The cult of cute: The strange drama of corporate mascots April 21, 2026 While they remind us of our childhoods, mascots are as much a part of corporate culture as ever. Simon Coates asks why Last winter the language learning app Duolingo announced the death of its cartoon mascot, Duo the Owl. Duo had died, they said, after being hit by a car while he was waiting for [...]
Sainsbury’s to deliver food inflation update as Argos future could be settled April 21, 2026 After Tesco hit back against fears of double-digit food inflation last week, supermarket rival Sainsbury’s is set to update the market this week. From the Iran war to the future of Argos, Felix Armstrong looks ahead to a landmark set of results due on Thursday. Sainsbury’s spooked shoppers last week when it threatened people caught swapping [...]
CURA and TITAN Group: Innovation Partnership for the Validation of Low-carbon Cement Technology April 20, 2026 The partnership will test electrochemical limestone splitting technology and explore its deployment across TITAN’s global cement operations
KBRA Releases Research – European CLO Manager Style Comparisons: April 2026 Update April 20, 2026 KBRA releases a report that compares collateralised loan obligation (CLO) manager styles or approaches to investing in leveraged loan pools. As part of KBRA’s series on European CLO manager styles, this report follows our September 2025 update, highlighting key changes since that publication and focusing on the differences between CLO managers when evaluated across selected [...]
AI could be picking your coffee as startup takes £2m April 20, 2026 An AI-powered coffee vending machine which tells its users when and what it might like to drink is set to spring up in forecourts, gyms and campuses across the country. Unity Coffee, which uses AI to offer tailored discounts based on the time and user behaviour, has completed a £2m fundraising and aims to “disrupt” [...]
Volkswagen Golf R 2026 long-term review: First report April 20, 2026 The Volkswagen Golf R ticks a lot of boxes on paper, but what is this 333hp hot hatchback like to live with? Tim Pitt finds out. If you could only own one car, what would it be? My initial impulse says a Ferrari F40 – the poster I had blu-tacked to my bedroom wall. However, [...]
Constitution Hill flat racing switch helps horse racing attendances surge April 20, 2026 Former Champion Hurdle winner Constitution Hill’s shift to the flat has been cited for an increase in horse racing attendances across the UK. Nearly 700,000 people attended a British racecourse in the first quarter of 2026, up nearly five per cent on last year and up on 2024. With hard numbers fueled by a huge [...]
Britain’s Potemkin economy April 20, 2026 The compliance industrial complex means vast swathes of the economy – from HR to ESG to EDI – are entirely dependent on the state, says Elliot Keck If the UK was an American state we would be the poorest, according to new research from the Institute of Economic Affairs. How did we get here? Surely [...]
St John Ambulance receives Health Lottery Foundation grant to extend Young Responders programme April 20, 2026 First aid and healthcare charity to deliver essential first aid initiative targeted at young people across the East Midlands for the first time. Thanks to players of The Health Lottery, St John Ambulance has received a grant of nearly a quarter of a million pounds from the Health Lottery Foundation to expand its Young Responders programme [...]
LR Launches New Generation in the “Beauty-Food” Segment April 20, 2026 Ahlen company further develops its 5in1 Shots