Housing secretary Steve Reed ‘overly optimistic’ for betting jobs on housing targets October 22, 2025 The government’s housing secretary, Steve Reed, continues to be optimistic about the chance of a pledge to build 1.5m new homes in England despite mounting concern about delays. Earlier this week, Reed said that he would “absolutely” meet the goal and widespread scepticism would make “celebration all the sweeter”, he told BBC Panorama. “My job should be on [...]
The axe will have to fall on Britain’s runaway public spending October 22, 2025 Rachel Reeves likes to insist that she will “never play fast and loose with the public finances.” It’s a phrase she deploys quite often, not least when it looks as if the bond market could do with a bit of reassurance, and it means that she won’t breach her “cast iron” fiscal rules. Adherence to [...]
Labour is finding that renationalising rail doesn’t make trains come on time October 22, 2025 Since returning to public ownership, delays and cancellations on our commuter trains have got worse, not better. So why is Labour doubling down? Asks Thomas Turrell When Labour took South Western Railway into public ownership earlier this year, they promised passengers a new era of punctuality, reliability and accountability. They have failed. Within just a [...]
Allica Bank makes major acquisition as it eyes £1bn SME lending goal October 22, 2025 Allica Bank is set to announce a fresh acquisition as the firm looks to beef up its lending capacity for small businesses, City AM can reveal. The digital bank has snapped up London-based fintech Kriya, which specialises in embedded finance and business loans. The takeover, set to be announced on Wednesday, marks Allica’s third acquisition [...]
Autumn Budget: JCB boss calls on Reeves not to do anything ‘daft’ October 22, 2025 The chief executive of JCB has called on Chancellor Rachel Reeves not to do anything “daft” in her Autumn Budget which would deter inward investment. Graeme Macdonald, who leads the Staffordshire-headquartered manufacturing giant under chairman Lord Anthony Bamford, said he’s “not optimistic” about the Budget next month, adding that Reeves is “definitely” going to raise [...]
Lifetime ISA hands £1bn boost to Treasury coffers amid debate over purpose October 21, 2025 The Lifetime ISA has provided the Treasury with a significant fiscal boost each year since 2021, despite the government continuing to question whether it is ultimately fit for purpose. According to research from CBI Economics, commissioned by Moneybox, the Lifetime ISA (LISA) has delivered a net boost of £1bn to date for the government since [...]
Rolls-Royce Corniche Shooting Brake review: Estate of the art October 21, 2025 Niels van Roij looks every inch the English gentleman. The Dutch-born designer is wearing an immaculately cut tweed suit with leather-lined pockets, topped off with a green woolen tie. Only later do I realise that identical fabrics were used to trim the Rolls-Royce waiting outside. “I have a suit created to celebrate each car, using [...]
AI bubble will burst unless businesses can grow 25 times the size of Amazon October 21, 2025 When numbers get large enough they cease to make sense, and the scale of investment in AI is already dwarfing the dotcom bubble, says Chris Clothier Scarcely a day goes by without a new announcement of a huge sum of money to be spent on AI. In early October, Open AI, the company behind ChatGPT, [...]
AI slop is a feature, not a bug, and your brand is the next casualty October 21, 2025 Brands that succeed in the age of AI will be those that make trust an operating system, says Paul Armstrong Google, Meta, OpenAI, LinkedIn, TikTok and the rest of the attention cartel are not drowning in AI slop by mistake, they’re selling the lifeboats. The only way out (to be seen) is to buy ads. [...]
Top Aussie pension funds wooed by Labour amid investment drive October 21, 2025 Some of Australia’s largest pension funds are being courted by the Labour government amid a rush to attract higher investment in the UK. Ahead of a summit in Birmingham, Australia’s largest pension fund AustralianSuper said it was still investing an extra £7bn UK assets over the next five years, a move praised by the government [...]