Senior Labour backbenchers are pressing the government to force UK banks to expand lending to small businesses and low-income communities, warning that a lack of affordable finance is holding back entrepreneurship and economic resilience. Gareth Thomas, a former business minister, has tabled a 10-minute rule bill that would require banks to measure, disclose and improve how they serve underserved communities ...
Britain’s retailers limped to the end of 2025 after a lacklustre Christmas trading period, with non-food sales failing to deliver the seasonal boost many high street businesses were relying on. New figures from the British Retail Consortium (BRC) show overall retail sales rose by just 1.2% in December compared with a year earlier — well below the 12-month average growth ...
Up to 3,000 skilled manufacturing jobs could be at risk unless the Ministry of Defence moves quickly to place a long-delayed helicopter order, according to industry sources close to the programme. Workers at Leonardo Helicopters’s Yeovil site in Somerset, the UK’s last remaining military helicopter factory, fear the company could close the facility as early as the end of March ...
Karavel, an AI-powered compliance platform built for highly regulated sectors, has secured £1.25 million in pre-seed funding in a round led by Fuel Ventures. The investment will support product development and accelerate Karavel’s commercial expansion across the UK and Europe, as the company looks to modernise compliance workflows for organisations facing increasingly complex regulatory scrutiny. Karavel is designed for legal, ...
Alphabet has become one of the world’s most valuable companies after its market capitalisation briefly passed $4 trillion, following confirmation that Apple will integrate Google’s artificial intelligence technology into its products this year. The boost came after Apple said it would introduce the technology underpinning Google’s Gemini chatbot into its ecosystem, including Siri, marking a major strategic endorsement of Alphabet’s ...
What football fans expect from sports sites has shifted completely. Dry match reports about yesterday’s game don’t cut it anymore. People want real-time numbers, instant updates, and analytics they can actually dig into. Site owners who want to keep visitors around have no choice — static pages need to become living information hubs, and data visualization tools make that happen. ...
Jonathan Charrier is a Montreal-based entrepreneur and the founder of Charrier Global Imports, a company that connects Quebec and North American consumers with specialty foods, artisanal goods, handcrafted clothing, and wellness products from around the world. He launched the business in 2012 after years of hands-on travel and study in international trade. Charrier grew up in Montreal’s Rosemont neighbourhood, surrounded ...
Meta has appointed former Trump administration adviser Dina Powell McCormick to a newly created senior leadership role, underlining the tech giant’s determination to accelerate its push into artificial intelligence infrastructure. The owner of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp said Powell McCormick will join the company as president and vice chairman, with a remit spanning global strategy, government engagement and capital partnerships, ...
Rising costs are pushing UK manufacturers dangerously close to an investment tipping point, with businesses warning that planned spending could be cancelled or moved overseas unless pressures ease. A new survey by Make UK, the manufacturing trade body, found that almost nine in ten industry leaders expect employment costs to rise this year, while two thirds anticipate higher energy bills. ...
Jeremy Clarkson has sparked a fresh debate about the pressures facing British agriculture after delivering a blunt response to a social media user who blamed Brexit for the struggles of UK farmers. The exchange followed a video Clarkson recorded in support of the farming advocacy campaign No Farmers, No Food, in which he called on the next government to put ...