UK firms halt investments and hiring as Iran war pushes up costs, bosses warn
Posted on Sunday May 17, 2026

Survey shows businesses ‘struggling to absorb latest economic shock’, while data says April vacancies down 7.7%

The worsening fallout from the Iran war is forcing businesses to halt their UK investment and hiring plans, bosses have warned, as Britain enters a renewed period of political and economic instability.

More than two months into the US-Israeli war on Iran, leading surveys of UK employers showed companies were increasingly prioritising cost management over growth as rising costs and global uncertainty weigh on confidence.

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‘It was like a mosh pit’: Swatch closes stores as watch launch causes crowding and scuffles
Posted on Sunday May 17, 2026

Paris police used teargas on Saturday and UK shops stayed shut on Sunday after rush for Royal Pop timepieces

Swatch closed its stores in the UK and in some cities in Europe and the US at the weekend after the launch of a limited-edition watch caused chaos.

Shoppers waited throughout the night, and in some cases for several days, hoping to buy the Royal Pop timepieces – made in collaboration with the luxury watchmaker Audemars Piguet – on Saturday.

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Thames Water investors say temporary nationalisation would slow its recovery
Posted on Sunday May 17, 2026

Comments come after Andy Burnham says he would renationalise water and other businesses as PM

Investors in Thames Water have told the Labour government that a temporary nationalisation of the embattled company would slow its turnaround, after calls from Andy Burnham to put key utilities under public control.

As Keir Starmer’s grip on power appeared to be fading, the Greater Manchester mayor suggested at the weekend that the renationalisation of water and energy would form part of his policy agenda should he become prime minister.

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Will a Nationwide customer’s boardroom challenge shake up UK corporate governance?
Posted on Sunday May 17, 2026

A decade after Theresa May spoke of radical reform, the mutual faces a bid that is testing the limits of democracy

In July 2016, in a canalside conference centre in central Birmingham, Theresa May took the stage for a speech that would formally launch her Tory leadership bid.

The home secretary of six years was seen as a safe pair of hands, including by the business community still reeling from the shock result of the Brexit referendum. What business had not banked on, though, was a social reform platform that would see May pledge to rein in corporate Britain and give workers and consumers seats on company boards.

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Canvas hack: is it ever a good idea to pay a ransom, and what happens to the data?
Posted on Saturday May 16, 2026

Businesses are advised against paying – but many are prepared to deal to protect users’ privacy

After a week of outages, hundreds of millions of students’ data stolen, delayed assignment due dates and school login pages being defaced by hackers, the US tech firm Instructure – which operates the education platform Canvas, used by education providers worldwide – announced it had “reached an agreement with the unauthorised actor” behind the ransomware attack.

Experts read the careful language as a sign that a ransom has been paid. The company has not confirmed this.

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What we learned from the cringey courtroom drama between Elon Musk and Sam Altman
Posted on Saturday May 16, 2026

Two of the world’s richest people faced an airing of their dirty laundry amid their messy, bitter feud over OpenAI

A nine-person jury is set to decide whether Elon Musk’s allegations of “stealing a charity” against Sam Altman and OpenAI are legitimate, with deliberations to begin in earnest on Monday. Whatever its outcome, the case has been an illuminating, at times exhausting, look behind the scenes at the history of OpenAI and how some of the most powerful figures in the tech industry operate.

Attorneys for both sides have introduced reams of private text messages, emails and even diary entries to support their arguments. A who’s who of Silicon Valley testified in the trial, including Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella and the mother of some of Musk’s children, Shivon Zilis. Both Altman and Musk also took the stand for hours, facing combative cross-examinations that painted them each as untrustworthy.

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Aaron Rai becomes first English golfer to win US PGA Championship since 1919
Posted on Sunday May 17, 2026

• Rai shoots 65 including 68-foot birdie putt on 17th

• Last Englishman to triumph was Jim Barnes 107 years ago

There’s never been a PGA Championship quite like this one. Come Sunday morning there were 21 players within four shots of the lead, and eight major winners among them. Every one of those 21 and a good few more woke up thinking that they had a shot at winning the Wanamaker Trophy.

There was six-time major champion Rory McIlroy, 2022 Open champion, Cam Smith, the 2017 and 2022 PGA champion, Justin Thomas, the 2021 US Open and 2023 Masters champion, Jon Rahm, and on, and on, and on, all the way down the leaderboard.

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Resolve of Red Roses in Six Nations glory should not be overlooked | Robert Kitson
Posted on Sunday May 17, 2026

Concern that England’s women are not being challenged fails to acknowledge what it takes for consistent excellence

There are a couple of reasons why England’s latest Six Nations grand slam is worthy of glowing appreciation. The first is that consistent excellence should always receive due recognition. And the second is that England had to do far more than simply show up and tick off the kind of routine runaway victory that leaves even their most loyal fans slightly underwhelmed.

A 15-point margin might not instantly suggest a full-blooded contest but France more than fulfilled their part of the bargain. The nagging concern within women’s rugby is that the Red Roses are not being sufficiently challenged. On this occasion no one could level that accusation at the determined hosts who had England’s golden girls pinned back for lengthy periods.

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