Watchdog puts UK fuel retailers ‘on notice’ over profiteering from Iran war
The UK competition watchdog has warned fuel retailers it is stepping up its monitoring of pump prices amid concern over profiteering as the US war with Iran drives up wholesale costs.The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said firms responsible for thousands of filling stations across the country had been “put on notice” amid a wider government crackdown to stop bosses ramping up profits at the expense of consumers.The watchdog said it would require firms to provide their revenue, costs and sales data, accelerating a review of fuel industry margins it initiated after the conflict began just under a fortnight ago.Against a volatile backdrop in global energy markets, the oil price rose past $100 (£75) a barrel on Thursday for a second time in a week, as widespread Iranian attacks on energy facilities across the region and a threat to continue blocking the strait of Hormuz overshadowed a vast release of government reserves.Petrol and diesel prices have risen sharply, alongside a jump in the cost of home heating fuel.
Experts have warned a sustained rise in global oil and gas prices would trigger higher inflation in Britain, dashing hopes for the Bank of England to cut interest rates at its next policy meeting,Figures published by the RAC on Thursday show the average petrol price has increased by 5,5%, which is about 7p a litre, since US and Israeli warplanes began bombing Iranian targets almost two weeks ago, while the average diesel price is up 11,1%, nearly 16p,Rachel Reeves warned earlier this week the government would not tolerate companies exploiting the crisis to make “excess profits”, and said she would ask the CMA to step up its vigilance.
The chancellor is expected to hold meetings with fuel industry bosses and energy companies alongside the energy secretary, Ed Miliband, to warn that the government expects drivers and households to get a fair deal.The CMA said it recognised that businesses were likely to face significant pressures from rising energy costs, which could have an impact on prices.However, it warned firms not to exploit the situation.The watchdog said it would analyse how quickly fuel prices rose and fell as wholesale costs change to examine if there was evidence of so-called “rocket and feather” pricing – when rapid price increases are followed by slower price cuts.Late last year the CMA had said it was “deeply concerned” at signs that some fuel retailers were overcharging motorists.
Earlier this year the government launched its fuel finder scheme, which enables drivers to compare real-time fuel prices using smartphones and online.However, a minority of fuel retailers currently do not provide data to the service.Juliette Enser, the CMA’s executive director for markets, said: “While price increases might be inevitable because of rising wholesale costs, it is important that those increases reflect genuine cost pressures.“We will be closely scrutinising and reporting on what’s happening with fuel prices and call out any concerning behaviour.”
Naples museum to allow visually impaired visitors to experience art through touch
The Sansevero Chapel Museum in Naples will allow dozens of visually impaired visitors to take part in a rare tactile experience, letting them touch celebrated works of art including the Veiled Christ, which is widely regarded as one of the most striking masterpieces in the history of sculpture.On 17 March, the museum will host an initiative called La meraviglia a portata di mano – Wonder within reach – organised in partnership with the Italian Union of the Blind and Visually Impaired of Naples, offering about 80 blind and partially sighted visitors a chance to encounter the marble masterpieces.Visitors will be guided through the chapel by guides who are also visually impaired in a programme designed to place accessibility at the centre of the museum experience.The protective barrier surrounding the sculptures will be removed, allowing participants, wearing latex gloves, to explore by touch the intricate marble surface of the sculptures including Giuseppe Sanmartino’s Veiled Christ, which depicts Jesus covered by a transparent shroud made from the same block as the statue. The tactile route will also extend to the reliefs at the feet of the sculptures La Pudicizia and Il Disinganno
Jimmy Kimmel on Pentagon splurging on doughnuts: ‘Is this My 600lb Defense Department?’
On late-night shows, hosts poked fun at the Trump administration’s inconsistent messaging on the Iran war, Pete Hegseth splurging on high-end food at the Pentagon and New York’s John F Kennedy Jr lookalike contest.On what Jimmy Kimmel called “day 11 of Jabba the Hutt’s war on Iran”, the host focused on Trump’s mixed messages over the Middle East conflict.“Trump said yesterday that the war could end very soon, which would be encouraging, had be not also told us he’d end the war in Ukraine in 24 hours,” said Kimmel.“He’s going to make a huge mess and walk away like it’s the new toilet in the Lincoln bathroom.”Kimmel then turned to reports that Pete Hegseth, the US defense secretary, spent $93bn of US taxpayer money last year, including millions of dollars in September on luxury food items: “$2m on Alaskan king crab, $6
Rapper Lil’ Kim to headline both Vivid Sydney and Melbourne’s 2026 Rising festival
The pioneering female rapper Lil’ Kim will headline both Vivid Sydney and Melbourne’s Rising this year, as each festival revealed its programs on Wednesday.The performances at Sydney’s Carriageworks and Melbourne’s Festival Hall will be Lil’ Kim’s first Australian shows in 15 years, celebrating her landmark multiplatinum records Hard Core – which turns 30 this year – and The Notorious KIM.Both Vivid and Rising are staged annually in winter.Rising’s artistic director and chief executive, Hannah Fox, said the 51-year-old rapper, who broke out as a member of Junior MAFIA and was mentored by the Notorious BIG, was on “a really exciting return to form”.“Hard Core and Notorious KIM really did carve a path – there are so many women rappers and femcees now who absolutely followed in her tiny footsteps, her funked-up, sex-positive vibe,” Fox said
Stephen Colbert on US war in Iran: ‘We’re still no closer to learning what the goal is’
Late-night hosts looked into the murky goals, economic impact and disrespect for military protocol of Donald Trump’s war in Iran.“We’re on day 10 of the Iran war,” said Stephen Colbert on Monday evening, “and we’re still no closer to learning what the goal is. Is it regime change? Is it ending a nuclear program? Is it changing the name to Donald Trump’s Iran-a-Lago?”“But we are learning more about the cost,” he noted, as the first week of the war alone is estimated to have cost about $6bn. “Do you know what you could buy with $6bn? Twenty-seven Kristi Noem horsey commercials!” he joked before clips of the very expensive, controversial ad campaign that likely ended Noem’s tenure as secretary of homeland security.Despite the exorbitant cost, Trump said over the weekend that this new surprise war would stop only after Iran’s “unconditional surrender”, to which Iran replied: “That’s a dream that they should take to their grave
Leap Year is patently ridiculous and widely panned. It’s also the perfect romcom
In 2010 the Guardian gave the romcom Leap Year a one-star review. The script was “horrendous”, according to the reviewer: “Afterwards, the only ‘leap’ I felt like making was off a motorway gantry into the fast lane of the M25.”He wasn’t alone. Leap Year has an approval rating of 23% on Rotten Tomatoes; the New York Times called it “so witless, charmless and unimaginative that it can be described as a movie only in the strictly technical sense”.It has been 16 years
Womadelaide 2026 review: Grace Jones embraces the compulsion for dancing in the dark times
Botanic Park, AdelaideNo matter the music, no matter the mood, the festival crowd moved and moved – in a celebration embodied by the liberated, messy and sexual stylings of the 77-year-old headlinerGet our weekend culture and lifestyle emailStraight away, the atmosphere at Womadelaide is calmer this year. On opening night, it is only 25C – the warmest it is forecast to be all weekend. After two years of temperatures in the 40s, this will be a festival to ease into. Even the bat colony at the entrance feels decidedly more settled. “I hear we missed a really hot one last year,” says Beoga’s Niamh Dunne later that night
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