Anglian Water fined record £1.42m for contaminating water supply

Anglian Water has been fined a record £1.42m for contaminating the water supply.The company, which covers the east of England, received the fine at Northampton crown court after a prosecution brought by the Drinking Water Inspectorate (DWI) for failures that affected 1.3 million people.An investigation found that between June and December 2021 the company used unapproved materials in five drinking water tanks at four sites across its network

UK Peppa Pig toy firm says trading ‘uncertain’ as US-China shipments on hold

A British manufacturer that makes Peppa Pig and Fireman Sam toys has said trading with the US remains “uncertain” after it paused shipping Chinese-made products to the country because of Donald Trump’s tariffs.London-listed Character Group said on Friday that it had put shipments from China to the US “on hold” in April after the White House announced hefty levies for imports of Chinese-made goods.The company also withdrew its guidance for the current financial year last month, as a result of the introduction of tariffs by the US.Sales of Character’s products in the US, including stretchy action figures in the Heroes of Goo Jit Zu collection, represented 20% of the group’s revenues in the last financial year, which ended on 31 August 2024. The company said “substantially all” of its products sold in the US were manufactured in China

She earned $20 doing laundry for a friend. Now this entrepreneur washes 7,000lb a month

The first time Hyacinth Tucker did someone else’s laundry, she earned $20. “I didn’t think of it as a business. This was just another side hustle,” she said. It was 2022 and the Maryland-based army veteran needed money.She was going through a divorce, and Covid had staunched the flow of income from the event facilities she owned, so she had taken to driving for Uber and pet-sitting

King Charles’s wealth swells to match Rishi Sunak and Akshata Murty on UK rich list

King Charles’s personal fortune increased to £640m in the past year, making him as wealthy as the former prime minister Rishi Sunak and his wife, Akshata Murty, according to the Sunday Times rich list.The 76-year-old monarch, who acceded to the throne in 2022, recorded a £30m increase in wealth and ranks joint 238th on the list of the UK’s wealthiest people and families.The estimate of the king’s wealth is based on personal assets, including the investment portfolio he inherited from his late mother and private estates at Sandringham and Balmoral, and does not include the crown estate.Charles is now estimated to be worth considerably more than the late Queen Elizabeth II, whose wealth was put at £370m in 2022.However, an investigation by the Guardian in 2023 estimated that King Charles’s fortune could be almost £2bn

Foreign states should not be co-owners of UK newspapers | Nils Pratley

‘We are fully upholding the need to safeguard our news media from foreign state control while recognising that news organisations must be able to raise vital funding,” said Lisa Nandy, the culture secretary, alighting on 15% as the limit for foreign state ownership of a UK newspaper company.She is obviously right that it is harder for companies to raise money if a pool of potential capital – state-controlled sovereign wealth funds and their like – are off-limits. No wonder some media owners lobbied for a percentage higher than the 5% that was being considered by the previous government as a tweak to last year’s legislation that set the cap at zero.But she is naive if she thinks 15% will ensure “minimal risk” of foreign state influence. That is not how the world works: 15% is a hefty foot in the door

Wealthy Britons avoiding more tax than previously thought, spending watchdog says

Wealthy individuals in Britain could be avoiding more tax than had been thought, the government’s spending watchdog has said, after a dramatic fall in the number of penalties being issued to the super-rich.In a report urging ministers to redouble their efforts to secure more of the money owed by wealthy people to the exchequer, the National Audit Office (NAO) said billions of pounds was going unpaid each year.It said that HMRC had greatly increased the additional tax revenue it was collecting from wealthy individuals by tackling non-compliance, but that additional steps were required to ensure rich people paid their fair share.It comes as Rachel Reeves, the chancellor, faces renewed pressure to find extra money for public services and defence, amid warnings that she could be forced to raise taxes in the autumn budget.Nick Williams, an ex-No 10 senior economic adviser, who left his post last month, said on Thursday Reeves’s spending plans were “not credible” and needed to be reassessed