It’s time to take politics out of the Small Business Administration

Kelly Loeffler, the new administrator of the Small Business Administration (SBA), announced recently that the agency charged with supporting the businesses that are the backbone of the US economy would no longer be approving loans to small business owners unless they are US citizens. If you’re a legal, tax-paying immigrant with a green card and full residency? No loans for you.This is a big mistake.It’s one thing to go after and deport undocumented immigrants who have committed crimes. But it’s difficult to watch undocumented immigrants who have committed no crime other than trying to make a better life for their families in this country suffer a similar consequence

‘The new ketchup’? How hummus spread beyond a niche into a British staple

It is a sign of the times. This week it was revealed that hummus is joining the list of foods used to measure the cost of living in Britain as the ubiquity of the dip at mealtimes sees it billed as the “new ketchup”.The decision to drop a pot of hummus in the inflation basket is a moment for the all-conquering chickpea dip, which arrived on supermarket shelves in the late 1980s. Since then Britons have gone from spending virtually nothing to £170m a year on the versatile stuff.“What this shows us is that the UK diet is now global,” says Ramona Hazan, whose first name is emblazoned on pots of hummus stacked in supermarket fridges across the country

Energy shock talk grabs headlines but the Iran war is also driving the world towards a food crisis | Heather Stewart

It is peak harvesting season for avocados in the lush southern highlands of Tanzania but growers are racing against time to find buyers for the precious green fruits before they become overripe.Donald Trump’s disastrous Middle East war is being felt in the world’s energy markets but oil and gas are not the only products that transit through the maritime choke point of the strait of Hormuz. The conflict is also hitting supply chains elsewhere.Shipping routes for Tanzanian avocados towards lucrative markets in the Gulf and beyond are blocked, and air freight capacity is down significantly.The Tanzania Horticultural Association recently warned its members: “Shipping lines have currently suspended acceptance of bookings for consignments across all routes and market destinations including Europe, Middle East, India, and China

‘We can create hype’: H&M’s UK boss on its commitment to the high street

Almost exactly 50 years after H&M opened its first British store, the doors on its newest, in Brighton, swung open this week and the Swedish fashion company’s UK boss is determined to keep investing in the nation’s high streets despite its struggles.In 1976, H&M opened in the brand-new Brent Cross shopping centre, the first American-style out of town mall to grace these shores. Its opening was such an event that the then Prince Charles attended.The Brighton store, which takes the H&M brand’s total in the UK to 197, is bristling with technology, including handheld scanners on self-service checkouts and a system that can find the exact location of a product in the shop, using radio-frequency tags. Shoppers can still simply try on a dress and buy it at a till – just as in 1976

‘Trumpflation’: how the Iran war’s economic storm could affect Britons

Here we go again. For Britons it has been a rollercoaster few years and just as better times seemed ahead the country has been plunged into a fresh cost of living crisis.The economic storm caused by war in the Middle East is already pushing up the cost of key household outgoings, including mortgage payments, energy bills and driving. There are warnings that the weekly shop will be next.We look at how the unfolding economic crisis caused by the war could affect you

Trump’s economic shocks are derailing Britain’s building plans

Donald Trump has done his best to crush the green shoots of the global, post-pandemic economic recovery – nowhere more so than in the UK.The US president’s vandalism can be seen across the economic landscape, especially in the property sector, which has become more sensitive to international events since the spread of Covid-19 disrupted long-established supply chains and sent the cost of raw materials soaring.What should be a strictly domestic consideration – what to build and where – has been shaped by the backwash from one geopolitical crisis after another, inducing a long period of stasis.The latest UK industry statistics come hot on the heels of Trump’s attack on Iran.The data provider Glenigan said last week the value of new projects had dropped by more than a third in the three months to the end of February