London IPO candidate Utmost sees inflows slide August 12, 2026 A wealth soultions firm expected to IPO in London later this year has posted a fall in inflows as a boost generated by last year’s UK government tax shake up tailed off. Utmost, owned by private equity firms Oaktree Capital and Brookfield, recorded £4.4bn of inflows in the first half of the year, down from [...]
Andy Burnham to ‘go further’ in business rates reform August 12, 2026 Andy Burnham said he would “go further” in introducing business rates reform after already announcing that property taxes would be cut for pubs in return for higher levies on vape shops. The Prime Minister said he will look to bring in more radical changes to the business rates system as part of efforts to ease [...]
Britain knows how to seed a scaleup. But can it back one all the way? August 12, 2026 How do we keep high-potential tech founders headquartered in Britain, instead of watching them drift offshore, taking their growth stories with them? This question was posed to the Head of AIM & UK Primary Markets at London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG), and a panel of tech founders at SCALE Summit in London. On 23 April [...]
It’s not just Jason Arday, most of sociology is a scam August 12, 2026 Jason Arday is not the only second rate academic working in sociology. His Cambridge colleagues have also published papers that are impossible to read and contain no evidence, says Paul Ormerod The Jason Arday story has been covered intensively from many different angles. But relatively little has been written on the academic discipline in which [...]
The Burnham bounce won’t last unless Brits get better off August 12, 2026 Andy Burnham’s approval ratings are soaring but Labour’s overall vote has only moved moderately. The real test will be the Budget, says Matthew Lesh Andy Burnham has undoubtedly had a significantly stronger start to his premiership than Keir Starmer. Just two years ago, the government got off to a rotten beginning by signalling tax rises [...]
John Lewis’ new boss faces a battle to boost online sales August 12, 2026 Another cloud appeared in an already gloomy sky for John Lewis on Monday, when its managing director, Peter Ruis, announced his surprise departure. Just days before, an internal interview with the group’s chair, Jason Tarry, was leaked to the press, in which he warned of a “really tough” period for the firm. Ruis’s decision to [...]
Smarsh Named to Inc. 5000 for the 19th Consecutive Year August 11, 2026 Smarsh continues to lead the industry with sustained AI-driven innovation and growth
Can John Healey deliver Burnham’s make-or-break devolution agenda? August 11, 2026 Devolution is Andy Burnham’s preferred growth lever. Maurício Alencar explores how devolution under Chancellor John Healey could save Britain – or destroy it. In 1998, two of the closest aides of then-chancellor Gordon Brown produced a report into the regional economic divide in Britain. The report, called ‘Towards a new regional policy: Delivering growth and [...]
Claude to watermark AI ‘slop’ – including edited human writing August 11, 2026 Anthropic will begin adding invisible watermarks to text generated by Claude as part of new EU rules designed to make AI-generated content easier to identify. But the system will also mark some text originally written by humans if it has subsequently been edited or processed by Claude, potentially complicating efforts to determine whether material was [...]
Housebuilder Bellway calls for ‘immediate’ cut to stamp duty August 11, 2026 Housebuilder Bellway has called on the government to slash stamp duty immediately and roll out a first-time buyer scheme to revive Britain’s flagging housing industry. The FTSE 250 firm said on Tuesday that housing demand has been hammered by last year’s pre-Budget speculation and the recent rising mortgage rates triggered by the Iran war. Jason [...]