English and Welsh winemakers report sharp rise in production in 2025
English and Welsh winemakers have reported a sharp rise in production, after the hot, dry summer in 2025 and an increase in vineyard planting resulted in the second-largest UK harvest.The equivalent of 16.5m bottles were produced across the UK last year – or 124,377 hectolitres – according to figures from the wine regulator, the Food Standards Agency (FSA).This represents a 55% increase on the volumes produced a year earlier, the result of favourable growing conditions throughout the season that delivered good fruit quality and yields not seen for many years.It followed a sharp fall in 2024, when production halved to 10.
7m bottles after high rainfall caused more disease in the grape crop,Volumes in 2025 were still below the 21,6m produced in 2023, which was widely considered a bumper year,Last year’s harvest saw a particularly large increase in white wine production, which was up by more than 131% compared with 2024,Nicola Bates, the chief executive of the industry body, WineGB, said: “We take great optimism from the quality and scale of the 2025 vintage and recognise the considerable skill and hard work from viticulturalists and winemakers in bringing in the UK’s second largest harvest.
”Grape yields tend to vary by region.Producers in north-west England and Wales had predicted a good harvest, while growers in the south-east of England, the UK’s biggest wine region, expected it to be below average.Some of the UK’s largest producers, including Nyetimber in West Sussex, predicted that production would not reach record levels in 2025 because its vines needed more time to recover from the cool, damp conditions of the previous year.Gusborne in Kent said its harvest had been lower than average because of a lack of rain.There was a 4% increase in vineyards registered with the FSA to 1,158, the vast majority of them commercial operators rather than hobbyists.
The FSA is responsible for inspecting vineyards and enforcing wine regulations in England and Wales, meaning it ensures the wine that ends up in consumers’ glasses is accurately labelled and meets the required standards.The growth in the industry means that more than 10,000 people are now employed across the sector, taking its value to £14bn.There was an almost 3% increase in vine plantings in 2025, taking the area covered to 4,357 hectares (10,700 acres).The UK is well down the list of wine-producing countries, below Uzbekistan and Tunisia, but output has generally been rising in recent years.Higher temperatures have attracted investors to UK vineyards, at the same time as grape production in more traditional wine-producing countries is coming under pressure.
MPs urge UK government to halt contract giving Palantir FCA data access
MPs have urged the government to halt its latest contract with Palantir after the Guardian revealed that the US spy-tech company is to gain access to a trove of highly sensitive UK financial regulation data.The Financial Conduct Authority, the watchdog for thousands of financial bodies from banks to hedge funds, has hired Palantir to apply its AI systems to two years’ worth of internal intelligence data to help it tackle financial crime.But the Liberal Democrats on Monday called for a government investigation into the contract, which the party said could be “a huge error of judgment”, while the Green party said it should be blocked over Palantir’s links to Donald Trump.Questioned on whether the UK was becoming “dangerously overreliant” on US tech companies including Palantir, Keir Starmer told parliament he would prefer to have more domestic capability but added: “I don’t think we’re overreliant.”Palantir was founded by the Trump-backing billionaire Peter Thiel and it supports the US and Israeli militaries and the ICE immigration crackdown
AI boom risks widening wealth divide, says BlackRock’s Larry Fink
The boom in artificial intelligence risks widening inequality, with only a handful of companies and investors likely to reap its financial rewards, the BlackRock chief executive, Larry Fink, has said.The boss of the $14tn (£10.4tn) asset manager used his annual letter to investors on Monday to highlight potential hazards around the exponential growth in AI, which has attracted rapid investment and become, he said, “central to strategic competition” between global powers such as the US and China.“The massive wealth created over the past several generations flowed mostly to people who already owned financial assets,” Fink said. “And now AI threatens to repeat that pattern at an even larger scale
Leonid Radvinsky, owner of OnlyFans, dies aged 43
Leonid Radvinsky, the owner of OnlyFans, has died of cancer at the age of 43, the company announced on Monday.“We are deeply saddened to announce the death of Leo Radvinsky. Leo passed away peacefully after a long battle with cancer,” said a spokesperson for the company, best known for subscriptions to pornographic content creators. “His family have requested privacy at this difficult time.”Radvinsky, a Ukrainian-American billionaire with a net worth of about $3
‘Kids say they take a quick look at TikTok’: a new kind of distracted driving is on the rise
As watching videos, using touchscreens, and even livestreaming behind the wheel become more common, experts warn of increased risk of crashes Jackie was on her way to a doctor’s appointment last fall when she realized her Uber driver’s eyes were not fully on the road. “He had a video playing on his phone and was intermittently looking at it,” she said. Jackie, who is 32 and lives in New Jersey, could not tell exactly what the driver was watching, but she remembers seeing shots of people talking – she guessed it was a video podcast. “I was definitely feeling a lot of dread and distress.”As they continued on their 40-minute drive down the New Jersey Turnpike – a hectic highway that is not easy driving – Jackie considered saying something
iPhone 17e review: Apple upgrades its cheapest new smartphone
The cheapest new iPhone has been upgraded for this year with a faster chip, double the storage, automatic portraits and MagSafe, providing even more of the core Apple smartphone experience for less.The Guardian’s journalism is independent. We will earn a commission if you buy something through an affiliate link. Learn more.The iPhone 17e is an upgraded version of the mid-range “e” line launched last year with the first iPhone 16e and is the latest member of the iPhone 17 family
Campaign groups rail against Palantir, but the UK contracts keep coming
Palantir’s latest UK contract takes the AI and data analytics company into the heart of one of Britain’s biggest industries: financial services, which accounts for 9% of the economy.The Miami-based company embedded its technology in the NHS in 2023, the police in 2024 and the military in 2025. Land and expand, they say in the tech industry. Palantir has followed the script, building contracts worth more than £500m.Now in 2026, its deal with the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) to dive into the terabytes of information it gathers gives it yet another unparalleled view of the inner workings of the British authorities
The Breakdown | Fiji and the beautiful south reveal rugby’s soul but northern money talks loudest
Death in the strike zone: the mysterious fate of James Creighton, baseball’s first star
Molly Miller, ‘pretty privilege’ and women’s basketball’s beauty trap
Victoria Mboko and Mirra Andreeva lead new generation of friendly rivals
ECB has taken a risk keeping McCullum and Key – who must now placate the public | Ali Martin
‘It may not be popular’: England stand by McCullum and Key despite Ashes debacle