Pound falls and UK borrowing costs rise as Reeves ditches plans for income tax hike – business live

10-year and 20-year gilt yields are on the rise again, as investors try to determine how confident they are about the Labour government’s ability to raise enough funds to offer some fiscal certainty and stability long-term.The 20-year gilt yield is at 5.233%, up 0.125 percentage points.That is the highest level since mid-October

UK borrowing costs up after markets spooked by Reeves’s income tax U-turn

Britain’s borrowing costs have jumped while the pound has dropped after the chancellor’s extraordinary last-minute decision to ditch tax-raising plans in the upcoming budget.Interest rates on government bonds rose by more than 10 basis points in early trading, putting them on track for their worst day since 2 July, when investors responded to a tearful appearance by Rachel Reeves in the House of Commons chamber. The pound, meanwhile, dropped 0.5% against the dollar.The markets reacted after government sources confirmed Reeves had dropped plans to raise income taxes to help close a multibillion-pound shortfall in her budget

AI slop tops Billboard and Spotify charts as synthetic music spreads

Three songs generated by artificial intelligence topped music charts this week, reaching the highest spots on Spotify and Billboard charts.Walk My Walk and Livin’ on Borrowed Time by the outfit Breaking Rust topped Spotify’s “Viral 50” songs in the US, which documents the “most viral tracks right now” on a daily basis, according to the streaming service. A Dutch song, We Say No, No, No to an Asylum Center, an anti-migrant anthem by JW “Broken Veteran” that protests against the creation of new asylum centers, took the top position in Spotify’s global version of the viral chart around the same time. Breaking Rust also appeared in the top five on the global chart.“You can kick rocks if you don’t like how I talk,” reads a lyric from Walk My Walk, a seeming double entendre challenging those opposed to AI-generated music

UK firms can win a significant chunk of the AI chip market | John Browne

The UK is in a uniquely promising position, far too little understood, to play a lucrative role in the coming era of artificial intelligence – but only if it also grabs the opportunity to start making millions of computer chips.AI requires vast numbers of chips and we could supply up to 5% of world demand if we get our national act together.Our legacy in chip design is world-class, starting with the first general-purpose electronic computer, the first electronic memory and the first parallel computer. Today we have Cambridge-based Arm, a quiet titan designing more than 90% of the chips powering phones and tablets globally.​With such a pedigree, it is not idle daydreaming for British companies to win a significant chunk of the AI chip market; 5% is a conservative, achievable ambition

England’s Joe Root and Harry Brook splutter on ‘flat wicket’ in Ashes warmup

Joe Root’s attempt to lay to rest the ghost of Australian failures past started with the addition of a fresh one, as his fourth Test series tour of the country started in brief and inglorious style. The world’s No 1 batter, the subject of much pre-series chatter because of his poor average in previous Ashes trips, was the most notable failure as many of his teammates inflated their confidence along with their scores across another day of breezy cricket and indeed weather against the Lions at Lilac Hill, which the senior side ended, having been bowled out moments before the scheduled close, with 426, a lead of 51.Zak Crawley described it as “a flat wicket for sure” and with the atmosphere provided by the few dozen spectators similar, but intense heat expected from the stands and pitch when the real action starts next Friday, it is not clear to what extent anyone is markedly more prepared now than they were a couple of days ago.“Cricket’s cricket, it’s time in the middle,” Crawley said. “We’re doing everything we can with what we’ve got and we feel like we’re going to be ready

Numbers crunched: how the votes were cast in the Guardian’s men’s Ashes top 100

More than 800 men have played in an Ashes Test. England picked most of them in the summer of 1989. But the process of selecting the Guardian’s Ashes Top 100 required something more scientific than that infamous shemozzle.Let’s start with the small print. We asked 51 judges to select their top 50 men’s Ashes cricketers, from which we calculated a top 100: 50 points for No 1, 49 for No 2 and so on