News

Piers Morgan has parted ways with Rupert Murdoch’s media empire in a move set to expand his popular Uncensored show on YouTube, ending months of speculation about his future at News UK. The outspoken broadcaster will now operate independently, having acquired ownership of his Uncensored brand and its 3.6 million-strong subscriber base. Morgan, 59, opted not to renew his contract with News UK, where he held a reported £50 million deal covering columns, book rights,...

Rachel Reeves, the chancellor, is preparing to lead a team of ministers and advisers to the 2025 World Economic Forum in Davos, aiming to attract international backers and calm disquiet among domestic businesses. Reeves, who attended Davos as shadow chancellor for the previous two years, is scheduled to meet sovereign wealth funds and US private equity firms in an effort to secure financing for large-scale infrastructure and green energy projects. She also intends to hold...

Taxpayers stand to save both money and headaches in 2025 by committing to better tax practices in the year ahead, according to leading audit, tax and business advisory firm Blick Rothenberg. Robert Salter, a Director at the firm, notes: “Most people make personal resolutions about health and lifestyle, but your financial health is equally important—and being on top of your taxes plays a significant part.” With the deadline for the 2023/24 tax return set at...

AI spinout RoboK, born out of the University of Cambridge, has secured £1 million from UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) to lead a pioneering project that aims to boost safety and efficiency across Britain’s ports and warehouses. Named PALLETS, short for Proactive AI-powered Solutions for Logistics Efficiency, Transparency and Safety, this ambitious undertaking forms part of UKRI’s ‘Accelerating Trustworthy AI’ programme and will run until March 2025. At the heart of the PALLETS project is...

JPMorgan Chase is reportedly poised to mandate a full five-day office week for thousands of its employees, signalling a further clampdown on remote and hybrid working models introduced during the pandemic. The US banking giant, which employs over 300,000 people worldwide and roughly 22,000 in the UK, is expected to confirm the changes within weeks. JPMorgan has so far declined to comment. Although managing directors were already ordered to return five days a week last...

Shein’s ambitions to list on the London Stock Exchange have been cast into renewed doubt after the fast-fashion behemoth was roundly criticised by MPs for repeatedly failing to address concerns about cotton sourcing and alleged forced labour in Xinjiang. The Chinese-founded retailer, which hopes to secure a UK flotation this year, appeared before the Business and Trade Select Committee on Tuesday, where Yinan Zhu, Shein’s general counsel for Europe, the Middle East and Africa, was...

Debt-laden Asda has emerged as the weakest performer among Britain’s biggest supermarkets this festive season, as new data from Kantar shows a steep 5.8 per cent drop in sales over the 12 weeks to 29 December, dragging its market share down from 13.5 per cent to 12.5 per cent. The private equity-backed retailer, controlled by TDR Capital and the billionaire Issa brothers since 2021’s highly leveraged £6.8 billion takeover, has struggled to keep up with...

A company director who “repeatedly subverted the insolvency system” by facilitating debt-dumping arrangements for struggling businesses has been banned from running firms for nine years, following a government investigation. Neville Taylor, 57, served as a director of more than 400 companies and received close to £270,000 from Atherton Corporate, operators of a scheme that took over control of companies teetering on the brink of collapse. Instead of entering insolvency, these businesses were allowed to cease...

Currently in the spotlight are ENGWE’s e-bikes prioritizing the demographic of commuters. With a regard for improving the urban commuting systems and the carbon footprint, the brand presents the MapFour which aims to facilitate urban commuting. To put it simply, the shift from traditional human-powered bikes to e-vehicles can be defined as paradigm-shattering. Reducing carbon emissions by creating advanced and practical electronic bicycles that enable people to easily travel around the city is a feature...