‘Mortgage mayhem’: Banks’ rates soar past 5.5 per cent amid Iran war volatility March 25, 2026 The UK mortgage market has been flipped upside down with Brits facing higher prices to borrow in the short-term as the Iran war rattles the economy. The average five-year fixed deal for a homeowner has spiked to 5.54 per cent this morning, up from 4.95 per cent at the start of March, according to financial [...]
OpenAI shuts Sora and drops Disney deal in AI reset March 25, 2026 OpenAI has shut down Sora, its AI video app, less than two years after the tool made headlines for turning short text prompts into strikingly realistic video clips. The company is also winding down its content partnership with Disney, bringing an abrupt end to one of the most closely watched tie-ups between Hollywood and a [...]
James Reed: V-levels are Labour’s best idea yet March 25, 2026 Middle-class prejudice towards vocational paths has held the UK back. I welcome Labour's V-level push, writes James Reed.
London’s £10m secret: how the rich buy super-prime property March 25, 2026 Each year brings renewed predictions of a correction in London’s high-end residential market, often portraying it as mercurial and susceptible to abrupt shifts. However, in my experience on the ground, the city’s genuine super-prime segment, properties transacting in excess of £10m, continues to operate according to its own distinct dynamics. Rather than exhibiting signs of [...]
If Reeves wants Britain to lead in AI, she must offer tax incentives March 25, 2026 The government is aware of the levers it’s able to pull to compete on AI: planning, electricity connections, visas, higher education policy, direct subsidies. But where’s tax? Asks Tim Sarson A couple of weeks ago one of those mini news stories came along, the sort that is so neatly zeitgeisty that it demands further consideration. [...]
Rocco Forte: Inheritance tax grab has endangered my family firm March 25, 2026 With luxury outposts across Europe, and plans to expand to the Gulf, Rocco Forte Hotels has become one of Britain’s most successful hospitality exports. But after being hit by a wave of damaging policies – including a potentially existential inheritance tax crackdown – he tells Ali Lyon, he is more disillusioned with Britain now, than [...]
Arm Expands Compute Platform to Silicon Products in Historic Company First March 24, 2026 News Highlights Arm extends its platform breadth to include production silicon products for the first time, offering the broadest choice of compute across IP, Arm Compute Subsystems (CSS) and silicon Introducing the first Arm-designed data center CPU, the Arm AGI CPU, for agentic AI infrastructure, delivering more than 2x performance per rack compared with x86 platforms* Developed with lead partner Meta, with other customers and leading ODMs committed for production, the Arm AGI CPU is backed by strong support from the global ecosystem
Cancel student debt in exchange for first time buyer equity, housebuilders urge government March 24, 2026 Cash-strapped graduates struggling to get on the property ladder should have their debt written off in exchange for giving over a stake of their first home to the government, a new report has urged. The report, backed by more than 50 housing sector bodies including top housebuilders Vistry and Barratt Redrow, proposes offering a discount [...]
This must-book Kenya safari goes way beyond The Big Five March 24, 2026 “Back in the 1990s when I was growing up here, it was bandit country. Poaching was rife, weapons were everywhere, and nobody was getting along,” Jeremy told me, staring into the glow of the post-safari campfire. It is hard to imagine now. Jeremy Bastard, fourth-generation Kenyan and CEO of The Sarara Foundation, does not look [...]
London skyscrapers under pressure as construction costs mount March 24, 2026 The cost of building London skyscrapers has soared by 40 per cent in five years as pressure on the capital’s high-rise property market mounts. The average cost of building a tower in the capital has increased from between £3,800 and £4,300 per square metre in 2020 to between £5,200 and £6,500 last year, according to [...]