In today's email, we've got:

• the Royal Mail getting replaced

• banks that keep shutting branches

• a newsletter to finally teach you what crypto means

EDITOR'S RAMBLE 🗣

Hey gang!

It's the festive application-writing season at the moment.

I made a 50-second video about this writing tool called Hemingway which I think can help improve your law firm applications.

This isn't a sponsorship or anything. I just think this tool's so good at highlighting the complicated or unnecessary words that a lot of candidates add to the law firm applications.

The best thing is that once you use the tool for a while, you'll automatically improve your writing as you get used to the changes it suggests.

Hope it helps you out!

- Idin

FEATURED REPORT 📰

📫 Currys rid of Royal Mail

Credit: Giphy

What's going on here?

Currys (an electrical goods retailer) has dropped Royal Mail as its delivery provider to ensure customers receive their deliveries in time for Christmas.

What does this mean?

Currys has said that it’s only dropped Royal Mail "for now" due to disruptions caused by ongoing strike action. It’s switched to an alternative provider for the time being. Royal Mail is striking for six days this month, including Christmas Eve.

Why is Royal Mail striking?

Workers at Royal Mail have been engaging in a series of strikes recently in a row over pay and conditions.

By the way - in case you’ve got parcels to send, Royal Mail has suggested getting your post sent by 12 December if you want to make sure it arrives before Christmas.

What’s the claim about?

This story shows the impact of Royal Mail’s strikes on companies relying on it to fulfil their deliveries - especially at this time of year.

For any company shipping products to customers, having a reliable delivery provider is essential so that customers receive their orders on time and without any issues. Failing to do this will impact customer satisfaction and the reputation of that company.

In the case of Currys, which has now switched to an alternative delivery provider, the retailer's CEO, Alex Baldock, said that the first responsibility is to the UK households who want to get hold of their technology, particularly at this time of year.

The new providers would likely have known about the desperate situation that Currys is in - meaning that Currys starts in a weak financial negotiating position.

For Currys, it would be a risk to jump into business with an organisation they have no relationship or history with - all in the most crucial selling month of the year.

For Royal Mail, who knows if any of these customers that are dumping it will actually come back.

A BIT OF FUN 😄

TV show teaser

This chart shows the IMDb ratings of a New York-based comedy TV sitcom over its ten-season run.

Can you name the show?

Credit: SeriesHeat

Scroll down to the bottom to see the answers. 👀

IN OTHER NEWS 🗞

• ✂ HSBC cuts 114 branches across the UK: The UK bank will close more branches in the UK from April 2021, as it has seen fewer customers using them since the start of the pandemic. HSBC will try to redeploy affected staff, but approximately 100 people will lose their jobs. This is part of a trend of branch closures as banks cut costs and more people opt to bank online. Unite, a union representing HSBC's workers, accused the bank of abandoning customers.

• 🛳 UK's Ministry of Defence (with a little help from Linklaters) is shopping for warships: Linklaters' Energy & Infrastructure team in London advised the UK’s Ministry of Defence on its purchase of five new warships from British arms manufacturer BAE Systems, costing £4.2bn. The deal follows the UK government’s announcement of plans to invest in “building the next generation of British warships” at the G20 summit in Bali in November.

• 🛢 Fossil fuel firms are being dropped by their PR agencies: PR and advertising firm Done! has become one of the 350 agencies to join the 'Clean Creatives' movement, which pledges to refuse work for fossil fuel firms or their trade associations. This shows how service businesses are taking their environmental, social and governance commitments more seriously - even at the expense of dropping clients.

AROUND THE WEB 🌐

• 🤖 Crypto: ‘Crypto’ and ‘Web3’ is everywhere right. It’s okay if you don’t understand it. This handy website translates all the crypto updates to plain English in daily updates.*

• 🧘🏽‍♀️ Breathe: These simple visualisation will get you chilled out and breathing fully.

• ❓ WTF: The European Union's £330,000 party was labelled 'a dud' after only six people attended.

Credit: r/internetisbeautiful; r/nottheonion/

* This is an affiliate link. Although it is free to join, if you sign up through us, we will receive a small commission.

Quiz Answer: 

Friends