Rachel Reeves is preparing to scale back the tax benefits available through the government’s popular cycle to work scheme, amid concern that high earners are exploiting the programme to buy luxury bicycles at the taxpayer’s expense. According to a report in the Financial Times, the Chancellor is expected to introduce a cap on the value of bicycles that can be purchased using salary sacrifice arrangements. The move is likely to be announced in the forthcoming...
Aston Martin has been pushed deeper into junk bond territory after Fitch Ratings downgraded the luxury carmaker’s credit score to ‘CCC+’, citing worsening cash flow, rising financial pressures and the impact of US tariffs on its largest market. The rating, cut from ‘B-’, reflects what Fitch described as “deteriorating liquidity” following materially weaker and negative free cash flow in the first nine months of 2026. The agency now forecasts a £400 million free cash flow...
A major new report from Sport England and 4Global has strengthened calls for the Government to increase support for gyms, swimming pools and public leisure centres in the forthcoming Autumn Budget, warning that the sector is delivering billions in social value despite operating under severe financial pressure. The annual Moving Communities report highlights the critical role these facilities play in improving national health and wellbeing, with public leisure centres contributing an estimated £3.63 billion in...
Longtime civil rights activist Rev. Jesse Jackson was hospitalized Wednesday, his organization announced in a statement. Jackson, 84, was admitted to the hospital and under observation for progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP), a rare neurodegenerative disease for which there is currently no cure. The Rainbow PUSH Coalition, a progressive organization Jackson formed in 1996 by merging two groups he founded earlier, said he has been managing his PSP condition for more than a decade. ‘He was...
The six House Democrats who broke ranks with party leadership by voting in favor of legislation that ended the government shutdown are now opening up about their actions, with one saying, ‘The last several weeks have been a case study in why most Americans can’t stand Congress.’ Reps. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez of Washington, Jared Golden of Maine, Adam Gray of California, Don Davis of North Carolina, Henry Cuellar of Texas and Tom Suozzi of New...
Former President Bill Clinton’s Treasury Secretary Larry Summers maintained regular contact with Jeffrey Epstein years after he was convicted on prostitution-related charges, documents released by House Republicans on Wednesday revealed. Among the over 20,000 pages of documents released by House Republicans was a series of email exchanges ranging from 2016 to 2019 between Epstein and Summers that suggest a cozier relationship between the two than previously known. The email exchanges include banter about an unknown...
UK exports to the United States have slumped to their lowest level in more than three years, as Donald Trump’s renewed tariff regime continues to weigh heavily on British trade. New figures from the Office for National Statistics show that the value of UK exports to the US fell by £500 million in September, an 11.4% drop month on month, taking trade back to levels last seen in January 2022. The ONS said exports have...
UK economic growth slowed sharply in the third quarter, rising just 0.1% between July and September, as a steep fall in car production and subdued consumer spending weighed on activity ahead of the Chancellor’s Budget later this month. The figure, published by the Office for National Statistics, came in below analysts’ expectations of 0.2% and marks a clear slowdown from the 0.3% growth recorded between April and June and the 0.7% expansion at the start...
Two of the UK beauty industry’s most successful founders, Susie Ma of Tropic Skincare and Jenna Meek of Refy, are set to join the BBC’s Dragons’ Den as guest dragons in 2026. The pair will sit alongside Peter Jones, Deborah Meaden, Touker Suleyman and Steven Bartlett, as well as fellow guest dragons Tinie Tempah and Gary Neville, in a line-up designed to bring a new generation of entrepreneurial voices into the Den. Both Ma and...
Cross-border comparison platforms are quietly transforming what it means to be an informed shopper. In recent years, more than half of UK consumers have purchased at least once from an overseas online store. This growing exposure to foreign pricing, product range and service standards is subtly rewriting what people expect when buying locally. You now have instant access to global benchmarks, sometimes without even realising it. The simplicity of comparing multiple international sites in one...
