French football has used to snap back to order. Paris Saint-Germain imposes itself, everyone else improvises around the edges, and the title race becomes more a countdown than a debate. At the halfway mark, the 2025-2026 season’s Ligue 1 is behaving differently. The battle is intense, the margins are thin, and everyone’s powers are being tested endlessly. Lens are no longer the romantic subplot After 17 matches, RC Lens sit top with 40 points, one...
Keir Starmer has abandoned plans to make digital IDs mandatory for workers, marking the 13th significant U-turn of his premiership and a quiet retreat from one of Labour’s most controversial post-election policies. The digital ID scheme, originally pitched as a central plank of Labour’s crackdown on illegal working and migration, will now be optional when introduced in 2029. Workers will instead be able to verify their right to work using existing documentation, such as passports...
The debate over when to give a child their first mobile device is shifting. Parents are increasingly hesitant to hand over fully functional smartphones. The risks of unrestricted internet access are simply too high. This is where the kids smart watch has emerged as a popular alternative. It bridges the gap between connectivity and safety. Families can maintain communication lines without exposing young minds to social media algorithms. The device offers a controlled environment. It...
The automotive industry stands at the edge of a revolution, and it’s not just about the technology inside cars. An automotive digital marketing strategy has become critically important for companies to survive in the market, because 95% of potential car buyers begin their research online. We’re living in a time when traditional sales methods (showrooms, printed catalogs, radio ads) simply don’t work as effectively anymore. Electrification, self-driving cars, and fierce competition have changed the game,...
Barclays has provided a £4 million trade loan to British high-performance apparel brand ThruDark, supporting its continued growth and accelerating its retail expansion strategy. The funding, provided by Barclays UK Corporate Bank, has been deployed to strengthen ThruDark’s working capital following the crucial Golden Quarter trading period, encompassing Black Friday, Christmas and January sales. It has also enabled the brand’s high-profile festive retail activation at Battersea Power Station, bringing its performance-led apparel to one of...
Britain’s retailers limped to the end of 2025 after a lacklustre Christmas trading period, with non-food sales failing to deliver the seasonal boost many high street businesses were relying on. New figures from the British Retail Consortium (BRC) show overall retail sales rose by just 1.2% in December compared with a year earlier — well below the 12-month average growth rate of 2.3%. While food sales proved resilient, demand for non-food items such as clothing,...
Senior Labour backbenchers are pressing the government to force UK banks to expand lending to small businesses and low-income communities, warning that a lack of affordable finance is holding back entrepreneurship and economic resilience. Gareth Thomas, a former business minister, has tabled a 10-minute rule bill that would require banks to measure, disclose and improve how they serve underserved communities and smaller firms. The proposal mirrors the US Community Reinvestment Act, which obliges American banks...
Up to 3,000 skilled manufacturing jobs could be at risk unless the Ministry of Defence moves quickly to place a long-delayed helicopter order, according to industry sources close to the programme. Workers at Leonardo Helicopters’s Yeovil site in Somerset, the UK’s last remaining military helicopter factory, fear the company could close the facility as early as the end of March if the government fails to commit to a new contract within weeks. Leonardo, the Italian-owned...
Alphabet has become one of the world’s most valuable companies after its market capitalisation briefly passed $4 trillion, following confirmation that Apple will integrate Google’s artificial intelligence technology into its products this year. The boost came after Apple said it would introduce the technology underpinning Google’s Gemini chatbot into its ecosystem, including Siri, marking a major strategic endorsement of Alphabet’s AI capabilities. Alphabet’s class A shares rose 1.7 per cent on the announcement, briefly touching...
Karavel, an AI-powered compliance platform built for highly regulated sectors, has secured £1.25 million in pre-seed funding in a round led by Fuel Ventures. The investment will support product development and accelerate Karavel’s commercial expansion across the UK and Europe, as the company looks to modernise compliance workflows for organisations facing increasingly complex regulatory scrutiny. Karavel is designed for legal, compliance and marketing teams operating in sectors such as financial services, fintech, insurance, healthcare and...
