Place your bets: Will Starmer stay in No 10 longer than England stay in the World Cup? June 4, 2026 He’s faced a difficult few weeks amid mounting scrutiny over his team selection and doubts over his wider strategy after a string of poor performances. If England bow out at this summer’s World Cup, will he survive? No, we’re not talking about team manager, Thomas Tuchel, but the beleaguered Prime Minister Keir Starmer. It’s been [...]
Why Richard Harpin sold half of homeServe for half a million pounds — and what he’d do differently June 4, 2026 At SCALE SUMMIT on 23 April, HomeServe founder Sir Richard Harpin joined SCALE Chairman Andrew B Morris for a Chairman’s Chat on the decisions, mistakes and principles behind one of Britain’s most remarkable entrepreneurial journeys. Richard Harpin built HomeServe from nothing into a £4.1 billion business sold to Brookfield in 2023. Over 30 years, he [...]
Savvy the Squirrel and ‘simpler regulation’: New City minister reaffirms Labour’s investment push June 4, 2026 The government’s new City minister has doubled down on the government’s commitment to overhaul the UK’s investment culture and encourage more Brits to enter the stock market, including its new squirrel-themed nationwide campaign. Economic Secretary to the Treasury Rachel Blake, who took over from Lucy Rigby three weeks ago, noted that “too many people have [...]
National Lottery operator sees ‘inflection point’ despite drop in revenue June 4, 2026 The operator of the National Lottery has revealed lower UK sales and earnings for the start of the year but said it saw an “inflection point” on the horizon its British arm. Allwyn, the European gaming operator who took over the UK National lottery in 2024, booked revenue growth of around a fifth in the [...]
Gone for good: UK distributor behind Take That film goes bust June 4, 2026 The London-based distributor behind the Take That musical film has gone bust, City AM can reveal, in the latest sign of the intense cost pressures facing the industry. Elysian Film Group Distribution is part of the wider Elysian umbrella, founded by former Studiocanal chief Danny Perkins in 2018. FRP Advisory has been appointed as liquidators [...]
British pensions are about to bankroll the American tech revolution June 4, 2026 Pension managers owe their members returns, not national loyalty. Any pension manager who ignored potentially transformational businesses purely because they were American would rightly face scrutiny, but commercial logic isn’t the same thing as national advantage.
WPP Media CEO: Creative industries should bet big on London, the city of brilliant lunatics June 4, 2026 London has been named the best city in the world for culture - it should be creative industries' first choice, writes WPP Media's Kate Rowlinson.
Ash Sarkar says she will ‘never work with SXSW again’ after Hasan Piker visa row June 4, 2026 Ash Sarkar has said she will never work with SXSW again after withdrawing from the festival over its handling of the Hasan Piker visa row, accusing organisers of failing to defend invited speakers barred from entering the UK. The Novara Media commentator pulled out of SXSW London after organisers responded to the Home Office’s decision [...]
£4.5bn black market cigarette tax loss should be ‘a major wake-up call’ for Labour June 4, 2026 Over half of cigarettes smoked in the UK are black market and are contributing £4.5bn to the country’s tax losses – a record high – according to new analysis from KPMG and tobacco giant Philip Morris. The findings show that 1.5bn more black-market, tax-free cigarettes were consumed by UK smokers last year compared to 2024, [...]
Lex Greensill banned as company director for nine years after multi-billion-pound collapse June 4, 2026 The UK Insolvency Service has confirmed that financier Lex Greensill will face a nine-year ban from serving as a company director, after he signed a legally binding disqualification undertaking to resolve long-running enforcement proceedings just days before a scheduled High Court trial. The Insolvency Service, which opened its probe into him in 2022, filed a [...]