Reform UK promises to reverse ban on new North Sea oil drilling if elected

Reform UK has promised to reverse the government’s ban on fresh North Sea oil and gas drilling as a “day one” priority if elected to power, with the taxpayer taking a stake in the projects.Richard Tice, the party’s deputy leader, has met with senior UK oil executives in recent weeks to pledge the party’s support for the industry, which has been hit hard by the government’s windfall tax and moves to block fresh North Sea exploration licences.Tice told the energy bosses to expect a reversal of the government’s ban alongside billions of pounds of public investment in their projects if the party comes to power in the 2029 election.The public investments would effectively hand taxpayers an equity stake in North Sea fossil fuel developments, which have stalled in recent months after Labour swept to power with a manifesto that promised to end fresh exploration licences for new oil and gas fields.“As long as there’s oil in the North Sea, we should be drilling for it,” a spokesperson for Reform UK said

Thames Water boss ordered to tell MPs if executives received bonus payments

The chief executive of Thames Water has been ordered to tell MPs whether any executives have received payments from a controversial bonus package taken from a £3bn loan.Britain’s biggest water company admitted last week that senior managers were in line for “substantial” bonuses linked to an emergency £3bn loan. Thames claimed the payouts were vital to retain staff and prevent rival companies from “picking off” its best employees. The disclosure provoked fury as the company has said its finances are “hair-raising” and that it came “very close to running out of money entirely” last year.On Tuesday, the environment secretary, Steve Reed, announced the bonuses had been withdrawn by the water company after the Guardian revealed the chair of Thames Water had wrongly claimed they were insisted upon by creditors

Fear, hope and loathing in Elon Musk’s new city: ‘It’s the wild, wild west and the future’

Starbase in Texas, where the world’s richest man has a rocket-launching facility, was incorporated this week. Mars obsessives are flocking there – but some long-term locals are far from happyAlong a flat coastal highway in south-east Texas, surrounded by wetlands and open plains, the artefacts of a new American oligarchy appear in quick succession. Three towering rockets stand upright on the horizon. A fleet of Tesla Cybertrucks speeds by. A large mural of the Shiba Inu “doge” dog stares ahead, its arms crossed

iPhone design guru and OpenAI chief promise an AI device revolution

Everything over the last 30 years, according to Sir Jony Ive, has led to this moment: a partnership between the iPhone designer and the developer of ChatGPT.Ive has sold his hardware startup, io, to OpenAI and will take on creative and design leadership across the merged businesses. “I have a growing sense that everything I have learned over the last 30 years has led me to this place, to this moment,” he says in a video announcing the $6.4bn (£4.8bn) deal

England thrash West Indies by nine wickets: second women’s T20 international – as it happened

Nat Sciver-Brunt’s reactionHappy days! The bowlers set the game up beautifully. When you’ve got someone only two games into their career who is begging to bowl four overs straight through, it’s a dream. Em was on a roll and it seemed a shame to take her off.Cricket’s a funny game, isn’t it? I lasted two balls on Wednesday and tonight I get a first-ball boundary.We set a high standard with our fielding in the first game but I’m pretty sure we topped that here tonight

Sciver-Brunt inspires England to wrap up T20 series win over West Indies

Forget Bondi to Coogee – England are queens of a different seaside town. On Friday night at Hove they sealed their T20 series against West Indies with a nine-wicket win, thanks to a three-wicket haul by new-kid-on-the-block Em Arlott and a captain’s innings of 55 not out from their new skipper, Nat Sciver-Brunt.The 27-year-old Warwickshire seamer Arlott, having been handed her England cap just 48 hours previously, apparently impressed Charlotte Edwards, the new coach, so much on debut that she was promoted to open the bowling from the Sea End. She subsequently sent down a consecutive four-over spell of such accuracy that it yielded just 14 runs, despite three of the overs being inside the powerplay.“I was told: ‘You’ll have one in the powerplay and go from there and adjust,’” Arlott said