NBA Europe open to sovereign wealth and in talks with family offices January 18, 2026 The NBA is open to sovereign wealth funds buying franchises in its proposed European basketball league, says the US sports giant’s commissioner Adam Silver. Speaking in London ahead of the NBA game on Sunday at the O2 and a presentation to potential commercial partners the following morning, Silver said the league and its advisors were [...]
Regional stadiums: the infrastructure solution for WSL and women’s football? January 18, 2026 Women’s football is one of the fastest growing sports and investment opportunities in the UK right now – think Michelle Kang’s cash injection at London City Lionesses or Alexis Ohanian’s £20m investment in Chelsea Women. In the 2023/24 season Deloitte reported that the 12 Women’s Super League (WSL) football clubs generated an aggregate revenue of £65m [...]
Close Brothers: How the motor finance scandal reshaped one of ‘Europe’s least cost-efficient lenders’ January 18, 2026 Nearly two years ago Close Brothers chief executive said the bank would take “decisive actions” to strengthen its financial standing. The bold overhaul of the lender’s capital structure came amid the Financial Conduct Authority’s (FCA) review into the motor finance industry – a sector which made up 20 per cent of its £9.5bn loan book [...]
Kemi Badenoch joins protesters calling for Government to stop China mega-embassy January 17, 2026 Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch called for the Government to stop China’s proposed central London “mega-embassy” when she spoke at a protest on Saturday. The Government is facing mounting calls to reject Beijing’s plans for the embassy at Royal Mint Court over security concerns. Hundreds of protesters gathered outside the site on Saturday afternoon, some [...]
The Jenga Effect: Why professional rugby’s collapse has already happened January 17, 2026 Professional rugby is not approaching collapse; it is recognising one that already occurred and mistaking that recognition for failure. What we are watching across leagues, unions and competitions is not chaos, bad luck or incompetence finally catching up, but the delayed visibility of a structural outcome that was locked in years ago. What feels sudden [...]
ChatGPT to trial adverts for some users for the first time January 17, 2026 Online AI tool ChatGPT will begin to show users adverts for the first time, as it looks to recover from financial losses. Open AI, the bot’s developer, said it would start displaying adverts in the coming weeks based on what people ask ChatGPT as well as personal data the tool stores on users. Relevant ads [...]
‘He’s an idiot’: Musk and Ryanair boss trade insults in Starlink row January 17, 2026 A spat over in-flight Wi-Fi has spiralled into a verbal brawl between Elon Musk and Ryanair chief executive Michael O’Leary. The clash tumbled into the open after O’Leary dismissed Musk and his satellite internet business Starlink in a radio interview on Ireland’s Newstalk, calling him “an idiot”. The verbal row widened to O’Leary telling listeners [...]
Sack Streeting, cabinet ministers urge Starmer January 17, 2026 Sir Keir Starmer has faced calls from cabinet ministers to follow Kemi Badenoch’s playbook and sack health secretary Wes Streeting for disloyalty. Ministers are becoming increasingly frustrated about Streeting’s forthright public criticisms of the Labour party, with some privately accusing him of putting his leadership ambitions first and “attacking No 10”. One cabinet minister told [...]
UK ready to mirror US with female athletes becoming investors January 17, 2026 For three consecutive years, not a single female athlete has appeared among the world’s 100 highest-paid athletes. The bar keeps rising. In 2025, the threshold jumped to $53.6m, up 19 per cent year on year. Coco Gauff, the highest-earning female athlete in the world, made $34.4m and still fell nearly $20m short. Meanwhile the global [...]
Tough year ahead as businesses face compliance and investigation storm January 17, 2026 A wave of complex regulations and cross-border probes is set to test the resilience of businesses worldwide in the coming year; at the same time, resource constraints expose vulnerabilities. A staggering 82 per cent of global businesses fear being hit by cross-border or multi-agency investigations this year, according to a new report by law firm [...]