Help UK ceramics industry or ‘lose piece of national identity’, government told
Britain will lose a piece of its national identity if the country’s ceramics industry is allowed to descend further into crisis without state assistance, the government has been warned.Ceramics producers including the struggling potteries of Staffordshire have come under huge pressure owing to factors such as the UK’s sky-high energy costs, leading to job losses.In a report, unions and the Green Alliance thinktank urged the government to step in to support the centuries-old sector.“Tens of thousands of working-class jobs rely on the ceramics sector so we cannot afford to leave its future to chance.But so far we aren’t seeing enough action from a government grappling with the unique challenges the sector faces,” said Chris Hoofe of the GMB union.
“We need action on gas pricing and an end to unnecessary red tape, and we need it quick.”While successive governments have offered some support for energy-intensive industries such as steel and aluminium to help them cope with the UK’s comparatively high energy costs, the Trades Union Congress said not enough was being done to help potteries.Paul Nowak, the TUC general secretary, said: “Britain’s ceramics industry is a fundamental part of our national identity and a vital economic powerhouse for the whole country.“It’s a critical enabler of key strategic sectors – from energy to defence, medical technology and advanced manufacturing.But for too long the ceramics industry has been chronically overlooked and under supported and is now on its knees from sky-high energy bills, unfair dumping of cheap imports and years of underinvestment.
”The sector, which supports 20,000 jobs, was now at a “critical point”, said Cath Smith of Green Alliance.“The budget offered some welcome steps, but ceramics needs [the] government to go further, faster,” she said.“Paired with urgent support, decarbonisation offers a path to future-proofing the industry, but only with action to reduce industrial energy costs, tackle unfair trading, and targeted capital support to help sites modernise.Without this, the UK risks losing strategic capabilities we won’t get back.”A spokesperson for the Department for Business and Trade said: “We recognise the challenges faced by potteries and ceramics businesses across the country.
“Our industrial strategy included measures to support the sector, including our supercharger scheme that will slash energy prices as part of the plan for change, and a new British industrial competitiveness scheme will look to reduce electricity bills for manufacturing sectors like ceramics by up to 25%.”
DIY chains enjoy bumper year as UK property market slows
Retailers of home improvement products are having a glittering year on the London stock market, as cash-strapped UK consumers turn to DIY projects after being priced out of moving home or undertaking expensive renovations.Publicly listed retailers including the B&Q owner, Kingfisher, as well as Topps Tiles, Wickes and the sofa seller DFS are on track for double-digit percentage share price increases of as much as 56% this year.Kingfisher and Topps Tiles have posted share price increases of 26.5% and 13% respectively, their best annual gains since the pandemic, while a 23% year-to-date rise at DFS is its strongest year since 2019.Kingfisher, which also operates in France and Poland, has issued two profit upgrades since September on the back of the company’s strong performance in the UK
UK accounting body to halt remote exams amid AI cheating
The world’s largest accounting body is to stop students being allowed to take exams remotely to crack down on a rise in cheating on tests that underpin professional qualifications.The Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA), which has almost 260,000 members, has said that from March it will stop allowing students to take online exams in all but exceptional circumstances.“We’re seeing the sophistication of [cheating] systems outpacing what can be put in, [in] terms of safeguards,” Helen Brand, the chief executive of the ACCA, said in an interview with the Financial Times.Remote testing was introduced during the Covid pandemic to allow students to continue to be able to qualify at a time when lockdowns prevented in-person exam assessment.In 2022, the Financial Reporting Council (FRC), the UK’s accounting and auditing industry regulator, said that cheating in professional exams was a “live” issue at Britain’s biggest companies
From shrimp Jesus to erotic tractors: how viral AI slop took over the internet
Flood of unreality is an endpoint of algorithm-driven internet and product of an economy dependent on a few top tech firms In the algorithm-driven economy of 2025, one man’s shrimp Jesus is another man’s side hustle.AI slop – the low-quality, surreal content flooding social media platforms, designed to farm views – is a phenomenon, some would say the phenomenon of the 2024 and 2025 internet. Merriam-Webster’s word of the year this year is “slop”, referring exclusively to the internet variety.It came about shortly after the advent of popular large language models, such as ChatGPT and Dall-E, which democratised content creation and enabled vast swathes of internet denizens to create images and videos that resembled – to varying degrees – the creations of professionals.In 2024, it began to achieve peak cultural moments
More than 20% of videos shown to new YouTube users are ‘AI slop’, study finds
More than 20% of the videos that YouTube’s algorithm shows to new users are “AI slop” – low-quality AI-generated content designed to farm views, research has found.The video-editing company Kapwing surveyed 15,000 of the world’s most popular YouTube channels – the top 100 in every country – and found that 278 of them contain only AI slop.Together, these AI slop channels have amassed more than 63bn views and 221 million subscribers, generating about $117m (£90m) in revenue each year, according to estimates.The researchers also made a new YouTube account and found that 104 of the first 500 videos recommended to its feed were AI slop. One-third of the 500 videos were “brainrot”, a category that includes AI slop and other low-quality content made to monetise attention
Matthew Potts poised to play in fifth Ashes Test after England rule out Gus Atkinson
Matthew Potts is poised to play his first Ashes Test in Sydney after England confirmed that Gus Atkinson has been ruled out of the series finale.Atkinson limped off with a hamstring issue on the second and final day of England’s rollercoaster four-wicket victory in Melbourne and scans undertaken in the past 24 hours have ruled out his further participation.With Jofra Archer and Mark Wood having similarly seen their tours end early, it leaves Potts as the last unused seamer from the original squad of 16. Wood’s knee injury saw Surrey’s Matthew Fisher moved across from the shadow Lions tour after the second Test in Brisbane as cover.Provided Brydon Carse and Josh Tongue recover sufficiently during the seven-day break between Tests – and England continue with Will Jacks as the spin option at No 8 – then the fast-medium Potts in for Atkinson may well be the only change from the XI that prevented the whitewash
Patriots clinch AFC East as Eagles edge Bills while Browns shatter Steelers: NFL week 17 – as it happened
Playoff picture as it stands:AFC 1) Denver 13-3; 2) New England 13-3; 3) Jacksonville 12-4; 4) Pittsburgh 9-7; 5) Houston 11-5; 6) LA Chargers 11-5; 7) Buffalo 11-5. Bubble: Baltimore 8-8NFC 1) Seattle 13-3; 2) Chicago 11-4; 3) Philadelphia 11-5; 4) Carolina 8-8; 5) San Francisco 11-4; 6) LA Rams 11-4; 7) Green Bay 9-6-1. Bubble: Tampa Bay 7-9Buffalo drop to the seventh seed. Ouch.And I will leave you with the big one between Chicago and San Francisco to come
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