Nearly 1m young Brits not in work as Reeves told to help youth February 26, 2026 The number of Neets, or young people not in education, employment or training, has increased to nearly 1m, official data has indicated, heightening fears over the long-term health of the UK economy. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) has suggested there were 957,000 people aged between 16 and 24 not working as of December in [...]
Birmingham driving service sector boom February 26, 2026 Birmingham has been at the front of a “service sector boom”, according to new research from Oxford Economics, helping to drive job creation across the wider region. The West Midlands combined authority (WMCA), which contains Britain’s second city, saw gross value added (GVA) in the services sector rise by an average of 4.2 per cent [...]
Premier League confirms streaming service – and it’s not called Premflix February 26, 2026 The Premier League is to launch a streaming platform in Singapore that could pave the way for a global direct-to-consumer “Premflix” product, CEO Richard Masters has confirmed. The long-rumoured new service, a collaboration with telco StarHub, is to be called Premier League + and show all 380 games live as well as magazine content, starting [...]
Formula 1 revenues soar to $4bn as sport cashes in on popularity February 26, 2026 Formula 1 is closing on annual revenues of $4bn after their recent accounts recorded a 14 per cent increase to $3.9bn. The healthy spike comes as Formula 1 parent company Liberty Media reported a rise in team payouts – by 11 per cent – to $1.4bn ahead of the 2026 season, which will see Cadillac [...]
Investec awards East London coffee enterprise Well Grounded £60k grant February 26, 2026 Financial giant Investec has awarded £60,000 to social enterprise Well Grounded, which plans to create 10,000 career opportunities in the coffee sector in the coming decade. Well Grounded, based in East London, runs speciality coffee training programmes for jobseekers and has placed over 1,000 Brits into the industry so far. Unemployment rose to its highest rate in [...]
Financial Times lays off staff as chief executive warns of ‘need for change’ February 26, 2026 The Financial Times has completed a round of layoffs, City AM understands, as the London newspaper’s new chief executive told staff of “the need for change” as part of an internal restructuring. Around a dozen roles across the paper’s Product and Tech department have been axed following a consultation process, according to internal communications seen [...]
Instagram to alert parents over teens’ harmful searches February 26, 2026 Instagram will start notifying parents if their teenager repeatedly searches for terms linked to suicide or self-harm, amid mounting political and legal pressure over child safety online. From next week, parents and teens enrolled in Instagram’s parental supervision tools in the UK, US, Australia and Canada will be told that new alerts are being introduced. [...]
London mayor gives green light for pedestrianised Oxford Street February 26, 2026 Sadiq Khan has signed off proposals to pedestrianise Oxford Street, ordering London’s transport authority to begin plans to remove traffic in a major shake-up the nation’s most popular shopping area. The London Mayor gave his approval to the plans on Thursday, claiming the “bold” proposal will transform the high street into a “world-leading” shopping and [...]
Britons grumble about hospitals despite Labour’s NHS drive February 26, 2026 Britons remain frustrated with the state of hospitals despite the Labour government’s push to splash out on the NHS, a new report has suggested. Polling by Ipsos for Deloitte and Re:State, a think tank focused on state capabilities, found that 42 per cent of Britons were dissatisfied with hospitals across the country. Under a third [...]
Watch: Spotlight turns on Reeves – and the state of our economy February 26, 2026 We haven’t heard much from Rachel Reeves so far this year – probably a deliberate strategy – but is the Chancellor set to make waves next week at the Spring Statement? Rachel Reeves didn’t have a great 2025. UK quarterly GDP growth peaked in Q1 at 0.7 per cent as firms front-loaded their activity to [...]