OBR chair ‘mortified’ by budget leak as ex-cybersecurity chief called in to investigate
The chair of the Office for Budget Responsibility has said he felt “personally mortified” by the early release of its budget documents and said the former boss of the National Cyber Security Centre will be involved in an investigation into the incident.Richard Hughes said he had written to the chancellor, Rachel Reeves, and the chair of the Treasury select committee, Meg Hillier, to apologise, and launched the inquiry.“I felt personally mortified by what happened.The OBR prides itself on our professionalism.We let people down yesterday and we’ll make sure it doesn’t happen again,” he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.
Ciaran Martin, the former chief executive of the National Cyber Security Centre, would provide expert input to the investigation, Hughes said.He said the OBR’s Economic and Fiscal Outlook – its key budget document – had been accessible from outside the organisation.“The documents weren’t published on our webpage itself.It appears there was a link that someone was able to access – an external person.We need to get to the bottom of what exactly happened,” he said.
Sources close to the situation said Martin had been engaged because of his expertise in risk management around cybersecurity, and his involvement did not necessarily mean the OBR suspected whoever was involved in the early release of the document had malevolent intent.Speaking on Thursday morning, the chancellor gave Hughes her backing despite the breach.The incident was serious, she said, “but I do have confidence in Richard and the OBR”.The early publication of the document, about 45 minutes before the chancellor was due to deliver her budget in the House of Commons, meant details of her key policies were made public before she announced them.“I regret the disruption that it caused to the chancellor’s statement and parliamentary proceedings,” Hughes said.
Speaking at a Resolution Foundation thinktank event, Hughes said he expected the investigation to report “very swiftly” by early next week, adding that he was prepared to step down if Reeves and Hillier decided as a result of its findings that they no longer had confidence in him,He said: “Personally, I serve day to day subject to the confidence of the chancellor and the Treasury committee,If they both conclude in light of that investigation they no longer have confidence in me, then of course I will resign, which is what you do when you’re the chair of something called the Office for Budget Responsibility,”The shadow chancellor said the watchdog was in need of reform,Asked on LBC whether the independent watchdog was “fit for purpose”, Mel Stride said: “I think, generally, yes it is.
I do think it needs reform.“Clearly, this latest incident is both unprecedented and deeply worrying that they should have, for whatever reason, leaked or posted up the entire contents of their report before the chancellor had actually stood up in the House of Commons.”Reeves’s budget on Wednesday raised taxes by £26bn in response to weaker OBR forecasts, and to pay for higher spending including on scrapping the two-child limit on benefits.The relationship between the Treasury and the OBR has at times been fraught in recent months, with Reeves publicly questioning the timing of the review of its productivity forecasts.She announced in the budget that the OBR would now assess whether or not her fiscal rules were met once a year, at the annual budget, not alongside the spring statement as usual.
It was the OBR’s judgment that Reeves risked breaking her rules that prompted the chancellor to seek savings at this year’s spring statement, including £5bn of welfare cuts that had to be abandoned after a backbench rebellion.
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Campbell’s has dismissed an executive who allegedly referred to the soup company’s products as being made for “poor people” and denigrated its Indian employees.Martin Bally, who was the vice-president of Campbell’s information technology department, was recorded making the alleged comments by another employee.Campbell’s – which started producing canned condensed soup in 1897, and whose cans feature in some of Andy Warhol’s best-known 1960s pop artworks – said it had reviewed the recording and believed the voice to belong to Bally.Campbell’s made “highly processed food” and “shit for fucking poor people”, Bally reportedly told a former employee, Robert Garza, according to a wrongful termination lawsuit filed by Garza.In an hour-long rant, broadcast by a Michigan TV station, Bally goes on to say: “Who buys our shit? I don’t buy Campbell’s products barely any more
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Rising out of the water, nets bulge with thousands of blue mussels. Pulled back to the dredging boat, they are emptied into a hopper and rinsed with water.They have just been harvested fresh from the bottom of the Menai Strait, the channel that separates the north Wales mainland from the island of Anglesey.On a blustery, damp morning, skipper Alan Owen guides the 43-metre Valente out of Port Penrhyn, close to the city of Bangor, towards the mussel grounds around the pier.“It’s windy today but we’re not jumping up and down as there aren’t big waves
European parliament calls for social media ban on under-16s
Children under 16 should be banned from using social media unless their parents decide otherwise, the European parliament says.MEPs passed a resolution on age restrictions on Wednesday by a large majority. Although not legally binding, it raises pressure for European legislation amid growing alarm about the mental health risks to children of unfettered internet access.The European Commission, which is responsible for initiating EU law, is already studying Australia’s world-first social-media ban for under-16s, which is due to take effect next month.In a speech in September, the commission’s president, Ursula von der Leyen, said she would watch the implementation of Australia’s policy
ChatGPT firm blames boy’s suicide on ‘misuse’ of its technology
The maker of ChatGPT has said the suicide of a 16-year-old was down to his “misuse” of its system and was “not caused” by the chatbot.The comments came in OpenAI’s response to a lawsuit filed against the San Francisco company and its chief executive, Sam Altman, by the family of California teenager Adam Raine.Raine killed himself in April after extensive conversations and “months of encouragement from ChatGPT”, the family’s lawyer has said.The lawsuit alleges the teenager discussed a method of suicide with ChatGPT on several occasions, that it guided him on whether a suggested method would work, offered to help him write a suicide note to his parents and that the version of the technology he used was “rushed to market … despite clear safety issues”.According to filings at the superior court of the state of California on Tuesday, OpenAI said that “to the extent that any ‘cause’ can be attributed to this tragic event” Raine’s “injuries and harm were caused or contributed to, directly and proximately, in whole or in part, by [his] misuse, unauthorised use, unintended use, unforeseeable use, and/or improper use of ChatGPT”
Geraint Thomas lands new Ineos role as struggling team make major reshuffle
Geraint Thomas has been appointed as the new director of racing at Ineos Grenadiers, a few weeks after retiring from competition at this year’s Tour of Britain. “This team has been my home since day one, and stepping into this role feels like a natural next step,” Thomas said.The move by Thomas, who won the Tour de France in 2018, has been long-expected and comes after a major management reshuffle at Ineos Grenadiers, under which the sports directors Zak Dempster and Oli Cookson moved to the revamped Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe team.According to Ineos, Thomas’s newly created leadership role will see him working closely with Ineos’s head of sport, Dave Brailsford, and performance director, Scott Drawer, “providing crucial input into race strategy, rider recruitment, development and race readiness”.Thomas, who last finished on a Grand Tour podium at the 2024 Giro d’Italia when he placed third to Tadej Pogacar, rode this year’s Tour de France and has a blend of stage racing and one-day racing experience
The Super Bowl Shuffle at 40: how a goofy rap classic boosted the Bears’ title run
A new documentary charts how a song that featured a 335lb rapper and bad dancing went viral in the pre-internet era The Chicago Bears are 8-3 and soaring in this season’s NFL standings. For a fanbase that’s grown accustomed to looking up at the division rival Green Bay Packers and looking ahead to the next season’s prospects, it’s reason to smell the roses and indulge in some light strutting. But even as fans find themselves looking forward to the Bears’ first playoff berth in five years, something that once seemed unthinkable with a second-year quarterback and a rookie head coaching helming a squad that managed only five wins last year, no fan is thinking the 2025 Bears have a Super Bowl run in them – not without a rap song to lay the marker down.Before the 1985 edition of the Bears romped to victory in Super Bowl XX, they tempted fate by recording The Super Bowl Shuffle. Although the song only peaked at 41 on the Billboard Hot 100 charts, the accompanying video came to rival Michael Jackson’s Thriller for popularity as it popped up endlessly on TV during the Bears’ title run
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