Paradise ploughed: Laferm Coco is a pastoral oasis in Mauritius April 29, 2025 Wandering through Laferm Coco, you pass through neat little fields packed with guava and papaya and bananas and coconuts and turmeric, all hemmed in by jagged volcanic mountains, the splashes of colour from the produce impossibly saturated beneath a clear blue sky. Elsewhere farmyard animals flap and graze and squabble. There’s a duck pond that [...]
Channel 4 chief Alex Mahon to run entertainment group Superstruct April 28, 2025 Alex Mahon has been named the new chief executive of Superstruct Entertainment – the live events giant behind festival like Boardmasters – just days after announcing her departure from Channel 4. Mahon steps into the role following an eight-year tenure at the state-owned broadcaster, bringing her leadership experience to aq compant that runs over 80 [...]
EY: Two years of slow UK growth means ‘increased chances’ of tax rises April 28, 2025 Rachel Reeves may have to resort to reversing Labour manifesto tax pledges as UK growth fails to exceed one per cent for two years running, EY ITEM Club have said, in the latest blow to the chancellor’s fiscal plans The Chancellor has been warned by several forecasters that President Trump’s tariffs will hammer the UK [...]
M&S: FTSE 100 shares continue to drop after cyber attack April 28, 2025 Marks and Spencer’s (M&S) share price has fallen more than three per cent in early trades this morning as the effects of a cyber attack last week rage on. The FTSE 100 retailer’s share price has fallen by nearly nine per cent since it announced the attack in a statement to the London Stock Exchange [...]
Trump’s apparent change of heart on Russia ‘welcome’, says senior minister April 27, 2025 Donald Trump’s apparent change of heart about Russia is “welcome”, a senior UK minister has signalled. The US president turned his criticism towards Vladimir Putin on Saturday after meeting with Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky on the fringes of the Pope’s funeral in Rome. Images of the encounter within the Vatican showed the two leaders locked in [...]
Reeves to say global trade should provide ‘security for working people’ April 24, 2025 Rachel Reeves will tell foreign finance ministers that global trade should provide “security for working people” as she prepares for talks with her US counterpart. The Chancellor is in Washington for the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) spring meeting of finance ministers from the G7 and G20, and is due to sit down with US Treasury [...]
Shawbrook eyes £5bn Starling merger instead of IPO April 24, 2025 Shawbrook Group is weighing up a £5bn merger with fintech giant Starling, in a move that would be emblematic of a tougher outlook on stock market listings. The mid-cap lender has reached out to Starling in the last two months to initiate talks on a potential deal, as reported by Sky News. The proposal remains [...]
Mark Kleinman: Fintech Growth Fund’s journey ends in Octopus’s tentacles April 24, 2025 Mark Kleinman is Sky News’ City Editor and the man who gets the Square Mile talking in his weekly City AM column Fintech Growth Fund’s journey ends in Octopus’s tentacles It could scarcely have augured more favourably. An investment fund whose creation was recommended by the City grandee Sir Ron Kalifa in his 2021 review of the UK [...]
Kemi Badenoch ‘agrees with Jenrick’ on bringing centre-right voters together April 23, 2025 Kemi Badenoch agrees with Robert Jenrick that “we need to bring centre-right voters together”, her official spokesman had said. The Tory leader had been facing calls from opposition to sack her shadow justice secretary after he vowed to bring together a “coalition” of Reform UK and Conservative voters to take on Labour. In an audio [...]
Benn vs Eubank: Why Fatal Fury fight is key to future of boxing in London April 23, 2025 Turki Alalshikh is in town, which can only mean one thing: boxing is in London and the Saudis are here to parade their latest sporting interest. After last year’s British record attendance at Wembley Stadium for Daniel Dubois’ demolition of Anthony Joshua, Tottenham Hotspur Stadium will this weekend play host to a fight night topped [...]