Business
Starmer adviser urges ministers to look at profits cap for energy and petrol firms
Posted on Sunday March 22, 2026
PM’s ‘cost of living champion’ calls for consideration of temporary measure to prevent profiteering from Iran warThe government’s top cost of living adviser has called on ministers to explore a temporary cap on the profits of energy and petrol companies to prevent them from cashing in excessively on the war in the Middle East.Richard Walker – a Labour peer, the chair of Iceland supermarkets and the prime minister’s “cost of living champion” – said he had asked the government to examine limiting how much businesses were able to benefit from higher energy prices after Iran’s blockade of the strait of Hormuz, a crucial shipping route for Europe’s oil and gas, and the wider conflict in the region. Continue reading...
Palantir extends reach into British state as it gets access to sensitive FCA data
Posted on Sunday March 22, 2026
Exclusive: Allowing US tech firm to analyse intelligence in name of tackling fraud raises fresh concerns over privacyCampaign groups rail against Palantir, but the UK contracts keep comingPalantir is to be granted access to a trove of highly sensitive UK financial regulation data, in a deal that has prompted fresh concerns about the US AI company’s deepening reach into the British state, the Guardian can reveal.The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has awarded Palantir a contract to investigate the watchdog’s internal intelligence data in an effort to help it tackle financial crime, which includes investigating fraud, money laundering and insider trading. Continue reading...
‘Trumpflation’: how the Iran war’s economic storm could affect Britons
Posted on Sunday March 22, 2026
Yet another cost of living crisis looms with fuel, food, holiday, energy and home loan prices expected to riseMiddle East crisis – live updatesHere we go again. For Britons it has been a rollercoaster few years and just as better times seemed ahead the country has been plunged into a fresh cost of living crisis.The economic storm caused by war in the Middle East is already pushing up the cost of key household outgoings, including mortgage payments, energy bills and driving. There are warnings that the weekly shop will be next. Continue reading...
Opinion
Technology
Thousands of people are selling their identities to train AI – but at what cost?
Posted on Saturday March 21, 2026
Gig AI trainers worldwide are selling moments of their lives, including calls and texts, to AI companies for quick cashOne morning last year, Jacobus Louw set out on his daily neighborhood walk to feed the seagulls he finds along the way. Except this time, he recorded several videos of his feet and the view as he walked on the pavement. The video earned him $14, about 10 times the country’s minimum wage, or for Louw, a 27-year-old based in Cape Town, South Africa, half a week’s worth of groceries.The video was for an “Urban Navigation” task Louw found on Kled AI, an app that pays contributors for uploading their data, such as videos and photos, to train artificial intelligence models. In a couple of weeks, Louw made $50 by uploading pictures and videos of his everyday life. Continue reading...
Pinterest CEO calls for ban on social media for youth under 16
Posted on Friday March 20, 2026
Bill Ready pointed to Australia’s social media ban for under-16s as a model, though it does not apply to his companyPinterest’s CEO called on world leaders to ban social media for youth under 16 in a LinkedIn post on Friday.“We need a clear standard: no social media for teens under 16, backed by real enforcement, and accountability for mobile phone operating systems and the apps that run on them,” Bill Ready wrote. Pinterest, an image-sharing platform, has seen a surge in young users over the past year but has disappointed Wall Street with its quarterly financial reports of late. Continue reading...