British Gas owner’s profits tumble 39% ; gen Z turning to trades for AI-proof work – business live

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Good morning, and welcome to our rolling coverage of business, the financial markets and the world economy.Tough news for British Gas owner Centrica this morning, which announced it is putting share buyback plans ice after suffering a 39% drop for full-year 2025.Centrica said adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation fell to £1.4bn for the year, down from £2.3bn a year earlier.

However, that was ahead of average analyst forecasts for £1.3bn.Centrica CEO Chris O’Shea conceded it had been a “challenging” year for the business:2025 has been a year of real momentum and we have made bold investments as we continue the fundamental transformation of Centrica.The environment has been challenging, and performance has varied across the business.However, we have remained disciplined, delivering strong operational performance and achieving customer growth across all our Retail businesses simultaneously for the first time in over a decade.

He tried to assure investors that putting the share buyback programme on pause would result in better for shareholders in the long-run:With major projects like Sizewell C, Grain LNG and our Meter Asset Provider laying the groundwork for more stable and predictable earnings, our long-term opportunities have never been better,Pausing the buyback enables us to prioritise investment that creates lasting value for shareholders, while continuing to deliver the reliable, affordable energy that households and businesses need to power economic growth through the transition,Meanwhile, ongoing concerns over AI’s impact on the job market has pushed younger generations to blue collar-work, according to new data from Employment Hero,PA is reporting on the figures, which show younger workers are driving jobs growth within the construction and trade industry, amid rising youth unemployment and the looming threat of AI,The HR platform’s report also showed that hiring of Gen Z workers significantly outpaced other generations last month.

Employment for the age group - incorporating those born between 1997 and 2012 - increased by 16,8% in January, compared with the same month last year,The Agenda11am GMT: CBI Industrial Trends Orders1,30pm GMT: US International Trade in Goods and Services, December and Annual 2025
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Cabbagecore: why are fashionable people going wild for the green vegetable?

It’s on handbags, in flower arrangements and is even being used in a Burberry campaign. Just how did this humble brassica become the hottest new trend? Name: Cabbagecore.Age: Ready for 2026.Appearance: Red, green or white – your choice.When you say cabbagecore, are you referring to the tough central stem of the familiar leafy cultivar? No, I’m alluding to the idea that cabbage is having a moment

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Rukmini Iyer’s quick and easy reccipe for crispy baked gnocchi puttanesca | Quick and easy

Puttanesca purists, look away now. This dish takes the classic elements of a puttanesca – that is, anchovies, capers, olives, tomatoes – and combines them into a rich sauce for gnocchi, which are then covered in mozzarella, breadcrumbs and parmesan, and flashed under the grill. It’s exactly what you want on a rainy night. In fact, my sauce-averse toddler thought it smelled so good that she stole half of my plate – a win all round. (Although her pretty decent suggestion was that next time I use it as a pizza sauce, rather than on pasta or gnocchi

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Rukmini Iyer’s quick and easy recipe for ginger sesame meatballs with rice and greens | Quick and easy

I make variations of these meatballs every fortnight for my children, usually with chicken mince. The texture is fantastic and, whisper it, they’re even better made in an air fryer. Yes, I finally got one and it’s fantastic. You do, however, have to cook them all in one layer, which, depending on the size of your air-fryer basket, might mean cooking them in multiple batches. It feels more efficient to make them all in one go, though, so I’ve provided oven timings below

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How to make the perfect chicken massaman – recipe | Felicity Cloake's How to make the perfect …

Bickering pleasantly over the menu in a Thai restaurant with my family recently, I realised I was unable to explain exactly what a gaeng massaman was, beyond the fact it was probably a safe bet for those concerned about the three chillies next to the green curry (a dish I first tackled for this column back in 2010). The gap in my repertoire was explained later when I opened David Thompson’s pink bible of Thai Food and learned that “a mussaman curry is the most complex, time-consuming Thai curry to make”. The fact the esteemed Australian chef also describes it as “the most delicious” is scant comfort given I’ve just promised my editor I’ll make at least six of the things … but then I remember how incredibly tasty it is, and knuckle down to my research.Though the first recipe dates from 1899, massaman, whose name suggests an association with the country’s Muslim minority, probably dates back to the 17th century, and reflects either Persian or Malaysian influence, or perhaps that of the Indian and Middle Eastern spice traders who travelled through southern Thailand on their way to China. It’s unusual in its use of dried spices like cumin and cinnamon, bay leaves and cloves alongside more classic Thai aromatics like lemongrass and galangal to create a richly savoury gravy that cloaks the protein and potatoes like a warm hug direct from Bangkok

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Koba, London W1: ‘I admire their chutzpah’ – restaurant review

Sometimes, my memories of a restaurant begin at the end, and at Koba in Fitzrovia, central London, the enduring image is the warm, fresh, sugary, bean paste doughnut served with a pot of buckwheat tea. It was an utter delight, but then, Korean sweet bean paste, which is made with adzuki beans, is so very satisfying: pleasantly claggy, almost nutty, and a little decadent, while at the same time still convincing you that it might count as one of your five a day, were it not stuffed inside a hot fresh doughnut with a whopping great dollop of whipped cream. It was a cold winter’s day – the sort where, by lunchtime, my own umbrella had blown inside-out twice and everyone else’s seemed determined to poke my eye out. Against that backdrop, this doughnut was a moment of pure bliss.Koba, a Korean restaurant by Linda Lee, has been providing moments of such joy for 20 solid years, not least with its traditional tabletop barbecue hot plates on which guests could grill their own dinner

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Original Bramley apple tree ‘at risk’ after site where it grows put up for sale

The future of the original Bramley apple tree, which is responsible for one of the world’s most popular cooking apples, is at risk now that the site where it grows has been put up for sale, campaigners have warned.The tree is situated in the back garden of a row of cottages in Southwell, Nottinghamshire, which has been owned by Nottingham Trent University since 2018 and has been used as student accommodation.The university said the site was for sale due to the “age and configuration” of the cottages, which made them no longer suitable for accommodation.The great granddaughter of the man who first introduced the Bramley apple commercially said she was “very concerned” for the future of the tree and it needed to be protected.“It’s a very famous tree