Latest news with #TomSaunders
Scotsman
10-07-2025
- Business
- Scotsman
Scots-founded professional services firm to be sold to Irish group
'Partnering with CubeMatch extends and strengthens the range of services we offer' – Tom Saunders Sign up to our Scotsman Money newsletter, covering all you need to know to help manage your money. Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to The Scotsman, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... A UK professional services firm founded by two Scots is being bought by a Dublin-based 'global change and transformation' consultancy. DVCP was founded in 2020 by Mhairi Kennedy and Tom Saunders – who were joined in 2021 by transformation professional David Campbell. The consultancy specialises in financial services transformation, technology strategy and programme assurance. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad It is being acquired by CubeMatch, which serves a number of blue-chip clients in the banking and financial services industry. The Dublin-headquartered group has secured an initial shareholding in London-based DVCP, with a full acquisition expected to complete by the end of 2026. Tom Melville (group CEO, CubeMatch); Mhairi Kennedy (co-founder and chief operating officer, DVCP); Tom Saunders (co-founder and chief executive, DVCP). Picture: Fennell Photography The UK is said to be a 'priority market' for CubeMatch, with an established office in London and plans underway to expand into the Midlands and Scotland. Saunders, chief executive and co-founder of DVCP, said: 'Culturally and operationally, CubeMatch is an ideal partner for DVCP. Our shared values, collaborative approach, and commitment to delivering great client service make this a natural fit. 'We've always had exceptional capability. Partnering with CubeMatch extends and strengthens the range of services we offer. We are excited that we'll be able to offer our clients comprehensive support in design and execution of transformations and programme assurance.' Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Tom Melville, chief executive of CubeMatch, said: 'Our partnership with DVCP marks a significant step forward in our UK growth strategy. By bringing together DVCP's respected team of specialists and our own expertise, we are uniquely positioned to help clients tackle the most complex technology and regulatory challenges in financial services. 'We have a strong balance sheet and are well positioned to deliver on our strategy, delivering agile, expert-led transformation and innovation to clients globally, while continuing to seek additional acquisitions throughout this year,' he added.
The Guardian
04-07-2025
- Climate
- The Guardian
Shock and spore: ‘bomb cyclone' delivers bang for buck as ABC banks on mushroom drama
The extreme weather in New South Wales this week generated some dramatic headlines. 'NSW about to get absolutely obliterated' from is a personal favourite – and pretty much summed up the tone of much of the coverage. One term popped up repeatedly: bomb cyclone. 'Urgent warning issued about 'bomb cyclone',' the Daily Mail said. We were, according to 'in the path of a 'bomb cyclone'. A bomb and a cyclone in one term is scary stuff, but was it accurate? The Australian's night editor, David Tanner, noticed what he called the 'explosive terminology', writing: 'In the age of weather dramatisation, nothing goes off quite like a 'bomb cyclone'.' The Bureau of Meteorology, also known (confusingly) as BoM, had not referred to the coming storm as a bomb cyclone, so where did it come from? The first use of the term for this low-pressure system was last Friday afternoon on ABC Radio Newcastle's Drive program, according to the media monitoring company Streem. The ABC's NSW weather presenter and meteorologist, Tom Saunders, raised the term during a discussion of his word of the week: bombogenesis. As he explained in an online story: 'When a low-pressure system transforms from non-existence to a formidable storm just a day later, meteorologists label it a 'bomb cyclone', or a system that has experienced 'bombogenesis'. 'Bomb cyclone' ahead for Australia's east coast, the ABC reported on Sunday. And the rest of the media lapped it up. The term garnered significant traction, amounting to 8,547 mentions over the past week across Australian online news, print, radio, TV and podcasts, according to Streem. The public was a tad sceptical. When the story was posted on the ABC Emergency's Facebook page, some of the replies included: 'A 'bomb cyclone'? Wow … that's dramatic …'; 'A bomb cyclone hahaha. Now I've heard them all'; and 'Now a bomb cyclone. OMG I can't stop laughing.' Guardian Australia published an explainer on Tuesday noting that the BoM stopped short of using that terminology and mostly referred to this week's weather pattern as a 'vigorous' coastal low. While 'bomb cyclone' is not inaccurate, it caused some confusion across the ABC's programs as meteorologists asked to explain it politely talked the term down. 'It's not a term that we choose to use here at the bureau, because it can give people really specific ideas of what they might expect with the weather, which might not actually be what we're forecasting,' one told Patricia Karvelas. Sign up to get Guardian Australia's weekly media diary as a free newsletter When Ros Childs asked the same of the senior meteorologist Jonathan How he was a little more blunt: 'So the word bomb is a very, very old meteorological terminology, so it's not something we use here at the bureau any more, but it used to describe the way that these low-pressure systems intensified very quickly.' An ABC spokesperson said bomb cyclone was an accurate meteorological term deriving from 'bombogenesis' which describes the rapid intensification of a low-pressure system. 'The ABC's meteorologist has given a detailed explanation of the term to audiences as part of his comprehensive reporting on this weather event.' The Australia Institute's petition calling for a parliamentary inquiry into Aukus was approaching 10,000 signatories on Thursday when it attracted some big names. Apparently signing up were the ABC journalists Hamish Macdonald, Fran Kelly, Sarah Ferguson and Jeremy Fernandez. Politicians appeared to be climbing onboard too, including Penny Wong and Anthony Albanese. Wait, what? We asked the institute about the unusual signatories and the petition was immediately taken offline. 'Late this afternoon we became aware that a number of fake signatories had been added to our popular Aukus petition, fraudulently using the names, and in some cases publicly available email addresses, of prominent politicians and ABC journalists,' a spokesperson said. 'We briefly unpublished the petition and after an investigation found that one person had created 37 fake signatories, all of which have been deleted. We have taken steps to block the IP address of the person responsible and to prevent this from happening again.' Sign up to Weekly Beast Amanda Meade's weekly diary on the latest in Australian media, free every Friday after newsletter promotion First there were the podcasts and now the primetime drama series is in development. As the jurors were considering a verdict in Erin Patterson's triple murder trial the ABC announced that Toxic, 'a layered and intricate series' exploring the events surrounding that beef wellington lunch, had been commissioned. Its producer, Tony Ayres (The Slap, Glitch, Nowhere Boys), and showrunner, Elise McCredie (Jack Irish, The Clearing, Stateless), are working with the investigative journalist Rachael Brown of the ABC podcast Mushroom Case Daily fame. Ayres says the story will be told in multiple timelines and from multiple perspectives. 'True stories ask storytellers to probe the complexities of human behaviour,' he says. 'What really lies beneath the headlines? It's both a challenge and a responsibility to go beyond the surface – to reveal, not just sensationalise.' The SBS ombudsman has written to people who complained about the Insight episode on ME or chronic fatigue syndrome to say an investigation found the program did not breach the broadcaster's editorial code. 'Having provided a relevant range of viewpoints in the presentation of the topic, the program was broadcast in line with the code,' the letter seen by Weekly Beast said. 'If you consider this response to be inadequate you are entitled to take your concerns to the Australian Communications and Media Authority.' People living with myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome who appeared on the episode had accused the broadcaster of betraying them in the final cut, filing multiple complaints to the ombudsman. They said the show presented a potentially harmful and unscientific narrative and favoured a person who said she had 'cured herself' by 'listening to her body'. One participant who is a carer for his wife and daughter, Peter McCluskey, is disappointed with the outcome and stands by his view that Insight sidelined science, clinical expertise and the lived experience of patients 'all under the guise of balance'. McCluskey said he was considering taking his complaint to the Acma. The Project aired its last episode last Friday after 16 years but its social media pages, run by the production company Roving Enterprises, have continued to entertain. 'The bosses really should have changed the password from Password1,' on Instagram post read. The caption said 'Well, well, well, look who is in charge now … It's me! The social media hero (that's what I call myself). So, one question: what should I do with these accounts?'
ABC News
02-07-2025
- Climate
- ABC News
Tom Saunders discussing the weather
ABC Meteorologist Tom Saunders on the 7PM NSW discussing the weather conditions coming from a low-pressure low on 2 July.
ABC News
01-07-2025
- Climate
- ABC News
Coastal low brings heavy rain, huge swells and damaging winds to NSW
ABC NEWS Meteorologist Tom Saunders looks at what we can expect over the next 24 hours as a low pressure system bears down on NSW.
RNZ News
01-07-2025
- Climate
- RNZ News
What to expect from 'bomb cyclone' confirmed for Sydney and the NSW coast
By Tom Saunders , ABC Meteorologist The weather bureau has issued multiple warnings for flooding rain, gale-force winds and damaging surf for the NSW coast. (ABC News: Ben Clifford ) Photo: ABC News: Ben Clifford A "bomb cyclone" has formed in the western Tasman Sea, and its intensification shows signs of being even more explosive than initially forecast. Along with its strength, the other key concern is the system's location - developing near the coast which will ensure significant impacts for New South Wales, including Sydney. The low's coastal position will also nearly guarantee it becomes the first east coast low in three years, triggering the Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) to issue multiple weather warnings for flooding rain, gale-force winds and damaging surf. When a low-pressure system transforms from non-existence to a formidable storm just a day later, meteorologists label it a "bomb cyclone", or a system that has experienced "bombogenesis". The expression "bomb" is due to the explosive speed of development, however, its usage is restricted only to systems where the reduction in pressure exceeds a specific rate based on latitude. Upgraded warnings for Tuesday now also warn of isolated destructive wind gusts above 125 kilometres per hour between Foster and Wollongong, including parts of Sydney's east. The pressure began falling on Monday afternoon off the NSW north coast as polar air over the south-east inland clashed with warm humid air off the Tasman Sea. By the evening, a fully formed low had developed just east of Grafton and it deepened overnight with a central pressure at Port Macquarie falling at a rate of 5 hectopascals (hPa) per 6 hours. Unsurprisingly rainfall was also increasing, and by 6am more than 50mm had fallen on parts of the Mid North Coast, Hunter and Illawarra. The low will deepen further on Tuesday while moving slowly south, and is on track for a 24-hour drop in pressure of about 25hPA - well above the threshold for a bomb cyclone of 15hPa, at 32 degrees latitude. The weather will continue to deteriorate through Tuesday as the low reaches a peak, including an increase in the intensity of rain, wind and surf. Here is a breakdown of the full impacts during the next 48 hours. By Monday 6pm, up to 50mm of rain was recorded near the coast. ( ABC News: Ben Clifford) Photo: ABC News: Ben Clifford The heaviest rain on Tuesday will gradually shift south down the coast, spreading from the Mid North Coast through the Hunter, Sydney, Illawarra and upper south coast. Twenty-four-hour totals from midnight to midnight are likely to average about 50 to 100mm across these districts within 50 to 100km of the coast, although the BOM is now expecting localised torrential falls of up to 120mm in 6 hours along the coastal fringe. At the higher end of this range, totals would exceed the July average in less than 24 hours - enough to trigger areas of flash flooding, including around Newcastle, Sydney and Wollongong. River flooding is also possible, although the concentration of heavy falls near the coast is why the BOM's flood watch is only for minor flooding - since moderate and major flood events typically rely on heavy rain spreading further inland across river catchments to the Great Dividing Range. The heaviest rain and flood risk will then shift to the south coast and Gippsland on Wednesday, and again totals should average up to about 100mm but with pockets above that mark. It's possible heavy rain on Wednesday will track further inland, which would result in a greater flood threat for the more southern catchments. Rain will also continue up the coast on Wednesday, including around Sydney, lifting event totals to above 100mm from about Taree to Gippsland, with the risk of isolated regions seeing well over 200mm. All up there are 20 river catchments under threat of flooding from Wallis Lake near Forster, to Mitchell River east of Bairnsdale. Well over 100mm of rain is ahead for much of the NSW coast during the next 72 hours. (ABC News) Photo: ABC News The force of the wind will be fierce during this east coast low due to the very tight pressure gradient around the centre of the storm. Peak wind gusts should hit close to 110kph on Tuesday along the central stretch of the coast, starting around the Mid North Coast and Hunter, then shifting to Sydney and the Illawarra in the afternoon. Winds of this magnitude are strong enough to bring down trees and lead to power outages, and under a scenario where the centre of the low makes a close pass to the shoreline, minor property damage and more widespread toppling of trees could result. A few thunderstorms could also form on Tuesday near the Hunter and lower Mid North Coast, which according to the BOM's storm forecast have the potential to produce destructive gusts over 125kph, and waterspouts. Destructive gusts may also develop from the Mid North Coast to the Illawarra if the centre of the low makes a close enough pass to the coast. Strong winds will continue through Wednesday, and possibly extend further north and south from about the Mid North Coast to the Victorian border. A consequence of the Tasman gales will be a rapid increase in surf through Tuesday, with combined seas and swells reaching about 5m by Tuesday night. Waves will continue rising into Wednesday when peaks between Seal Rocks and Batemans Bay could average up to 7m. Maximum waves are normally double the average and may hit close to 15m. Surf of this ferocity when combined with unusually high water levels from the low surface pressure is likely to cause significant beach erosion. The areas most at risk are beaches facing the wind. So in this case, south-facing beaches may see the greatest damage. While winds and rain along the coast should start to ease by Thursday, there is a lag for surf which will maintain huge waves until at least Friday. - ABC
