builds confidence and shows people that you are thorough, can weave together a number of nuanced perspectives, and can provide key context when it comes to big decisions.

Invite feedback, and make note of any concerns.

Write with precision.

Finally, you want to make sure you project a strong and capable presence in all aspects of your job.

Before you send anything:

Don’t be sloppy. Check for typos, grammar and consistency in numbers. Avoid unnecessary jokes and humor. They don’t translate well in writing, especially with people who don’t know you. Challenge yourself to remove as many words, sentences and even whole ideas as possible. Then ask: Does my thesis still stand? Essentially, you should treat words like the valuable currency they are.

Juliette Han is a neuroscientist, biotech executive, faculty member at Columbia Business School, and academic advisor at Harvard Medical School. She holds a PhD in neuroscience from Harvard University, as well as an MS in physiological sciences and BS in neuroscience and physiological science, both from UCLA. Follow Juliette on Instagram, TikTok, Twitter and LinkedIn.

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Harness the power of pharmacies plus AI, say MPs

Shaun Wooller Health Editor

Daily Mail 23 Jan 2023

PHARMACISTS could treat patients with minor illnesses for half the price the NHS is paying GPs to do the same work, a report by MPs reveals.

The cross-party group is calling on the Government to ‘ harness the power’ of pharmacies to tackle Covid backlogs and surging demand.

This could free millions of GP appointments for those with more serious diseases and release money for other frontline services, it adds.

However, the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Pharmacy warns ministers must take ‘urgent action’ to relieve funding pressure on local chemists at risk of closure. The MPs and peers have published their Future of Pharmacy report following a major inquiry launched over a year ago.

It cites evidence from the Pharmaceutical Services Negotiating Committee showing the cost of providing 40million minor ailment GP appointments per year is £1.2billion.

However, it would cost only £560million to transfer these to pharmacies as part of a Community Pharmacy Consultation Service, saving £640million a year which could be reinvested elsewhere. This amounts to a 53 per cent cost saving for the Health Service.

The report came as figures show more than 5million people waited over two weeks for a GP appointment in November and fewer than seven in ten consultations that month were face to face. There are 11,200 community pharmacies across England and 89 per cent of the public is less than a 20-minute walk from their nearest store.

However, thousands are at risk of closing due to the impact of high inflation and reduced funding, the report warns.

Some 670 pharmacies have closed since 2015 and the value of the pharmacy contract with NHS England has shrunk by a quarter in real terms since 2015. The Daily Mail’s Good Health supplement has been running a Save Our Local Pharmacies campaign calling on the Government to protect the valuable services they provide.

Pharmacies already undertake more than 65million informal consultations a year. However, unlike other services, none of these consultations has specific funding attached to them.

The report says a key way local pharmacies could take even more pressure off the NHS would be by allowing them to supply prescription-only medicines and by introducing a ‘walk-in option’, with an increased number of conditions they can treat via this service.

Labour MP Taiwo Owatemi, a qualified pharmacist and chairman of the cross-party group, said: ‘Pharmacies stepped up when the country needed them most, relieving pressure from other parts of the health service during the unprecedented challenges of the pandemic.

‘They have shown how much more they could do if given the right policy support and funding.’

A Department of Health and Social Care spokesman said: ‘Over the next 18 months we will be increasing the support pharmacists can provide, including taking referrals from A&E, managing oral contraception needs and supporting patients who have been newly prescribed anti-depressants.’

WITH hospitals and GPs facing unprecedented demand, it makes sense for pharmacies to treat patients with minor ailments, as a report by MPs recommends.

This could help free up beds, let family doctors focus on people with more serious illnesses and save the nhS money.

Yet thousands of community pharmacists face extinction because of financial worries, as the Mail’s Save Our Local Pharmacies campaign has highlighted.

If they are to play a bigger role in the nation’s health, perhaps they could be exempt from business rates. And of course, it would have to be proved safe for them to prescribe a wider range of medicines.

But let’s not forget, pharmacists stayed open during the pandemic, when GPs’ surgeries padlocked their doors.

This is a neat solution to ease pressure on the nhS. But ultimately, it is a sticking plaster to patch up a creaking healthcare system designed for an earlier age.

■ The jail sentences handed to the peoplesmugglers responsible for the deaths of a family of migrants in the Channel, including a toddler whose body washed ashore in norway, send a powerful message that those found to be involved in the evil racket will be punished. The truth is, however, that unless Britain and France do more to stop small boats setting off, while ensuring those who land on our beaches illegally are swiftly deported, the trafficking trade will flourish.

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SHOCKING RISE OF ‘SOMETHING FOR NOTHING BRITAIN’

Tom Witherow Senior Political Correspondent

Daily Mail 23 Jan 2023 Over half of households get more from State than they pay in tax... while top 10% of earners account for 53% of all income tax

BRITONS are more dependent on the State than ever before, a bombshell report reveals today.

For the first time, more than half of households – 36 million people – get more from the Government than they pay in tax, according to a study by Civitas.

This is up from 24 million, or two-fifths of households, when Tony Blair was in power at the turn of the millennium.

MPs said the huge government support provided during the Covid pandemic ‘changed the psyche’ of the country and made people think they can ‘get something for nothing’.

The cost of the nation’s massive reliance on the State is being borne by higher earners, the think-tank’s report found.

The top 10 per cent of earners pay 53 per cent of all income tax, turning the levy – the Treasury’s biggest single earner – into a ‘stealth wealth tax’, Civitas said.

The surge in state ‘dependency’ means the poorest fifth of households receive £17,600 more on average in welfare and non-financial benefits from the State than they pay in tax. The findings sparked alarm among senior

Tories, who demanded tax cuts to boost growth and a fresh debate about the role and size of the state.

sir Iain Duncan smith, the former Conservative leader and ex-work and pensions secretary, said: ‘Lockdown changed the psyche of the British people.

‘For all those years, we told them you can’t get something for nothing, and all of sudden they did. The British public thought the Government could do it all – even pay their salaries and they don’t have to work.’

The Civitas analysis used data from the Office for National statistics to compare how much tax people pay with the benefits they receive from the Government.

These include cash welfare payments, such as Universal Credit, Jobseeker’s Allowance and the state pension, and non-financial benefits, such as use of the NHs and social care, free school meals and subsidised housing.

The proportion of those who get more from the state than they put in has climbed steadily over several decades, and is higher now than under either sir Tony or Gordon Brown’s premierships.

The nation’s reliance on the state spiked between 2020 and 2022, in part due to the massive jump in health spending, the fall in VAT receipts during lockdowns, and a growing benefits bill.

The report’s authors said the true headline figure was likely to be even higher than 36 million people because their findings excluded the £70 billion furlough scheme.

The latest data also does not take account of the tens of billions of pounds put aside to subsidise energy bills, and the impact of hundreds of thousands of people disappearing from the workforce.

The report sparked fears that the state has become bloated, smothering entrepreneurship and forcing the lowpaid into a benefits trap.

Mr Duncan smith said: ‘The more we spend, the more we have to tax or borrow. The Government has to do something, and do it pretty quick. start cutting taxes, and put money back into people’s pockets.’

Tory MP Ben Bradley added: ‘None of this is sustainable. You can’t have more people taking out than putting in.

‘As a society we need to have a serious conversation about our levels of demand and expectation of the state.’

Former Tory Cabinet minister sir John Redwood said: ‘The Government should take on board the message of this report. We need to encourage more people back into work.’

Liz Truss and Kwasi Kwarteng announced huge tax cuts in their disastrous september mini-budget – but new Chancellor Jeremy Hunt ditched the plan.

But as energy prices fall, Tory MPs and business leaders have asked if the Government is doing enough to promote economic growth.

There is also a growing backlash from many Conservative backbenchers, who believe that tax on high earners, the ‘strivers’, is too excessive. Tim Knox, author of the Civitas report, said all political parties must ask: ‘Is it a good thing that more than half of Brits take more from the state than they put in?

‘Do we, as a country, want so many people to be dependent on the state?’

A government spokesman said: ‘Our priority is to help families gain financial independence through work, but we recognise we need to go further and are looking at how we drive down economic inactivity at pace.’

When the latest polls show, astonishingly, that Labour is more trusted by voters to cut taxes and fix the economy, it’s time the Tories asked themselves a serious question. What exactly is their point and purpose?

They are supposed to be the standard bearers for Conservatism – a small state, and an unflinching commitment to low taxation, growth, entrepreneurialism and aspiration. That philosophy has served the country well over the years.

The problem is, the Tories have been seduced into believing that state intervention and high taxes are necessary to win the love and support of the public.

Well, now they’re finding out that they’ve made a grave mistake. By savaging the economy with tax hikes, the party has wrecked its hard-earned political reputation for being on the side of hard workers.

Rishi Sunak and his Chancellor must return to first principles – leaving people with more of their own money to spend, incentivising business to create jobs and the wealth to fund our public services, and reducing the bloated state to a manageable, affordable size. And they have to start getting people back to work – urgently. It is scandalous that over half of the population get more in benefits than they pay in tax.

Shamefully, this is higher than under Tony Blair, who deliberately created an army of people who did so well out of welfare handouts that they shunned employment.

high earners are, of course, bearing the brunt of the cost, with the best-paid 10 per cent paying 53 per cent of income tax.

Far too many people are indolent and unproductive. As a report by Civitas warns today, a troubling ‘something for nothing’ culture has developed. This sense of entitlement has grown since the pandemic. First furlough, then energy subsidies, have helped convince people that whatever befalls them, the Government will bail them out.

By presiding over the highest tax burden since the Second World War, ministers have further reduced the appeal of working harder – or indeed at all – damaging investment, growth and prosperity.

Yes, we need to balance the books. But Jeremy hunt mustn’t aggravate the party’s problems in this spring’s Budget.

If the public finances are in ruder health than forecast, it would be an error to press ahead with punishing tax rises.

Already too many Britons aren’t working – and that means Britain itself isn’t working.

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Davos takeaway AI and green tech seed reasons for hope

Larry Elliott Economics editor

The Guardian 23 Jan 2023

The world has become hard-wired for pessimism, and there was plenty of it on display in Davos last week. Much has changed in the 52 years since the World Economic Forum was first held in the Swiss ski resort. At that original WEF summit, the global economy was dominated by the rich nations of Europe and northern America, currencies were fixed under the Bretton Woods system, and oil was $2 a barrel. The cold war between the US and the Soviet Union was still raging. It was a pre-digital age: personal computers and smartphones were things of the future. Artificial intelligence (AI) was the stuff of science fiction.

But the thing that has really changed is that a sense of things getting better has been replaced in the developed world by a feeling that things are getting worse. The vision of the future is dystopian, one in which people get poorer not richer, robots steal all the jobs, and an addiction to fossil fuels leads to the extinction of the planet.

Given all that, it was surprising to find the mood in Davos as upbeat as it was. In part, that’s because few – if any – of the WEF community are at the sharp end of the cost of living crisis, but there was a bit more to it than that.

After surviving the horrors of the past three years, there was a sense that there can’t be much more bad stuff out there and that, as a result, the only way is up. This may seem Panglossian, but it is understandable. Around the world, not just in Davos, there is a yearning for some good news.

And there is some. Inflation rates in the US, the eurozone and the UK appear to have peaked. Central banks may, therefore, be able to limit the extent of future increases in interest rates.

China has rebounded more quickly than expected after abandoning its zero-tolerance approach to Covid.

To be sure, it is possible to put a negative spin on this, too. If demand in China picks up, that may drive up the price of oil and gas, so slowing – or even reversing – the fall in inflation in the west. In that event, the Federal Reserve,

European Central Bank and Bank of England will keep interest rates higher for longer, thus increasing the risks of recession.

Even so, the International Monetary Fund looks likely to revise up its estimate of 2023 global growth when it releases updated forecasts at the end of the month. The improvement in the outlook will not be spectacular, but Kristalina Georgieva, the IMF’s managing director, is relieved that prospects look less dire than they did a few months.

The other source of optimism in Davos stemmed from a conviction that technological progress – in AI, especially – has not just accelerated massively in the past couple of years but will continue to speed up. Those in the tech sector deploying it in advance military hardware had their own reason for being cheerful: the Ukraine war has provided a window to showcase their wares.

Others in Davos saw the potential for AI to play a crucial part in the fight against global heating. A paper for the WEF by Lord Nicholas Stern and Mattia Romani made the case that the world has in its grasp “a new growth and development story driven by investment and innovation in green technology, boosted by AI”.

Stern is an expert in the economics of climate change, and the paper makes the case that in the next five years, more than half the tipping points for key green technologies will have been met.

Romani and Stern say the cost of energy generation for solar and wind power will fall below that of new coal and gas in the US in 2023, with other countries not far behind.

Unsubsidised battery electric vehicles are expected to achieve cost parity with internal combustion engine vehicles in all light vehicle segments of the market by 2025-26.

AI, the paper adds, is becoming a general-purpose technology, the equivalent of electricity or IT, and looks likely to bring a long period of low growth and weak productivity to an end.

The transformation doesn’t come cheap: an estimated $5-7tn of investment a year will be needed until 2030. But if a bit of optimism is what you are after, Stern and Romani provide it. They say the green transition represents the biggest investment opportunity since the Industrial Revolution. They are right.

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Why slow, deep breathing is like giving yourself a mini tranquilliser!Daily Mail 21/1/2023

BReathInG is the most natural thing in the world — we breathe in and out roughly 16 times a minute and think nothing of it. But how you breathe can have a profound effect on your body and brain: research suggests that slowing the rate at which you breathe, and focusing on slow, deep inhales and exhales, can slow your heart rate and lower blood pressure.

and according to a recent study by the department of neurobiology at Stanford University in the U.S., sighing — taking a short deep breath and then a longer exhale — is a good way to reduce stress and boost positive feelings. So the starcrossed lovers of romantic novels, who sigh a lot when they’re thwarted in love, may be on to something.

Slowing down your breathing can help you fall asleep, too (a big plus for me), and five minutes of slow, deep breathing done three times a day has been shown to reduce the impact of chronic pain.

Fans of yoga will already know a lot about the importance of focusing on your breath and spending a few minutes a day practising slow, deep breathing to support your health.

now science is catching up. But why is slow breathing so beneficial? I recently interviewed Ian Robertson, an emeritus professor of psychology at trinity College dublin, who described slow, deep breathing as ‘an incredibly potent way of giving yourself a mini tranquilliser’.

Headded that part of the reason is because ‘ when very busy or stressed we tend to hold our breath, or breathe more rapidly, which can make us feel more panicked; just by slowing your breathing you can calm things down and you will be surprised at how quickly you feel better’.

I learned to do controlled breathing while making one of my favourite episodes of my podcast series, Just one thing. and it’s been life- changing; when I’m stressed and sleeping badly then a few minutes of slow, deep breathing can transform my mood and bring a quiet joy to my day.

one of the ways slowing your breath helps is because it affects special sensors in your brain that detect carbon dioxide levels in your blood — these sensors rapidly respond by either releasing, or inhibiting the release of, a chemical messenger called noradrenaline, which can make us feel stressed and anxious.

Slowing your breathing not only reduces noradrenaline levels but also triggers the parasympathetic autonomic nervous system, which controls how your body works during times of rest and makes your heart slow down and your blood pressure drop. and this has an additional calming effect.

Professor Robertson calls slow breathing ‘the most precise pharmaceutical you could ever give yourself’, with the bonus that it is side- effect free: ‘It works like a mini reset button for your brain.’

there are lots of ways to do it, including box breathing, where you inhale deeply for a count of four, hold for two, then exhale for a count of four; it is also known as 4:2:4, and is taught to military and emergency services personnel as a way to reduce stress.

I find it very effective, particularly when I have racing thoughts and am struggling to go back to sleep in the middle of the night.

But is it really the best breathing technique when it comes to reducing stress and anxiety? that is what researchers at Stanford University wanted to find out.

For their study, published in the journal Cell earlier this month, they recruited 108 volunteers and divided them into four groups.

one group spent five minutes a day doing cyclic sighing, where you inhale slowly, before taking another shorter breath to fully inflate your lungs and then breathing out for as long as possible.

the second group did box breathing — inhaling, holding the breath, exhaling and holding the exhaled breath. the third group did cyclic hyperventilation — which sounds pretty horrendous. you take a deep breath, then do 30 very short exhales before exhaling fully. and try not to pass out.

the fourth group was asked to spend five minutes a day practising mindfulness meditation, a proven way to reduce anxiety; the idea is you sit quietly, focusing on your breathing but not consciously trying to control it. (there are lots of apps available that will help you do this, or you might want to sign up for a mindfulness course.)

after eight weeks, all the study participants reported a significant reduction in their anxiety, but those doing the cyclic sighing gained the most benefit when it came to reduced stress and more positive feelings.

the researchers think that any form of controlled breathing can be better than meditation, at least if you’re only going to do a few minutes a day, because it makes you focus on changing how you breathe, which is a good way to distract you from your thoughts.

they think that cyclic breathing is particularly effective because it makes you do a long inhale, followed by an even longer exhale. this seems to be particularly effective at triggering changes in your parasympathetic autonomic nervous system, which slows your heart rate and makes you feel more peaceful.

I’ve been giving it a go and it works. the only downside? If you do it when other people are around, you sound as if you are exasperated, or perhaps just lovestruck.

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