IT Outage, The King's Speech & My Latest Conversations session
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Published 19 Jul 2024 in Phil's blog
Worldwide IT Outage and our sites
As colleagues will no doubt be aware, there has been a worldwide IT outage today, allegedly caused by cyber security software, which has affected airlines, trains, banks, public services and retailers. All of our food stores were affected and were unable to process card payments or apply member offers. Our support teams implemented our emergency measures and were in full dialogue with our system partners. Our systems came back online at just after 10am but we will be closely monitoring these over the weekend.
I am really grateful to colleagues working in our retail outlets for your patience and support for our members and customers and to our support teams for their work. I will be working with them over the coming days to monitor the situation and also discuss what further back up measures we can instigate for any future incidents of this nature.
The King's Speech
On Wednesday, King Charles III delivered his Speech setting out the Government’s priorities for the coming parliamentary session.
I was particularly pleased to see that new measures will be brought forward to strengthen action against anti-social behaviour (ASB) and improve neighbourhood policing. This includes the introduction of a standalone offence for attacks on shopworkers; measures to tackle low-level shop theft; increasing the visibility of neighbourhood police officers and PCSOs; and introducing new Respect Orders and Public Spaces Protection Orders to crack down on persistent ASB perpetrators.
As part of an ‘Employment Rights Bill’ the new Government will, amongst other things, look to remove the discriminatory age bands to ensure every adult worker benefits from the National Living Wage. This is something we have always done, and I am pleased to see that this will, when instigated, create a level playing field.
A Bill will be introduced to progressively increase the age at which people can buy cigarettes and impose limits on the sale and marketing of vapes. As a retailer of these products, we welcome measures which will ensure a greater responsibility on all retailers in the way tobacco and vape products are sold. I was also pleased to see that the Government plans to ban the sale of energy drinks to under-16’s; something we have done on a voluntary basis for many years.
Conversations on Property with Kathryn Lyddon
On Wednesday, I sat down with our Head of Property, Kathryn Lyddon, to discuss all things property. Filmed at the fantastic Little Pioneers Co-op House Nursery & Pre-school, we covered investments, the role of property, rebrands, and Kathryn's busy life outside of work. Watch the full conversation and let me know if you enjoyed it by commenting below.
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