Car finance compensation could be the spend signal that boosts the economy February 6, 2026 When consumers receive cash that corrects a past wrong, they use it to replace cars, clear household bills, book holidays and support small businesses. That spending ripples through the economy far faster than most top-down interventions, says Brandon Lewis When bankers were finally forced to confront the true scale of the Payment Protection Insurance (PPI) [...]
I left London to go back to Venezuela – here’s the brutal, hopeful truth February 5, 2026 Jeanmiguel Uva returned to Caracas after Donald Trump toppled Maduro. He found a patchy recovery and a people yearning to be part of a thriving economy again When my father moved to Venezuela in the 1960s, the country was open to the world. Waves of immigrants, particularly from Italy, Spain and Portugal, followed the oil [...]
Mandelson car crash shows Starmer’s Labour has no ideology, only in-fighting February 5, 2026 Peter Mandelson was given the job because he’s from the right faction of the Labour party. Keir Starmer’s government doesn’t believe in anything except fighting itself, says John McTernan Politics is – at its best – a battle of ideas. Successful politicians need to be able to fight and think at the same time. Peter [...]
Gorton and Denton by-election will be a snapshot of Britain in chaos February 5, 2026 The upcoming Gorton and Denton by-election is a four-way fight with each party pitching itself as the best way to block the other, says Helen Thomas The upcoming Gorton and Denton by-election is shaping up to be one of the most frenzied of recent times. By-elections are often used by voters to send a message [...]
Starmer’s faith in Mandelson was a catastrophic error of judgement February 5, 2026 If Keir Starmer had hoped that his own indignation, doubtless sincerely felt, would put distance between Downing Street and the Peter Mandelson scandal, he was mistaken. Amid dramatic and at times chaotic scenes in the House of Commons yesterday, the Prime Minister was forced into a humiliating u-turn as opposition and Labour MPs united to [...]
Women-only Tube carriages are a terrible, unworkable idea February 5, 2026 Sex offences on public transport in London are soaring, but the solution is better policing and security across the network not voluntary gender segregation, argues James Ford Harold Macmillan, in a speech in 1961, said that the Liberals (as they were still then called) “offer a mixture of sound and original ideas…unfortunately none of the [...]
Openclaw just showed how fast your workforce can outrun your controls February 5, 2026 Openclaw, a rapidly adopted open-source and autonomous personal AI assistant, is significantly increasing “Shadow AI” risk within organisations by operating locally, coordinating tasks across systems, and even creating a social network for agents, says Paul Armstrong Editing this piece took longer than expected because the subject wouldn’t stay still long enough to cooperate. Clawdbot became [...]
London doesn’t need an ambassador Mayor – it needs a chief executive February 5, 2026 The capital punches below its weight because it can’t govern itself. Slash the number of boroughs, reform the London Assembly and give the Mayor revenue-raising powers to unleash London, says Joe Hill To be the Mayor of London is to be the leader of a global capital city. It is a different job to the [...]
Political risk is back – and financial services are most exposed February 4, 2026 As global politics becomes more volatile and the state accounts for more activity, political risk is becoming a major factor in investment decisions – and the smartest firms are pricing it in, says Benedict McAleenan There’s a meme on social media where people post photos of themselves in the innocent days of early 2016. Gen [...]
Lime policy chief: Retime traffic lights to make London cyclists safer February 4, 2026 London should follow Copengahen and Amsterdam by retiming traffic lights to reward safe cyclists, writes Lime policy director Hal Stevenson.