Macquarie digs deeper for redemption at Southern Water. There was no alternative | Nils Pratley

Many took the view in 2021 that Macquarie should have been run out of town, rather than be allowed to own another English water company.The giant Australian financial outfit’s former outing, remember, was at Thames Water from 2006 to 2017, which was when the absurd games of financial leverage began at the UK’s biggest water company. The then-chair of Ofwat later told MPs he asked himself the question “What do we do here, with that reputation?” when Macquarie made the best financial offer to rescue Southern Water.The deal was done eventually with Ofwat’s blessing. Macquarie-managed funds injected £1bn to take control and its infrastructure boss declared in an open letter that the firm would be “a responsible long-term steward of Southern Water and believes it can help the company deliver the transformation it requires”

Fed chair Jerome Powell blames Trump tariffs for failure to cut US interest rates this year – as it happened

The top US central banker has indicated that Donald Trump’s trade war has prevented the cuts to interest rates which the president has been demanding.Jerome Powell, who has been repeatedly criticised by Trump for the Federal Reserve’s failure to cut interest rates this year, has told an audience in Portugal that uncertainty over the impact of Trump’s tariffs prevented the Fed from cutting rates.Powell explains that the US economy is “healthy” and in a good position, with inflation down to 2.3%, core inflation is at 2.7%, and an unemployment rate is 4

Whitehall’s ambition to cut costs using AI is fraught with risk

A Dragons’ Den-style event this week, where tech companies will have 20 minutes to pitch ideas for increasing automation in the British justice system, is one of numerous examples of how the cash-strapped Labour government hopes artificial intelligence and data science can save money and improve public services.Amid warnings from critics that Downing Street has been “drinking the Kool-Aid” on AI, the Department of Health and Social Care this week announced an AI early warning system to detect dangerous maternity services after a series of scandals, and Wes Streeting, the health secretary, said he wants one in eight operations to be conducted by a robot within a decade.AI is being used to prioritise actions on the 25,000 pieces of correspondence the Department for Work and Pensions receives each day and to detect potential fraud and error in benefit claims. Ministers even have access to an AI tool that is supposed to provide a “vibe check” on parliamentary opinion to help them weigh the political risks of policy proposals.Again and again, ministers are turning to technology to tackle acute crises that in the past might have been dealt with by employing more staff or investing more money

Musk vows to unseat lawmakers who support Trump’s sweeping spending bill

Elon Musk has vowed to unseat lawmakers who support Donald Trump’s sweeping budget bill, which he has criticized because it would increase the country’s deficit by $3.3tn.“Every member of Congress who campaigned on reducing government spending and then immediately voted for the biggest debt increase in history should hang their head in shame! And they will lose their primary next year if it is the last thing I do on this Earth,” he wrote on his social media platform, X.A few hours later he added that if the “insane spending bill passes, the America Party will be formed the next day”.With these threats, lobbed at lawmakers over social media, the tech billionaire has launched himself back into a rift with the US president he helped prop up

England v India: second women’s T20 cricket international – as it happened

Raf Nicholson has filed her report from Bristol, so it’s time for us to shut up shop. It was more competitive than the first game but ultimately India were emphatic winners. Goodnight.Nat Sciver-Brunt’s verdictWe started really well by taking three wickets in the Powerplay. There was a big partnership after that and we probably didn’t adapt as quickly as we’d like

Coco Gauff knocked out of Wimbledon in first round by nerveless Dayana Yastremska

“Yeah, this definitely sucks,” said a tearful Coco Gauff. She was trying, and struggling, to put her finger on why she had become the most high profile casualty of a typically consequential first round at Wimbledon. “I don’t know, I just feel a little bit disappointed in how I showed up today.”The question before the tournament was whether Gauff could cement her standing at the top of the game by adding Wimbledon to this year’s French Open title for a “Channel Slam”. The answer turned out to be a rather decisive “no”