Iran war causes biggest jump in UK service sector cost inflation since at least 1996, as UK borrowing drops – business live
Posted on Thursday April 23, 2026

Service providers report sharpest acceleration in service sector cost inflation in 30 years, largely due to higher fuel prices

Economic output across the eurozone has fallen for first time in 16 months, as the Iran war drove up prices.

Data provider S&P Global has reported that the eurozone private sector dipped into contraction in April, pulled down by a contraction in the services sector.

“With the ongoing conflict in Iran causing concerns over fuel shortages and spiking prices, the downtick may also be driven by consumers beginning to limit their vehicle usage to necessary journeys.”

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Bibby Stockholm asylum barge contractor admits overcharging UK government £118m
Posted on Thursday April 23, 2026

Australia’s Corporate Travel Management is ‘negotiating commercial arrangements’ to refund the money

The Australian company that ran the Bibby Stockholm asylum barge has admitted it overcharged the British government by £118m.

Corporate Travel Management (CTM) said its auditor had found evidence of “erroneous billing” of its UK clients, increasing its estimate of how much it owes the government by £40m.

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Sainsbury’s boss urges government to help ease rising energy costs for food producers
Posted on Thursday April 23, 2026

Simon Roberts says support for bills on back of Iran war should include ‘food growing, manufacturing and retailing’

The boss of Sainsbury’s has called on the government to help ease the rising cost of energy for farmers, food producers and retailers caused by the conflict in the Middle East to prevent further price rises.

Simon Roberts, the chief executive of the UK’s second largest grocer, said: “The single biggest thing the government could do to keep prices down is to make sure energy prices for the industry are not rising faster.”

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What would a permanent ‘Tehran’s tollbooth’ on oil mean for the world?
Posted on Thursday April 23, 2026

Iran’s plan to extract a $2m payment from tankers using the strait of Hormuz could raise costs for years to come

A second round of peace talks between the US and Iran has begun amid renewed attacks on oil tankers in the strait of Hormuz and a US blockade on Iranian vessels through the crucial trade route.

The future of this narrow waterway – and curbs on Iran’s nuclear programme – are at the centre of the talks after Tehran’s de facto blockade on oil and gas tankers via the strait pushed up energy prices.

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Criminal gangs profiting as child sexual abuse websites double, experts say
Posted on Thursday April 23, 2026

Analyst who worked on Internet Watch Foundation report says content exists ‘across all social media platforms’ and is ‘very easy’ to find

The number of commercial child sexual abuse websites has doubled in a year as experts say that criminal gangs are making “huge profits” from online sexual exploitation.

According to data collected by the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF), 15,031 commercial child sexual abuse sites were found in 2025, compared with 7,028 found in 2024, a 114% increase.

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Met police in talks to buy Palantir AI tech for use in criminal investigations
Posted on Wednesday April 22, 2026

Exclusive: Internal concerns over allowing US firm linked to ICE and Israeli military to process highly sensitive data

The Metropolitan police has held talks with Palantir that could lead to the London force buying the US spy-tech company’s AI technology to automate intelligence analysis for criminal investigations, the Guardian has learned.

Palantir, whose software is used by Donald Trump’s ICE immigration enforcement programme and the Israeli military, demonstrated its systems to senior officers in the intelligence division at the UK’s largest police force last month. Intelligence staff have been tasked with finding intelligence systems that AI could automate to increase productivity.

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Churning Chelsea threw Rosenior in at the deep end but left him out of his depth | Jacob Steinberg
Posted on Thursday April 23, 2026

Decision to hire an inexperienced manager has backfired badly and club’s owners will have to reassess their approach

There was symbolism to the Chelsea project reaching a reckoning at the Amex Stadium. Behdad Eghbali, one of the club’s co-owners, looked ashen-faced in the directors’ box. Enzo Fernández stared into the distance. Liam Rosenior apologised to the few supporters left in the away end and then went on to rip into his players for their performance during the team’s latest humbling by Brighton.

Rosenior’s position as head coach looked untenable long before Chelsea’s fifth straight league defeat was over. The optics were harsh. As a measure of where Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital’s BlueCo consortium have struggled since buying Chelsea in 2022, it does not get much starker than them having a losing record against Brighton, given how often they have nabbed one of Tony Bloom’s players or staff members.

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Fearless Rayan Cherki offers Manchester City a point of difference in title hunt | Will Unwin
Posted on Wednesday April 22, 2026

Talented France forward roamed with intent on a nervy night at Burnley when City reclaimed top spot

In a season where the football on offer would struggle to entertain paint testers, Rayan Cherki has offered a point of difference. A playground footballer who gives off the impression of actually enjoying the game, while the majority of professionals are enduring the methodical nature of desperately practising set pieces. Cherki possesses an armoury of trickery and a desire to use it at every opportunity, even in a stuttering win at Burnley.

A fee of £30.5m was paid for the France international last summer, luring him from Lyon. While Florian Wirtz, a player who cost almost four times as much, struggles to adapt at Liverpool, Cherki’s relaxed attitude has made it a seamless transition from Ligue 1 to Premier League. There is a fearlessness to his play, knowing that if he does lose the ball then it will soon be back at his feet.

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