Newcastle United and Everton stadium sales are not solutions, they are delays April 5, 2026 There is a growing sense that elite football is attempting to outmanoeuvre its own reality. Not by solving its structural financial challenges, but by creatively working around them. The recent moves involving Newcastle United and Everton’s stadiums are not clever innovations, but symptoms of a system still unwilling to face the truth. Newcastle’s move to [...]
Saba’s final push sparks investment trust reckoning April 5, 2026 Edinburgh Worldwide Investment Trust has caved to years of pressure from US activist investor, Saba. Its chair tells Ali Lyon why it is asking shareholders to vote to break up the fund, and what it says about the wider investment trust industry. To Jonathan Simpson-Dent, being labelled a fraud, a liar and a romantic luddite [...]
Barclays reverses branch cuts as bank managers return to high street April 4, 2026 Barclays is planning to expand its high street presence and revive the “bank manager” role after years of rapid branch closures. The bank’s UK chief executive Vim Maru told the Times on Saturday that Barclays would increase its branch network beyond its current 206 sites, having already paused a programme that saw it shut around [...]
Back of the Netflix: Sports content is fuelling wave of ad-funded streaming April 4, 2026 Owning live rights is no longer the only way for streaming platforms like Netflix to capture sports audiences, writes Chris Keenan. Could there be a way to engage sports audiences without the billions spent on traditional broadcast rights? It’s this thinking that appears to be shaping Netflix’s latest moves. Over the past year, the streaming [...]
Musk turns SpaceX IPO into sales push for Grok April 4, 2026 Elon Musk is using SpaceX’s blockbuster IPO to do more than raise capital, he is also driving adoption of AI business. Banks and advisers working on the listing have been required to purchase subscriptions to Grok, the chatbot developed by xAI, it was reported on Saturday. Several firms have already agreed to spend tens of [...]
OpenAI reshuffles leadership as IPO plans loom April 4, 2026 OpenAI is reshaping its leadership team as it prepares for its next phase of growth, with senior executives moving roles and others stepping back. The company confirmed that longtime chief operating officer Brad Lightcap will transition into a new role focused on special projects, reporting directly to chief executive Sam Altman. In the position, Lightcap [...]
Tories brace for heavy losses as Badenoch outpolls rivals April 4, 2026 Five years ago, the Conservatives were polling at around 40 per cent, buoyed by the vaccine rollout and post-Brexit momentum, and went on to gain 235 seats in the 2021 local elections. But ahead of May’s vote, that position seems to have shifted. Political scientist Stephen Fisher has suggested the party could lose as many [...]
Labour to curb jail terms for shoplifters as retail crime fears grow April 4, 2026 Labour’s plans to scrap most prison sentences of under a year will see thousands of prolific shoplifters avoid jail, in a move that risks intensifying pressure on retailers already warning of rising violence and disorder. The changes, introduced under the Sentencing Act, mean around 98 per cent of shoplifters currently in custody would instead qualify [...]
World Cup no longer has global audience – and that’s a marketers challenge April 4, 2026 The domestic football season is hurtling towards its conclusion and, despite England’s drab international break and talk of boycotts, World Cup fever is starting to build. Soon, wallcharts will be pinned up, vintage England kits pulled out from the back of the wardrobe, and Three Lions will find its way onto office playlists. However, this [...]
School of Hard Knocks and Investec celebrate spring rugby tournament April 3, 2026 Around 350 boys and girls used rugby to test their teamwork, resilience and determination as the School of Hard Knocks celebrated its latest Eton Manor RFC spring tournament. The two-day event, backed by international bank and wealth manager Investec, saw students joined by Red Roses legend Shaunagh Brown and the president of English rugby’s governing [...]