UK economy sees fastest services orders slowdown since Liz Truss August 5, 2025 Hopes of a quick recovery to the UK economy are fading as orders in the services sector fell at the fastest rate since Liz Truss’ mini-budget in late 2022, fresh data has suggested. S&P Global’s latest composite purchasing managers’ index (PMI) showed a fall from a score of 52 in June to 51.5, which remains [...]
Ordnance Survey: Financial services firms help boost sales to new record August 5, 2025 Profit at Ordnance Survey has slipped despite its revenue jumping to almost £200m during the historic company’s latest financial year. The Southampton-headquartered business, which traces its roots back to the reign of George III, has posted a pre-tax profit of £17.6m for the 12 months to 31 March, 2025, down from the £22m it achieved [...]
Migrant returns deal to begin ‘within days’ August 5, 2025 The UK’s migrant returns deal with France is set to begin “within days”, the government has said, as Home Office officials brace to defend the pact against any legal challenges after “learning from the errors” of the previous government’s Rwanda deal. In the first agreement of its kind, the UK will return dozens of illegal [...]
Ouch! Starmer and Reeves now less popular than Donald Trump August 5, 2025 Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves are now less popular than Donald Trump in the eyes of British voters. According to the latest City AM/Freshwater survey, Donald Trump and his on-off acolyte Elon Musk are ferociously unpopular with the average UK citizen. More than 57 per cent of respondents told pollsters they had an unfavourable view [...]
Brits are gloomy – and not just about the weather August 5, 2025 Writers often agonise over how a column performs. I can see how many people read the online version of the Editor’s Letter and while our analytics don’t yet tell me what people make of my opinions they often spark a lively debate on LinkedIn. That can be satisfying, but that’s a self-selecting crowd of people [...]
Inaccurate crime rate statistics have gaslighted the British public August 5, 2025 The UK government knows very little about the people it governs. From crime rates to the labour market, this has real consequences.
On this day: Gibraltar is captured by the British August 4, 2025 On this day in 1704, Gibraltar was surrendered to the Anglo-Dutch fleet. 321 years later, Eliot Wilson looks at what that means today.
Labour’s Lord Kinnock: Slap VAT on private healthcare August 4, 2025 Labour's Lord Kinnock has called on the government to start charging VAT on private medical insurance in order to raise funds for the NHS
President Donald Trump could be given Freedom of the City of London August 4, 2025 President Donald Trump could be offered the Freedom of the City of London during his second state visit to the UK in September. The Independent has reported that the Freedom is on the table to get the US President in the room with the City of London Corporation, which hopes to use the symbolic honour [...]
Rachel Reeves admits Labour has disappointed Brits August 2, 2025 Chancellor Rachel Reeves has admitted that the Labour government has disappointed some Brits after it raised £40bn in taxes at last year’s Autumn Budget. The Labour government have come under fire for its high-tax and high-spend policies in power despite claiming it would be more business-friendly during electoral campaigns last year. Now Rachel Reeves has [...]