Olympic swimmers to take on length of Thames in sewage protest August 29, 2025 Olympic-level swimmers are set to navigate the length of the Thames next week in a bid to highlight calls for better protection from pollution of the UK’s waterways, lakes and seas. Eight elite swimmers are taking part in the non-stop relay, which will begin at the source of the Thames in Gloucestershire on Monday and [...]
What the FCA scam surge tells us about fraud in 2025 August 29, 2025 When fraudulent actors start posing as the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) itself, you know the scam problem has entered a new phase. The UK’s chief financial regulator confirmed this week that it has already received nearly 5,000 reports of impersonation scams in the first half of 2025, with almost 500 victims tricked into handing over [...]
Home Office wins appeal to keep asylum seekers in Epping hotel August 29, 2025 Asylum seekers will be allowed to stay at a hotel in Epping, after the Court of Appeal overturned a previous ruling from the High Court. The decision from the second highest court in the UK means that the 138 men currently housed at The Bell Hotel in the Essex town can stay put. Earlier in [...]
Investec raises growth forecast and backs November interest rate cut August 29, 2025 Global banking firm Investec has lifted its growth projections for the UK economy with another interest rate cut pencilled in for 2025. The financial services company expects the UK economy to grow 1.5 per cent this year and 1.6 per cent in 2026. This trumps the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) forecast, which expects the [...]
Government under fire as data breach review finally goes public August 29, 2025 The government has released a long-delayed review of its own data handling practices, following pressure from MPs, which raises questions about the ability of Whitehall to safeguard sensitive information. This review comes at a time when digital transformation is intended to reshape public services. The Information Security Review, carried out in 2023 but withheld from [...]
National Insurance ‘final nail in coffin’ for landlords as some already seek exit August 29, 2025 A national insurance raid on landlords’ rental income risks being the final straw for smaller landlords, with some already making plans to leave the sector. The Chancellor is reportedly examining proposals for applying national insurance (NI) to rental income in the hope of raising £2bn. Earnings from property, pensions and savings are currently largely exempt from NI [...]
Premier League spending hurtles towards £3bn mark August 29, 2025 Alexander Isak’s on-off transfer from Newcastle United to Liverpool will not be of interest only to fans and bean-counters on Tyneside and Merseyside. The protracted deal is also one for the transfer data crunchers and historians of English football’s top flight, given that it could represent the passing of multiple financial milestones. Isak’s transfer fee [...]
Alibaba unveils new AI chip as Nvidia’s China headache deepens August 29, 2025 China’s tech giants are racing to plug the gap left by Washington’s export bans, with Alibaba rolling out a new AI processor designed to replace Nvidia’s restricted H20 chip. The e-commerce titan, now also the country’s largest cloud-computing group, said the chip is more versatile than its predecessors and is aimed squarely at domestic AI [...]
House sales rise in summer, but will property tax rumours kill confidence? August 29, 2025 The UK housing market has proved remarkably resilient this year despite significant pressures, with sales on track to match 2022 highs. The number of UK residential transactions in July was 95,580, four per cent higher than July 2024 and one per cent higher than June 2025, according to the latest data from HMRC. The market [...]
Assets at Evelyn Partners hit a record high amid tax raid speculation August 29, 2025 Evelyn Partners has maintained its run of strong inflows, as speculation about pension changes drives customers to seek wealth management advice. The wealth management firm generated £3.7bn of gross inflows in the first half of the year, a seven per cent jump from the £3.5bn recorded in 2024. Assets under management (AUM) reached a record [...]