Marks & Spencer food chief calls for ‘concrete target’ on British produce

Marks & Spencer’s head of food has called on the government to set a legally binding “concrete target” to increase the proportion of food produced at home, as he warned that Britain was becoming “less and less self-sufficient”.Alex Freudmann, the managing director of the upmarket grocer’s food division, which works with 10,000 British farms, said: “If ministers are committed to domestic food supply, then they need to prove it, and that’s why we’re backing our farmers’ calls for a clear and concrete target to increase the proportion of food eaten in Britain that’s grown or reared in Britain.”At present, less than half of the food consumed in the UK is produced here and farmers say it should be much more to ensure security of supply amid global uncertainties including the wars in Ukraine and Gaza and the climate crisis.“If [a target] was set down in law, just like the net zero targets are, it could tilt the balance towards farmers and decisions around planning or access to water, which are incredibly painful to navigate today,” Freudmann said.Ministers needed to “fight quickly” as discussions on the UK government’s food strategy restarted this month and “we’re getting less and less self-sufficient”

Revisions and rising unemployment: what to know about the US jobs report

A closely watched report on US jobs released on Friday gave signs of a cooling labor market.The economy added just 22,000 new jobs in August, coming in below expectations, while the unemployment rate ticked slightly up to 4.3%, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. At the beginning of the year, more than 100,000 jobs were being added each month.Amid Donald Trump’s trade wars, tariffs have now been put on most foreign goods and prices have started going up

Head of UK’s beleaguered Alan Turing Institute resigns

The chief executive of the UK’s leading artificial intelligence institute is stepping down after a staff revolt and government calls for a strategic overhaul.Jean Innes has led the Alan Turing Institute since 2023, but her position has come under pressure amid widespread discontent within the organisation and a demand from its biggest funder, the UK government, for a change in direction.ATI said the search was already under way for a replacement for Innes, who held senior roles in the civil service and technology industry before her appointment.Government sources pointed to a letter sent by the technology secretary, Peter Kyle, to ATI’s chair in July that demanded strategic change and indicated a need for new leadership.In the letter, Kyle said the institute should switch its focus to defence and national security and urged “careful consideration” on having an appropriate executive team in place for such a move

Quantum computing firm reaches $10bn valuation as investor interest builds

A British quantum computing entrepreneur has doubled the value of his stake in the business he founded to $2bn (£1.5bn), after the company achieved a $10bn valuation in its latest fundraising.Ilyas Khan, 63, is the founder of Quantinuum, a UK-US firm that announced on Thursday it had raised $600m as investor interest builds in the cutting-edge technology.Khan set up Quantinuum’s predecessor company, Cambridge Quantum, in 2014 before it merged with the US-based Honeywell Quantum Solutions in 2021.Khan, a former owner of his home town’s football club Accrington Stanley, is now chief product officer at the business and to date has not sold any shares since founding it more than a decade ago

Ellie Kildunne ruled out of England’s Rugby World Cup quarter-final after head injury

The England full-back Ellie Kildunne has been ruled out of the team’s Rugby World Cup quarter-final against Scotland next Sunday because of concussion protocol.It was confirmed after the Red Roses’ win over Australia that Kildunne did not have a head injury assessment as she was immediately removed with concussion symptoms after hitting her head on the ground following a tackle. That means that the reigning world player of the year has to have a 12-day mandatory stand down period.If England reach the semi-finals Kildunne could play but that is dependent on her passing the return-to-play protocols. The Red Roses have Gloucester’s Emma Sing as their backup full-back, as well as versatile back Helena Rowland who can play in the position

Red Roses must relish unfamiliar pressure in quest for World Cup glory | Andy Bull

You can measure a good team by how many they’ve won, or you can measure them by how many they might have lost but didn’t. The Red Roses are well ahead on the first count, they’re on a 30-match winning streak now, and have suffered just the one, solitary, defeat in the last six years.But it’s less clear what their other tally is. Their one-point victory over France in the final match of this year’s Six Nations was the only time they’ve had to confront the possibility of losing in the last few months, and even in that match they led from start to finish.Which made the first half of this victory against Australia the most intriguing 40 minutes they’ve had in a long while