John Lewis’ new boss faces a battle to boost online sales August 12, 2026 Another cloud appeared in an already gloomy sky for John Lewis on Monday, when its managing director, Peter Ruis, announced his surprise departure. Just days before, an internal interview with the group’s chair, Jason Tarry, was leaked to the press, in which he warned of a “really tough” period for the firm. Ruis’s decision to [...]
Chelsea fans stunned as ticket sharing equated with sexual misconduct August 12, 2026 Chelsea have stunned supporters by equating unauthorised ticket sharing with sexual misconduct in their sanctioning guidelines for the new season. Premier League clubs are cracking down on ticket misuse but long-standing season ticket holders, who have long shared log-ins and built networks to help each other buy tickets, feel unfairly targeted. Bots and touts remain [...]
ChatGPT to follow Claude’s watermark pledge – but Grok to swerve it August 12, 2026 Elon Musk’s Grok is poised to swerve rivals’ plans to ‘watermark’ all artificially-generated content, City AM understands, after refusing to sign up to a European push forcing firms to make AI content traceable. xAI was the only major large language model maker to shun a European Union-led move to tighten AI transparency rules that means [...]
The European fintech American dream is being called into question August 12, 2026 A double US banking application blow has called into question the fintech dream of landing on Wall Street. In this week’s column, Samuel Norman takes a look at the expansion roadmap for Europe’s top fintechs as well as the latest response to the booming profits in UK banks half-year reports. Denied, denied, withdrawn. That is [...]
IT consultant ordered to pay £50,000 after being accused of stealing Soho House members’ personal details August 12, 2026 An IT consultant was ordered to repay £50,000 to his employer after being accused of stealing the personal details of members of London’s biggest private members’ club. Amit Sharma allegedly threatened to leak personal information of more than 50,000 members of Soho House unless he was sent a “seven figure” sum following a dispute over [...]
Energy discount scheme for homes near new pylons branded ‘bribe’ by Reform August 12, 2026 Households around north London and a series of other places where new pylons are being built will receive electricity bill discounts from next year in a scheme branded as a “bribe” by Reform UK. Families living in more than 40 locations across Britain — mostly in Scotland — will receive biannual cash discounts on bills. [...]
Inside Formula 1’s £10,000 hospitality ticket on the back of a moving lorry August 11, 2026 Formula 1 is expanding the roll-out of a £10,000-per-head hospitality experience which allows VIPs to dine on the track aboard a “travelling dining room”. The Out Lap kicked off in Spa before the summer break but will continue in Zandvoort, Monza and Madrid after a sell-out in Belgium as part of the mega-deal between Formula [...]
London Stock Exchange boss: We should know which companies our pensions are backing August 11, 2026 The boss of the London Stock Exchange has called on pension providers to be clearer about the make-up of their vast portfolios, arguing that greater transparency would encourage them to back more homegrown companies. Dame Julia Hoggett told City AM it should be easier for savers to determine where their retirement nest eggs are invested, [...]
NHS data counters claims that £330m Palantir deal has led to ‘no improvement’ August 11, 2026 Internal NHS data indicates that Palantir’s hospital discharge tool cut delays by as much as 28 per cent, City AM understands, challenging recent reports from critics of the tech giant that it had made “no noticeable improvement” to the healthcare system’s efficiency. According to an internal NHS England report seen by City AM, trusts using [...]
Ari Emmanuel snaps up West End theatre group ATG for £4.5bn August 11, 2026 Hollywood tycoon Ari Emmanuel has snapped up the theatre group behind West End venues including the Savoy and the Ambassadors in a deal worth around £4.5bn. Emmanuel, who runs an A-list media agency and helms the group which owns UFC, said the deal underscores the “growing power of live experience and the passionate audiences it [...]