Government set up secret £850m scheme to offer Afghans asylum after data breach July 15, 2025 The UK government set up a secret £850m scheme to relocate some 25,000 Afghans and their families after an unprecedented data breach put them at risk of persecution from the Taliban. The leak of the identities of thousands of Afghans, including those applying for asylum, came in early 2022 when a soldier inadvertently sent a [...]
AI disrupts UK hiring for tech and entry level roles July 14, 2025 UK employers are significantly scaling back hiring roles at risk of being disrupted by artificial intelligence (AI), adding signs of a broader labour market slowdown. New data from McKinsey & Co revealed that online job postings fell 31 per cent in the three months to May, compared with the same period in 2022. Yet the [...]
Bank of England interest rate cut ‘almost certain’ after poor growth July 11, 2025 Fresh growth figures have fuelled speculation of an August interest rate cut in a bid to give the waning UK economy a shot of life. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) revealed on Friday the UK economy shrunk for the second consecutive month with a 0.1 per cent contraction in May. Deutsche Bank’s chief economist [...]
Post Office Scandal: Government contracts awarded to Fujitsu even after Mr Bates ITV drama July 10, 2025 Government bodies kept awarding Fujitsu with contracts to the tune of £500m even after the ITV drama Mr Bates vs The Post Office brought the Post Office Horizon scandal to national prominence. That’s according to LBC, alongside the public sector data analytics firm Tussell, which found that 23 contracts were handed out to the firm [...]
Banks shut eight branches a week since 2016 July 10, 2025 British banks have accelerated their retreat from the high street, shutting an average of eight branches a week since 2016 in a dash to bulk up digital offerings. Nearly 3,700 sites closed between 2016 and 2024, creating 41 ‘banking deserts,’ which refer to local authorities where at least one branch shut for every 10,000 residents. [...]
Reform top the polls but voters cool on Nigel Farage July 9, 2025 Reform UK continues to ride high in the opinion polls – climbing 16 points since last year’s election – yet voters appeared to have cooled on Nigel Farage as new City AM polling suggests he’s lost some of his shine. A post-government slump in support for the Conservative Party and lack of approval for the [...]
Will High Net Worths save LVMH’s share price? July 9, 2025 LVMH’s share price has taken a battering as nervous investors shy away from luxury companies amid a global downturn in the market. Its share price has fallen by more than 35 per cent since the end of January; it now trades at its lowest forward earnings multiple in seven years – roughly half that of [...]
Without professional standards in tech, an AI Post Office scandal is inevitable July 9, 2025 The Post Office Horizon scandal must be a national reckoning with what happens when tech is deployed without proper oversight or accountability, says Dan Howl “It is almost impossible to ascertain, with any degree of accuracy, the number of persons who have suffered as a result of the misplaced reliance upon data produced by Horizon.” [...]
Brits back spending cuts over tax rises July 8, 2025 Voters prefer spending cuts over tax rises, fresh polling has found, putting Chancellor Rachel Reeves at odds with an electorate that has become frustrated with her economic policies. Rachel Reeves set spending pledges in stone in June when she confirmed Labour would boost day-to-day departmental and capital spending, with the NHS receiving a fresh three-year [...]
Post Office and Fujitsu chiefs ‘maintained fiction’ on faulty Horizon system July 8, 2025 Post Office and Fujitsu managers were aware the Horizon IT system was flawed and “maintained a fiction” that the accounting data it produced was accurate. In his report on the first part of an inquiry into the Post Office scandal, chair Sir Wyn Williams said dozens of postmaster victims of “wholly unacceptable behaviour” by business [...]