Big Technologies founder talks collapse as profits rebound from boardroom battle September 14, 2026 Big Technologies’ bitter battle with founder Sara Murray has flared up again after settlement talks collapsed, overshadowing a return to statutory profit and a raised outlook at the electronic monitoring group. The AIM-listed company said on Monday that mediated discussions with Murray had ended without an agreement, meaning it would continue pursuing legal proceedings against [...]
Burnham told to deliver 10 per cent hospitality VAT after backing tax cut September 14, 2026 More than 800 hospitality businesses have called on Andy Burnham to make good on his support for lower VAT, piling pressure on the prime minister ahead of next month’s Budget. Pub giants, restaurant chains, hotels and some of Britain’s best-known chefs have signed an open letter demanding the government cut hospitality VAT from 20 per [...]
Reform hits back at Tory plan to ‘abolish inheritance tax’ September 13, 2026 The Conservatives and Reform UK have clashed over plans to abolish inheritance tax as Kemi Badenoch prepares to put tax cuts at the heart of her pitch to voters. Badenoch is considering pledging to scrap inheritance tax if the Tories win the next general election, with the policy potentially forming the centrepiece of her party [...]
OpenAI delays IPO as Altman says safety comes first September 13, 2026 OpenAI has pushed back plans for a mega stock market debut as boss Sam Altman said the company needed to focus on AI safety before opening itself up to public investors. Altman said OpenAI would not float in 2026, telling Fortune there was still “a lot of stuff to do” around safety, alignment and how [...]
Rayner warns Reform’s £72m crypto windfall could be caught by new donor rules September 13, 2026 Angela Rayner has warned Reform UK that its record £72m fundraising haul from two cryptocurrency billionaires could be caught by retrospective rules being pushed through parliament. The housing secretary said new restrictions on political donations from Britons living abroad, or those who have recently returned to the UK, would be backdated as ministers seek to [...]
Anthropic boss warns AI could ‘outrun our ability’ to control it September 13, 2026 Anthropic boss Dario Amodei has called for the AI industry to slow the development of its most powerful models, warning that progress is moving “drastically faster” than safety work can keep up. In an essay published on Saturday, Amodei said frontier AI companies should deliberately pace advances in model capabilities, open their systems to independent [...]
Burnham eyes youth minimum wage rethink as jobs crisis bites September 13, 2026 Andy Burnham’s government is considering slowing planned minimum wage rises for young workers amid concerns that higher employment costs are making businesses more reluctant to hire them. Downing Street and the Treasury are examining whether the rapid increase in wages for under-21s has contributed to Britain’s youth jobs crisis, Bloomberg first reported, as ministers prepare [...]
Government admits Burnham’s Whitehall shake-up leaves tech policy in limbo September 11, 2026 Nearly two months after Andy Burnham abolished Britain’s technology department, ministers have admitted parts of the former department still have nowhere to go. A long-awaited breakdown of the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) carve-up revealed a “small number of policy areas” are yet to be allocated, while some staff are still waiting to [...]
Anthropic blocks AI weapon plots after ‘catastrophic’ risk warning September 11, 2026 Anthropic has blocked attempts to use its AI models to help develop biological and conventional weapons, days after its own researchers sounded the alarm over the risks posed by increasingly powerful AI. The Claude-maker uncovered five cases in which researchers used its technology “in ways that could support biological weapons development”, according to a new [...]
Anthropic touts ‘strongest safeguards’ as AI warning dogs IPO push September 10, 2026 Anthropic has defended its safety record after an exiting researcher accused the AI behemoth of “gambling with our lives”, as scrutiny builds ahead of a possible IPO. The Claude maker said it has “some of the strongest safeguards in the industry” and has long been open about the risks posed by increasingly powerful AI. “We [...]
