WPP chief Mark Read to step down as ad agency battles AI

The boss of WPP, Mark Read, has announced he will step down, as the advertising agency, which was once the largest in the world, struggles against the rise of artificial intelligence and with its shares at their lowest level in about five years.Read will leave WPP after more than 30 years, with just under seven spent in the top job. He will stay on as chief executive until the end of the year while the board starts to look for his successor.WPP’s share price has shed about half of its value under his leadership, as the company has struggled against the rise of AI tech that helps companies to automate the creation of adverts.The chair of WPP, the former BT boss Philip Jansen, said Read “played a central role in transforming the company into a world leader in marketing services”

Farage is like a tribune for the working class, says former Bank of England economist

Nigel Farage is the closest to a “tribune for the working class”, the former Bank of England chief economist has said, in a stark warning for Keir Starmer’s Labour party.Andy Haldane said the surge in support for Reform UK in the opinion polls suggested there had been “something of a moral rupture” between the government and many voters, which he said should spur Starmer to take action with a “radical reset” of its growth plans.Haldane said Labour’s misfiring growth strategy and decisions on winter fuel payments and the two-child benefit limit had opened the door to Farage by fuelling a sense that mainstream politicians promise change but fail to deliver.Asked whether Reform was the new party of the working class, Haldane said: “I do not know. [But] as things stand today, and doing no more than echoing what is in the polls … that is what the larger part of the working classes think – which matters rather more than what I think

Bidders demand Thames Water granted immunity over environmental crimes

Lenders vying to take over Thames Water have demanded that the struggling company and its management be granted immunity from prosecution for serious environmental crimes as a condition of acquiring it, the Guardian can reveal.Creditors want the environment secretary, Steve Reed, to grant the water company extraordinary clemency from a series of strict rules covering everything from sewage spills to failure to upgrade its water treatment works.The demands, if successful, would render the Environment Agency (EA) largely powerless to take enforcement action against Britain’s biggest water company for some of the most serious criminal breaches of its licences and permits.Thames Water has been a serial offender in recent years, paying tens of millions of pounds in fines and penalties, with multiple convictions for dumping raw sewage into rivers and streams and dozens more investigations under way.The fate of the heavily indebted utility was thrown into further doubt this week when the US private equity firm KKR quit an auction to buy it, citing concerns about politicisation and the poor state of its assets

Trump bill set to add trillions to US debt pile – can America stop it climbing?

Economists are concerned, politicians are angry – but the national debt keeps growing, no matter who’s in chargeIn this febrile political era, few issues command stronger bipartisan support than the need for fiscal responsibility. Barack Obama and Donald Trump committed to curtail the US national debt on their respective roads to the White House.And yet, no matter the party, Americans have been able to count on one thing above most: the national debt will keep climbing.And here we are again. With Trump’s “big, beautiful bill” threatening to add once more to the US’s huge debts, several Republican senators are threatening to block his current spending plans, with Rand Paul of Kentucky among those highly critical

UK banks to experiment with Nvidia AI in ‘supercharged sandbox’ scheme

The UK’s financial regulator is to allow banks and other City firms to experiment with the US chipmaker Nvidia’s leading AI products to “speed up innovation” and fulfil government orders to boost UK growth.The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) said it was launching a “supercharged sandbox” that would give successful applicants the chance to experiment safely with cutting-edge AI under the watchdog’s supervision, allowing them to use Nvidia’s accelerated computing products.The regulator is not dictating what those experiments might be, but some firms have previously suggested that AI could be used to identify and intercept authorised push payment fraud, in which victims are tricked into sending money to criminals’ bank accounts, or help identify stock market manipulation.The FCA’s chief data, intelligence and information officer, Jessica Rusu, said: “This collaboration will help those that want to test AI ideas but who lack the capabilities to do so. We’ll help firms harness AI to benefit our markets and consumers, while supporting economic growth

Tariff-hit firms should review bonuses or risk backlash, US lawyers warn

Businesses hit by tariffs should start reviewing their bonus policies and how deeply they may need to cut executive payouts if they hope to avoid a public backlash, lawyers have said.Partners at the Silicon Valley law firm Cooley said that while pay was probably the last thing on bosses’ minds as they scramble to adapt to Donald Trump’s unpredictable tariff policies, pay committees should start assessing their options soon.“Many will encounter rising material costs and reduced profit margins, particularly given the significant pressure on the supply chain,” a memo by its top lawyers said.“Taken together with the recent stock market volatility, companies (both public and private) will need to address the impact of these challenges on their business and, importantly, consider the effects on director and executive compensation programs.”Cooley – whose clients have included Netflix, Apple, Meta, and Twitter before its takeover by Elon Musk and rebrand as X – said that without a proper review of pay policies, companies may end up handing big bonuses to bosses while the rest of the workforce suffers from cost cuts and job losses