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out of money entirely” last year.On Tuesday, the environment secretary, Steve Reed, announced the bonuses had been withdrawn by the water company after the Guardian revealed the chair of Thames Water had wrongly claimed they were insisted upon by creditors

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

OpenAI buys iPhone architect’s startup for $6.4bn

OpenAI is buying an untested startup for $6.4bn, the ChatGPT maker’s biggest acquisition yet. The hardware startup, called io, was founded by Apple design guru Jony Ive, known best as one of the principal architects of the iPhone. Ive and OpenAI’s CEO, Sam Altman, said in a blog post that their partnership has been two years in the making.“A collaboration built upon friendship, curiosity and shared values quickly grew in ambition,” they wrote in the blog post, which offered scant details on upcoming devices

Hapless Colorado Rockies off to MLB’s worst 50-game start since 1895

The Colorado Rockies dropped to 8-42 on Thursday following a 2-0 loss to the Philadelphia Phillies, cementing the worst 50-game start to a season in Major League Baseball’s modern era.Not since the 1895 Louisville Colonels, who began 7-43, has a team opened a season this poorly. The Rockies are now on pace to lose 136 games, which would surpass the all-time record of 134 defeats set by the 1899 Cleveland Spiders. The 2024 Chicago White Sox set the modern-era mark last season with 121 losses.Thursday’s defeat capped a four-game sweep at Coors Field and gave the Phillies their first-ever season sweep of at least seven games against Colorado

Northampton mix secret ingredients for glory in Champions Cup final clash

It may sound strange but the moment that best reflects Northampton’s collective mindset took place late at night in their club captain’s bedroom the other week. George Furbank was fast asleep in bed when, suddenly, he awoke to find several uninvited “guests” in his house and a video camera filming his reaction. Saints’ backs have been playing a game called Our House, based on the television show Through the Keyhole, and their senior coaches have also been joining in the fun.Even on the eve of a massive final, Sam Vesty, Northampton’s head coach, needs little encouragement to tell the story. “We broke in at one o’clock in the morning