United Kingdom Day on 13 July 2024 will focus more on:
●Official announcement! Princess Kate will appear in the Wimbledon men's singles final, and Prince Willem will watch the European Championship live
● All walks of life in United Kingdom closed early on Sunday to watch the European Championship final
● United Kingdom Prime Minister Starmer proposed the abolition of the hereditary nobility seat in the House of Lords
● Many banks in the United Kingdom have lowered mortgage interest rates, as low as 4.08%
● Japan软银集团收购UK芯片商Graphcore
● United Kingdom teenagers broke the Guinness World Record by clocking in 272 London underground stations in 18 hours
● United Kingdom confectionery brand Cadbury is looking for chocolate tasters
Official announcement! Princess Kate will appear in the Wimbledon men's singles final, and Prince Willem will watch the European Championship live
On July 13, the United Kingdom royal family Kensington Palace announced that Princess Kate will attend the Wimbledon men's singles final in London on Sunday (July 14) as a patron of the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club.
This will be Princess Kate's second public appearance since she became ill with cancer, having participated in the United Kingdom Royal Parade in June. At that time, she will present the championship trophy to Novak Djokovic or Carlos Alcaraz.
Kensington Palace also announced that Prince William would fly to Berlin on the same day to watch the European Championship final and cheer on England. As FA president, Willian also watched England's matches against Switzerland and Denmark.
All walks of life in United Kingdom closed early on Sunday to watch the European Championship final
After England progressed to the European Championship final, supermarkets, restaurants, music festivals and even schools across the United Kingdom announced early closures on Sunday (14 July) and opened later on Monday (15 July) so staff could enjoy the game.
United Kingdom supermarket chain Tesco has announced that more than 1,800 Tesco Express in England will close at 7:30pm on July 14 instead of the usual 10am or 11pm. Another supermarket chain, Sainsbury's, also announced that more than 1,000 of its convenience stores and gas stations will also close at 7:30 p.m. on July 14. Lidl has announced that it will not close early on July 14, but all 800 stores will have their hours extended to 9 a.m. on July 15.
Organisers of London's Wireless Festival have also announced that it will end early Sunday, giving fans plenty of time to go home to watch the European Championship final.
In addition, three schools, including the Prince of Wales School, will postpone classes on July 15 so that students don't feel too tired from staying up late to watch games and waking up early.
It is worth mentioning that since employees can voluntarily decide whether or not to work on Sundays, railroads such as Great Western Railway and Northern Rail have warned passengers that there may be widespread rail disruptions over the weekend. United Kingdom fans driving to Germany may also face traffic jams.
United Kingdom Prime Minister Starmer proposed the abolition of hereditary aristocratic seats in the House of Lords
According to British media reports, United Kingdom Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer will initiate legislation next week to remove hereditary aristocratic seats in the House of Lords.
It is reported that this reform measure will cost 47 Conservative members of the House of Lords seats, officially ending one of the most anachronistic traditional systems in United Kingdom's democratic system. However, these MPs will be allowed to retain access to the Palace of Westminster, including its bars and restaurants.
In the next phase, the Labour government may require mandatory retirement for members of the House of Lords when they reach 80, but will first seek the advice of MPs.
The bill will be one of a series of major pieces of legislation introduced by the Labour government and will be unveiled by King King Charles at the opening of Parliament next Wednesday (17 July).
Charles III will also announce a series of major pieces of legislation, including authorizing the Office for Budget Responsibility to independently issue projections, cracking down on gig contracts, creating new collective bargaining agreements for the social care sector, and extending equal pay protections to ethnic minorities and workers with disabilities.
Many banks in the United Kingdom have lowered mortgage interest rates as low as 4.08%
According to British media reports, United Kingdom series of banks have recently announced interest rate cuts, reducing mortgage interest rates to 4%.
United Kingdom bank Halifax cut mortgage rates by up to 0.13%, Barclays cut mortgage rates by up to 0.33%, and the bank's five-year fixed mortgage rate of 4.08% is currently the lowest in the market.
This comes after banks including Natwest and HSBC have cut mortgage rates in the past few weeks, and the interest rate war has begun to heat up. Virgin Money and Nationwide also cut interest rates on mortgage deals this week, with the latter cutting fixed rates by 0.30% on some products.
According to Moneyfacts, the average interest rate for 2-year fixed mortgage products in the United Kingdom is 5.92% and the average interest rate for 5-year fixed mortgage products is 5.50%.
Rian Anderson, managing director of Anderson Harris, said: "I wouldn't be surprised that some 5-year mortgage products have interest rates below 4% by the end of the year. With the election over and the prospect of lower mortgage rates, homebuyers should feel more confident about buying a home. ”
Aaron Strutt, an expert at Trinity Financial, said: "There is more positive news in the mortgage market at the moment, with many lenders lowering interest rates, with the cheapest five-year fixed rate at 4.08%. If you are going to take out a loan to buy a house, then it is necessary for you to compare and choose the lowest mortgage rate. ”
Japan软银集团收购英芯片商Graphcore
On July 12, local time, Japan's SoftBank Group announced the official acquisition of United Kingdom artificial intelligence chip company Graphcore, the specific acquisition amount is not yet known.
It is understood that the acquisition has been approved by relevant regulatory authorities, including the United Kingdom and the United States.
Graphcore will continue to operate as a wholly owned subsidiary of SoftBank, retaining its brand name and remaining headquartered in Bristol. Graphcore Co-Founder and CEO Nigel Toon and CTO Simon Knowles will continue to serve as senior officers and directors.
Founded in 2016 and headquartered in Bristol, Graphcore specializes in developing "intelligent processing units" (IPUs) for AI workloads, and was once seen as a strong competitor to Nvidia, according to public information. Graphcore's performance has been under pressure in recent years due to the fierce competition in the AI hardware industry and the huge need for capital.
United Kingdom teenagers broke the Guinness World Record by clocking in 272 London underground stations in 18 hours
According to British media reports, a group of United Kingdom teenagers broke the Guinness World Record, they clocked in all London underground stations (272) in only 18 hours, 8 minutes and 13 seconds.
The group, called The Amersham Ambushers, consisted of eight teenagers aged 16-17 who started at Heathrow Terminal 5 and ended their trip at Amersham station, a full 1 hour and 56 minutes faster than the previous record holder.
According to the team, there are two main reasons for challenging the record: first, some of them are very good at mathematics and think that how to plan the route is worth thinking about; The second is that they can explore London Underground stations that they have never been to and will never go to again.
United Kingdom confectionery brand Cadbury is looking for chocolate tasters
On the eve of World Chocolate Day, United Kingdom confectionery brand Cadbury posted a job posting on social media for a part-time chocolate taster.
The taster will work at Birmingham's Cadbury International R&D Centre for eight hours per week at a negotiable salary (the position was £10.75 per hour in 2019) and will be responsible for tasting chocolate products and giving objective feedback, working with the team to agree on the tastes.
Cadbury said applicants should have a keen interest in food and curiosity about new chocolate products, but also warned that applicants may eat dairy products, cereals and nuts and that people with a history of food allergies may not be suitable for the position.