Can wine school teach me to talk like a sommelier? October 22, 2026 Could a day spent learning to tell your Pinots from your plonks at London’s WSET turn the average wine-lover into a bona fide wine connoisseur? Carys Sharkey finds out The UK’s wine sector is going through a period of chop and change. The UK is still the second largest importer of wine in the world, [...]
Healey: I want to help bloody-minded founders October 22, 2026 John Healey has pledged to devote next week’s Budget to “bloody-minded entrepreneurs”, acknowledging small and fast-growing businesses have been “under pressure” from a barrage of fresh taxes and regulation. The Chancellor said he would clamp down on the “cost of business” as well as on the cost of living, promising to patch up relations with [...]
Harriet Green: What led me to the City? An infomercial headed ‘Sisters are Doin’ It for Themselves’ October 22, 2026 Harriet Green OBE, former CEO of Thomas Cook and IBM Asia, takes us through her career in Square Mile and Me.
Budget 2026: Consumer confidence tumbles as Healey urged to slow ‘tsunami of costs’ October 22, 2026 John Healey has been urged to tackle the “tsunami of costs” facing firms as consumer confidence tumbled ahead of the crucial Budget next week. Brits’ confidence in the state of the economy worsened from -32 to -40 in October, according to the British Retail Consortium (BRC)’s index, marking the third consecutive month of deteriorating sentiment. [...]
Warehouse tax ‘dropped over fears of Trump trade war’ October 21, 2026 Andy Burnham’s plans for a so-called ‘warehouse tax’ were dropped over fears a raid on US firms like Amazon could spark a trade war with Donald Trump, a top industry body has claimed. The Prime Minister, during his campaign to become Makerfield MP, pledged to hike business rates on “out of town” warehouses to fund [...]
Barclays set for investment bank boost as Venkat’s overhaul in focus October 20, 2026 Barclays‘ investment bank could be in line for another major boost. But Samuel Norman takes a look at the progress investors will be wanting to hear on its latest strategy plans. When CS Venkatakrishnan laid out his sweeping restructuring of Barclays he promised a “simpler, better and more balanced” bank. Key to this was reducing [...]
Andy Haldane: This will be ‘a Budget for the backbenchers, not business’ October 20, 2026 A former Bank of England chief economist has warned he expects to see “further borrowing” and “further tax rises” in next week’s Budget as he threw his weight behind Kemi Badenoch’s plan on the UK economy. Speaking at an Ipsos event, Andy Haldane said the Budget has been a “less lengthy and a less leaky [...]
Greene King boss: Pub industry ‘reaching breaking point’ October 20, 2026 The finance boss of Greene King has warned that soaring taxes and employment costs have pushed the UK’s hospitality industry to “breaking point”. Jonathan Fearn, finance chief of the privately-owned pub chain, said decisions taken by the Labour government have “created a cocktail of costs, which have made it ever harder for a pub to [...]
When will Burnham bring his whole self to work? October 20, 2026 There have been relatively few Budget leaks ahead of next week’s fiscal event but the little we have been able to discern, while still technically in the realms of speculation, has been depressing. The latest suggestion – that people handing over the reins of a family business to the next generation could be hit with [...]
Forget The Ritz: Inside the Paris hotel loved by Madonna and Charli October 20, 2026 Paris, 2am: the windmill outside the Moulin Rouge slows to a stop. Surely that is the signal the party’s over. However, a two-minute walk away, another neon sign lures Pigalle’s party set. The letters spelling out ‘Bus Palladium’ climb vertically up the side of a 12-storey building on Rue Pierre Fontaine. Paris, 2:30am: in the [...]