‘You can’t spend your whole life trying to stop a McDonald’s’: how the fast-food chain keeps opening new Australian stores

When a McDonald’s representative appeared before a local council in Melbourne on Monday night to defend its plan for a new 24-hour store in the area, he tried to reassure locals the proposal was “modest and efficient”.Despite that, Darebin city council listened to impassioned submissions – including a petition of more than 11,000 signatures – and voted 6-3 to reject the plan to open an outlet on trendy High Street in the inner-north suburb of Northcote.What comes next? As some Darebin councillors noted before voting, the rejection of the McDonald’s sets the council up for a potential costly legal confrontation should the company appeal against the decision in the Victorian civil and administrative tribunal (Vcat). McDonald’s has confirmed it intends “to pursue all available avenues to progress this site”.McDonald’s – which has more Australian restaurants than any other fast-food company apart from Subway – has been foiled before, tried again and, in many cases, succeeded

UK grocery price inflation slows as retailers launch pre-Christmas promotions

The pace of grocery inflation in Britain slowed last month as retailers ramped up promotions before Christmas, providing a little relief for consumers bracing for further tax rises in this month’s budget.Grocery inflation stood at 4.7% in the four weeks to 2 November, easing from 5.2% in the previous four weeks, according to figures from Worldpanel by Numerator, formerly known as Kantar.Official data published last month showed overall UK inflation held steady at 3

UK unemployment rises to 5%, the highest level in four years

The UK unemployment rate has risen by more than expected to reach its highest level in four years, fuelling expectations of a Bank of England interest rate cut after Rachel Reeves’s budget.With under three weeks to go before the chancellor’s tax and spending statement, figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) show the headline unemployment rate rose to 5.0% in the three months to the end of September, up from 4.8% in the previous quarter.City economists had forecast an increase to 4

Rising unemployment could affect budget, interest rates, pay and more

There are significant implications from the latest unemployment figures showing a rise from 4.8% in August to 5.0% in September, not least for the 1.8 million people it directly affects.Rachel Reeves will be mulling over how to avoid depressing the economy and putting even more people out of work while raising tens of billions of pounds in extra tax in her upcoming budget

Wessex Water must pay £11m over wastewater failures, says regulator

Wessex Water has been ordered to pay £11m over wastewater failures and told to spend it on improvements to reduce sewage spills and other measures.Ofwat, the industry regulator for England and Wales, said that Wessex Water and its shareholders would fund a total enforcement package of £11m, none of which will be paid for by customers through bills.The watchdog found that Wessex Water failed to operate, maintain and upgrade its wastewater network adequately to ensure that it could cope with the flows of sewage and wastewater.The company, which this year increased its bills by an average of 20%, or £113, serves households across Bristol, Dorset and Somerset, as well as most of Wiltshire and parts of Gloucestershire and Hampshire.The measures Wessex Water has been ordered to take include helping private landowners to seal their sewer pipes, reducing spills at specific storm overflows by bringing forward investment, installing additional monitoring equipment and helping customers to sustainably manage rainwater at their properties

Nexperia row shows how China is weaponising EU relationship - and winning

As interventions go it was pretty audacious. The Dutch government decision at the end of September to take over Nexperia, a Chinese-owned chip factory, almost brought the entire European car industry to a halt.Tensions between Europe and China de-escalated over the weekend as Beijing confirmed it would ease restrictions on automotive chip supplies to the EU, prompting sighs of relief in car factories around the world.But it has only intensified the questions about the EU’s asymmetric relationship with China, with many in industry, diplomacy and governments asking if Europe is no longer collateral damage in the wider Sino-American political war but a target in itself.“We can buy a bit of time, but there is a sense that we are entering into a situation where we are going to be dealing with rolling crises from now on and that things have really crossed a threshold with China,” said Andrew Small, a senior fellow at the German Marshall Fund thinktank and former China adviser within the European Commission