John Healey poised to raise taxes on banks in budget
Posted on Thursday October 15, 2026

Exclusive: Chancellor to target sector in his first budget, to help offset Iran war’s damage to public finances

John Healey is poised to tax Britain’s banks in his 28 October budget, to help offset the damage inflicted on the public finances by war in the Middle East, the Guardian understands.

The chancellor is in Bangkok, where the International Monetary Fund has praised the UK’s progress towards balancing the books, urging him to “stay the course”.

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Thames Water asks for £2.4bn more to avoid going bust this year or early 2027
Posted on Thursday October 15, 2026

Water company tells creditors it will not survive long enough to agree refinancing deal without more money

Thames Water has asked its creditors for another £2.4bn as the embattled water company comes close to running out of cash.

The UK’s largest water company said on Thursday it needed another short-term cash injection because it would be unable to reach a longer-term deal to sort out its giant debt pile before running out of cash by “the end of 2026 or the start of 2027”.

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US lawmakers unveil bill to hold Wall Street’s ‘Epstein-connected’ bosses to account
Posted on Thursday October 15, 2026

Move comes as Senator Elizabeth Warren condemns Barclays response to questions over ex-boss’s ties to sex offender

US lawmakers have unveiled a new bill to hold Wall Street’s “Epstein-connected” bosses to account for helping finance the late sex offender’s crimes.

It came as top Democratic senator Elizabeth Warren condemned the UK bank Barclays for “dodging responsibility” over its failure to vet former boss Jes Staley and his ties to the once well-connected billionaire.

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Cost of balancing Great Britain’s power grid reaches nearly £50m a day
Posted on Thursday October 15, 2026

Grid operator paying large sums to switch off windfarms in areas of excess electricity generation while turning on gas plants elsewhere

The cost of balancing Great Britain’s power grid has soared to near-record highs of almost £50m a day after windfarms were turned off because of bottlenecks in transmitting power around the country.

The grid operator paid £47.9m on Wednesday to turn windfarms off in areas with an oversupply of electricity and turn gas plants on in areas where supplies were tight.

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Online ads weaponised to deliver ‘zero-click’ spyware, researchers say
Posted on Thursday October 15, 2026

Discover-Tech’s Controlium software lets clients mass-profile internet users then covertly hack targets, say researchers at University of Toronto

An Israeli advertising agency has been serving millions of online adverts that allow “zero-click” spyware to be used against targets, researchers at a Canadian university have said.

Citizen Lab, a digital investigations research unit at the University of Toronto, said it believed dozens of devices at the Qatari broadcaster Al Jazeera had been compromised by spyware delivered through ads run by Discover-Tech, which describes itself as a specialised digital advertising agency.

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OpenAI’s London staff receive average of £2.3m per person annually
Posted on Wednesday October 14, 2026

Accounts for the Westminster-based company behind ChatGPT show that 110 staff shared £87m in salaries and £168m in shares last year

OpenAI’s London staff each received £2,318,181 on average last year, as the ChatGPT-maker poured Premier League football salaries into its bid to dominate the global AI race.

Accounts for OpenAI UK Ltd, which is based in Westminster but is opening a new HQ in London’s King’s Cross area, showed that 110 staff shared £87m in salaries and £168m in shares in the company, which is aiming to list on the stock market at a valuation of about $1tn.

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Chris Woakes: ‘It’s unacceptable seeing the way some England players have acted’
Posted on Thursday October 15, 2026

The Test stalwart on his surreal last stand at the Oval, his ‘shabby’ treatment by Rob Key and the vexed problem of cricket’s drinking culture

On a rainy October afternoon, after his 20th season as a professional cricketer, Chris Woakes sits down at Edgbaston’s indoor nets and thinks of the advice that helped him when he was 17 and about to start a career in this consuming sport. “The words came from my parents, particularly my dad, and it was to always be myself,” he says in his thoughtful way.

Woakes has just won his third County Championship with Warwickshire and he played 62 Tests for England, taking 192 wickets and scoring 2,034 runs. He also won two World Cups and experienced a range of England coaches, from Andy Flower to Brendon McCullum, and played for captains as different as Sir Alastair Cook, Eoin Morgan, Joe Root and Ben Stokes.

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Evanilson shocks Sturm Graz to spark Bournemouth’s first home win in Europe
Posted on Thursday October 15, 2026

An impossible dream realised in the Vitality staging European football, and the Europa League is becoming an oasis for Bournemouth. No wins yet in the Premier League but in beating Sturm Graz to follow victory at Real Sociedad should ease the domestic pressures on Marco Rose. A pair of Brazilians secured club history on the gala night, Evanilson’s first-half header followed by Rayan’s close-range drive, a clincher arriving as the Austrian visitors had pushed hard for an equaliser. Álvaro Rodríguez’s injury-time penalty furthered the celebrations.

Flag day at the Vitality. Elvis Presley’s high baritone and Andy Williams’ tenor replacing the usual dance hits on the public address system marked a different type of occasion. Bournemouth have come a long way. “Minus 17 to European dreams” read a banner in the Steve Fletcher stand, marking the journey from the foot of the Football League to a model, continental club.

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