Labour’s challenge is complicated by the triumph of finance. That’s bad news for UK plc | Larry Elliott
The economic challenge facing Labour is enormous. But it is also straightforward: Britain has experienced a prolonged period of weak growth, public services have been starved of cash and are struggling, and the state of the country’s infrastructure is a disgrace.The government is holding a global investment summit in London on Monday, yet for all the hype this is unlikely to prove a gamechanger. Business investment in the UK is the lowest in the G7 and has been for 24 of the past 30 years. Conclusion: the government needs to invest – and invest big – to mend, grow and future-proof the economy
‘Very concerning’: BP dilutes net zero targets as global retreat from green standards gathers pace
The oil giant’s new focus on fossil fuels signals another defeat for environmental, social and governance aims and has angered campaignersIn early 2020, Bernard Looney had one clear goal as the incoming chief executive of BP: to convince the world to see the oil company differently. For a time, he did exactly that.In a glossy, high-concept London campaign launch, the BP boss set out 10 new aims for the company, the most significant being BP’s transformation to a net zero energy company by 2050.Within months, he reinforced the rebranding with a pledge to cut the company’s oil and gas production by 40% from 2019 levels by the end of the decade.At the time, his strategy even won the approval of Greenpeace – a feat few oil executives can boast
The EU needs Britain as much as Britain needs it. Where is Starmer’s solidarity? | William Keegan
‘There ought to be not only a national esprit de corps, but a European esprit de corps.”This plea by the renowned barrister and lord chancellor FE Smith – who became the first Earl of Birkenhead – was made in the wake of the devastation caused by the first world war. Birkenhead, a friend of Churchill’s, died in 1930, shortly before the rise of Hitler and the subsequent outbreak of the second world war. Alas, no European esprit de corps in the 1930s!After 1945 there was a serious attempt to engender a European esprit de corps, with the Marshall plan and the formation of what was then the European Economic Community (EEC), popularly known as the Common Market.One of the founding fathers of the EEC was the French statesman Jean Monnet
Starmer steps into cabinet row over P&O to rescue global summit in London
Keir Starmer expressed his full confidence on Saturday in the transport secretary, Louise Haigh, after an explosive cabinet row cast fresh doubt over his Downing Street operation and threatened to overshadow a key international investment summit in London.Government sources said the prime minister and Haigh had spoken and made up on Saturday after Starmer appeared to rebuke her on Friday for branding P&O Ferries a “rogue operator” in a statement and then calling for customers to boycott the company in a subsequent media interview.The comments – and a description by the deputy prime minister, Angela Rayner, of P&O’s behaviour as “outrageous” when it sacked nearly 800 workers without notice in 2022 – led to reports that P&O’s parent company, DP World, had pulled out of Monday’s investment summit and shelved a £1bn infrastructure project at the London Gateway.The workers sacked in March 2022 were told of their fate by the company in pre-recorded Zoom video. They were told: “I am sorry to inform you that your employment is terminated with immediate effect … your final day of employment is today
P&O owner to attend UK investment summit despite minister’s criticism
DP World, the parent firm of P&O Ferries, will attend the government’s international investment summit on Monday.There were reports the company had pulled out of the summit, where it was expected to announce a £1bn investment in the UK, after the transport secretary, Louise Haigh, called for a boycott of P&O.On Saturday the Department of Business and Trade confirmed DP World will attend.Earlier, Keir Starmer rebuked Haigh for her comments, in which she described the firm as a “rogue operator”.Announcing new worker protections, Haigh said on Wednesday that she had boycotted the ferry company and told the Department for Transport not to have any dealings with either it or its owning group
Calls for investigation of Uber Eats and Deliveroo after raid on Bristol caravan camp
Migrant workers living in a caravan encampment raided by immigration enforcement officers have accused the Home Office of targeting the victims of labour exploitation rather than companies profiting from the hidden economy.The Observer reported in August that about 30 mainly Brazilian delivery riders working for large companies such as Deliveroo and Uber Eats were living in dilapidated caravans in the centre of Bristol. Many claimed they were, in effect, earning below the minimum wage and could not afford to rent in the city.Last week, it emerged their roadside encampment was raided by immigration enforcement officers on 3 October, with 17 people arrested and 13 people taken to detention centres in London. They now face potential removal from the UK even though some of them have lived in the country for years
Meta launches its AI chatbot in the UK on Facebook and Instagram
Google faces US government attempt to break it up
Brazil lifts ban on X after Elon Musk complies with court demands
TechScape: An elite Silicon Valley school tests a tech fast
Women’s health tech ‘less likely’ to get funding if woman is on founding team
Tesla Cybertruck ‘too big and sharp’ for European roads, say campaigners
Labour’s new green rules for big companies face resistance in the City
When Keir Starmer launched the Labour party’s 142-page manifesto in June, the future prime minister was dubbed a man of no surprises. But alongside much-trailed pledges to kickstart economic growth and cut NHS waiting lists were newly adopted plans for new environmental regulations for London’s largest listed companies.“Labour will make the UK the green finance capital of the world,” the manifesto said. And to get there, the party pledged to ensure that FTSE 100 companies – as well the City’s banks, asset managers, insurers and pension funds – adopt “credible” climate transition plans in line with the Paris agreement’s pledge to limit the rise in global temperatures to 1.5C
China’s plan to boost flagging growth is the very definition of economic insanity | George Magnus
China’s leaders seem to have invoked the definition of insanity, attributed, perhaps wrongly, to Einstein: doing the same thing over and over again, and expecting different results.For the fourth time in 16 years, Beijing has been spooked by faltering growth into adopting an array of economic stimulus measures designed to reset the economy. It didn’t work for long in 2008, 2015 or 2021, and the “bazooka” measures announced recently will also most likely come up short.These programmes have failed in the past because the government’s focus is mainly on the cyclical – or short-term – outlook. It thinks quick palliatives are the answer to systemic problems such as high youth unemployment, the real estate bust, weak productivity and deflation
Opt out: how to protect your baby’s photos on the internet
Tech companies aren’t transparent about what they do with our photos – we asked experts about best baby-pic practicesWelcome to Opt Out, a semi-regular column in which we help you navigate your online privacy and show you how to say no to surveillance. If you’d like to skip to a section about a particular risk you’re trying to protect your child against, click the “Jump to” menu at the top of this article. Last week’s column covered how to opt yourself out of tech companies using your posts to train artificial intelligence.You’ve got the cutest baby ever, and you want the world to know it. But you’re also worried about what might happen to your baby’s picture once you release it into the nebulous world of the internet
California police department debuts ‘first police Cybertruck in the nation’ to impress kids
A police department in California has purchased a flashy new piece of equipment to impress local children: a $150,000 Tesla Cybertruck.In a Facebook video featuring lightning graphics, the Irvine police department said it believed the vehicle to be “the first police cybertruck in the nation”. It’s unlikely to be in any high-speed chases: police say it will mostly be used by officers for school programs, though it is able to respond to emergencies.#IRVINEPDPIO - We are excited to unveil what we believe is the first police Tesla Cybertruck in the nation. The truck will support our Drug Abuse Resistance Education (DARE) program and community outreach efforts
Australia beat India to reach 2024 Women’s T20 World Cup semi-finals – as it happened
Righto, that’s enough from me. Thanks for your company, the OBO will return…Four from four. See you in the semis!#T20WorldCup pic.twitter.com/uK0TzmpijhThat was an impressive performance from Australia who were up against it with injuries
Harlequins savour rare derby victory over lacklustre Saracens
It began with two England front-rowers clashing in the tunnel, endured a shocking injury that left both sides visibly shaken and there were times the home faithful turned on one of their former players – this was a feisty London derby that went the way of Harlequins, who basked in the glory of finally beating Saracens at the ninth time of trying.Admittedly, the “clash” between Joe Marler and Jamie George was entirely in jest and you would have to go some to find a more polite chorus of boos than that from the Harlequins supporters but this was a keenly fought derby that had the ultras of suburbia off their feet and roaring with delight at the final whistle.For there is no little animosity between these sides and a first win for Harlequins over Saracens since January 2020 felt long overdue for the home crowd. That it was thoroughly deserved, on the back of tries from Fin Baxter and Lennox Anyanwu and owing everything to their defensive defiance, will make it all the more sweet. It was a feather in the cap for Harlequins’ defence coach, Jason Gilmore, with Jack Kenningham and Dino Lamb excelling and some way to round off the Premiership’s derby weekend
Alex Salmond obituary
Alex Salmond normalised concept of Scottish independence as he led SNP to power
Tributes paid to Alex Salmond’s ‘colossal contribution’ to Scottish and UK politics
Budget could include rise in employers’ national insurance, minister suggests
Tory switchers warm to ‘no-nonsense’ Badenoch over Jenrick’s ‘more of the same’
Government housing targets unrealistic and unfair, English councils warn