The five fintech segments to watch August 18, 2025 Global fintech funding slumped to its worst half-year in five years in the first six months of 2025. Investment reached $44bn (£32.47bn), falling from $54.2bn the year prior, whilst the number of deals fell from 2,376 to 2,216. Weak investment in the three months to June 31 2025, hurt the headline figures, with just $18.7bn [...]
Is Perplexity’s $34.5bn bid for Google Chrome strictly a power move? August 17, 2025 Artificial intelligence start-up Perplexity AI has made an unsolicited $34.5bn (£25.4bn) all-cash offer for Google’s Chrome browser, in a move that some analysts say is as much about signalling intent as it is about striking a deal. The San Francisco-based company revealed the bid on Tuesday, reported Reuters, claiming it had secured backing from several [...]
UK inflation to rise as summer spending pushes up hotels and airfares August 17, 2025 UK inflation is set to have edged higher last month as summer spending pushed up flight and hotel costs, and food prices continue to climb. One economist said an “Oasis bump” could have contributed to higher accommodation prices in July. Consumer Prices Index (CPI) inflation is widely expected to have increased in July, from the [...]
Who owns each Premier League club as US shareholdings boom? August 17, 2025 British firms or individuals are the biggest shareholders in just five Premier League clubs as US ownership booms ahead of the new season. Tony Bloom’s 96 per cent shareholding in Brighton and Hove Albion is the largest British stake in a Premier League club while Matthew Benham’s significant holding in Brentford is the only other [...]
AI to help slash NHS hospital discharge delays, officials say August 16, 2025 Technology is being piloted to help free up NHS hospital beds which are occupied by people fit to be sent home, officials have announced. The platform uses artificial intelligence (AI) to help complete the documents needed to discharge patients, potentially saving hours of delays. The move will allow doctors to spend less time on paperwork [...]
Rayner claims Reform will ‘fail women’ as she weighs in on online safety row August 16, 2025 Nigel Farage and Reform UK risk “failing a generation of young women” if they scrap online safety laws aimed at preventing revenge porn, Angela Rayner has said. The Deputy Prime Minister demanded Farage explain how his party would keep young women safe when they use the internet, after Reform vowed to repeal the Online Safety [...]
Starmer speaks with Trump after president’s Ukraine ceasefire talks with Putin August 16, 2025 Sir Keir Starmer has spoken with Donald Trump after the US president’s summit with Vladimir Putin ended without a deal to stop the war in Ukraine. The Prime Minister joined a call with Trump and Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky, as well as other European leaders, after the US-Russia ceasefire talks, Downing Street said. Trump did not [...]
‘Alarming’ drop in UK consumer confidence over last year August 16, 2025 Consumer confidence in the future UK economy has plummeted over the last year, figures suggest. Confidence has tumbled by 31 points over the last year, from an average of minus nine between May and July 2024 to an average of minus 40 between May and July this year, Which?’s Consumer Insight Tracker shows. On average [...]
Premier League: How to spot, and avoid, ticket scams August 16, 2025 With the Premier League back across the country, how do fans avoid being scammed by fraudsters to the tune of hundreds of pounds? Fraud is currently the most prevalent crime against individuals in the UK, accounting for an estimated 41 per cent reflected in the Crime Survey for England and Wales for the year ending [...]
The luxury market’s betrayal of Gen Z August 16, 2025 In 2022, Gen Z and Millennials accounted for the entirety of the luxury market’s growth. The latest data, however, shows something of an exodus of younger buyers: Around 50m customers – about an eighth of the base – left the market last year, “in particular” the younger ones, according to Bain’s latest luxury report. A [...]