Across the UK and internationally, homeowners are rethinking how they use their outdoor spaces. Gardens are no longer simply areas for planting or summer barbecues. Increasingly, they are being transformed into functional, stylish extensions of the home. This growing focus on outdoor living presents clear opportunities for businesses across design, retail, landscaping and property services. Consumer expectations are evolving, and ...
Let me start with this: most bias isn’t loud. It doesn’t storm into the room or make a scene. It’s subtle. It hides behind compliments, casual comments, and unspoken assumptions. And that’s exactly why we need to prioritise talking about it. In today’s workplaces, many of us genuinely want to be inclusive. We pride ourselves on being self-aware, open-minded, and fair. ...
UK food price inflation accelerated in June as soaring temperatures and extreme weather hit fruit and vegetable harvests, pushing up prices at supermarket tills. New figures from the British Retail Consortium (BRC) show annual food price inflation climbed to 3.7% in June, up from 2.8% in May. This marks the first overall rise in shop price inflation in nearly a ...
Tech companies including Google, Amazon, Microsoft and Palantir proposed a range of futuristic—and controversial—ideas for managing UK offenders at a closed-door meeting with the justice secretary, it has emerged. According to minutes seen by The Guardian, representatives from over two dozen technology firms met with Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood and Prisons Minister James Timpson in London last month. The Ministry ...
Chancellor Rachel Reeves is preparing to unveil a reduction in the tax-free allowance for cash ISAs, as part of a broader move to channel household savings into London-listed firms and reinvigorate the UK’s capital markets. According to the Financial Times, Reeves will use her Mansion House speech to announce a cut to the current £20,000 tax-free cash savings limit available ...
Business leaders’ confidence in the UK economy has fallen sharply, as the full impact of government tax increases and rising cost pressures begins to take hold, according to the latest data from the Institute of Directors (IoD). The Directors’ Economic Confidence Index — a key barometer of UK business sentiment — dropped to -53 in June 2025, down from -35 ...
The Crown Estate has reported a record £1.1 billion in net revenue profit for the second consecutive year, thanks largely to a surge in offshore windfarm “option fees” paid by developers. However, the King’s property company has warned this windfall will soon pass, with profits expected to “normalise” from 2026. The bumper profits were driven by payments from energy companies ...
Senior UK industry figures have issued a stark warning over the government’s new packaging tax, branding it “horrific” and economically damaging. The finalised Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) scheme, published by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) on Friday, will make producers pay the cost of recycling their packaging from October. Though the final fees are slightly lower ...
The ninth day of the ongoing High Court trial between PPE Medpro and the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) turned attention to the government’s handling of surplus PPE stock—specifically, why no effort was made to repurpose or sell the £122 million-worth of gowns supplied by PPE Medpro. Two expert witnesses, Andrew New for the DHSC and Igor Popovic ...
Barclays is back in court this week seeking to overturn a landmark Financial Ombudsman ruling concerning undisclosed commission payments in motor finance—a case that could open the floodgates to hundreds of millions of pounds in compensation claims. The appeal comes after the bank lost a High Court challenge in December, when Mr Justice Kerr dismissed its application for judicial review ...