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Fining errant corporations is welcome – but when consumers are also getting shaken down on their local high street, it’s time for a new and boisterous approachIt’s a story that warms the heart and lifts the soul: last week, Virgin Media was fined a record £28m by Ofcom for repeatedly preventing customers from cancelling their contracts. Its methods were insidious: deliberate call-dropping, unnecessary call transfers and constantly putting customers on hold. For anyone who has experienc

Organisation’s experts say pledge puts pressure on UK public finances and ‘adds significant fiscal risks’Labour should ditch the triple-lock pensions promise to help tackle the UK’s straitened public finances, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development has urged.In its latest survey of the UK economy, the Paris-based club of industrialised nations added its voice to those calling for an end to the pledge, which uprates the state pension each year by whichever is the high

Paid-for political access and threadbare regulations have helped to embed the US tech firm in the NHS – and beyond. But there is a way to free ourselvesAndy Burnham faces a lot of big decisions. But one of the incoming prime minister’s biggest early tests is what he does about the world’s “scariest company” – Palantir. The US defence and surveillance tech behemoth has a swathe of British public contracts, including, most controversially, a £330m deal with the NHS. It’s pretty clear wha

Commons health committee also recommends end to junk food advertising on billboards and public transportFast food chains such as KFC should be stopped from opening near schools, and advertising for junk food on billboards and public transport should be banned to help curb obesity, MPs will say today.The Commons health committee will also urge ministers to stop giving in to food industry lobbying and get tough to tackle a problem that costs the UK £74bn a year and causes huge illness.Su

Donald Trump’s tariff threat recasts Brazil’s attempt to protect its democracy as unfair commercial practice – and gives Bolsonarism a Washington stageLast June, Brazil’s supreme court responded to the online lies that helped fuel Jair Bolsonaro’s failed far-right coup attempt in 2023. It ruled that social media platforms could be held liable for some users’ posts, forcing firms such as Elon Musk’s X and Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta to remove hate speech and anti-democratic content. A month

Former owner and chairman of Chelsea FC who bought the club for a pound and helped restore it to the top rank of English footballFor more than 20 years, Ken Bates, who has died aged 94, was synonymous with Chelsea Football Club, which he bought in 1982 from the Mears family, who had lost control after rebuilding the west stand.Haemorrhaging money, hugely in debt and about to sink into what was then Division Three, the London club cost him £1. Two feuding, financially hectic decades lat

Ambassadors for Gencore Global directed followers to Telegram channels promoting steroids, prescription medicines and experimental peptides‘I felt dizzy’: body builder recalls how drug abuse caught up with himUK becoming ‘wild west’ for experimental peptides, expert warnsFitness influencers who publicly represent a global wellness brand are involved in running an illegal steroid market on social media, the Guardian can reveal.Gencore Global presents itself as a UK-based health and well

Direct oversight of ‘critical third parties’ such as Oracle and Microsoft given to ensure resilient cyber-defences and help safeguard UK economyThe Bank of England has been handed powers to regulate important tech firms including Amazon and Google from next week, amid fears that system failures could threaten financial stability and harm consumers.From Monday, the Bank and fellow City regulator the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) will be in charge of ensuring that four large-scale pr

Exclusive: Plan to improve skills of thousands of financial sector workers to keep pace with tech revolutionChancellor Rachel Reeves is to announce a new City “skills compact” that will commit firms such as Barclays and Lloyds to retraining thousands of financial sector workers for the AI revolution.The financial services skills compact will be launched on Tuesday, during what is likely to be Reeves’s final Mansion House speech to City bosses before Andy Burnham’s expected takeover of

Gigs by Gallagher brothers, Coldplay, Lana Del Rey and Beyonce gives £11bn boost to the economyBig name artists including Oasis with their highly anticipated reunion tour, Coldplay and Beyoncé helped to attract a record number of fans to travel to watch live music last year, helped by a surge in overseas visitors at UK gigs.A report from the industry body UK Music estimated that 24.7 million “music tourists” attended concerts and festivals last year, up 4.8% on 2024, leading to an unpr

Ethics and integrity commission chief says overhaul is crucial to help restore trust in standardsAll lobbying of government ministers, aides and senior officials should be publicly declared – from WhatsApp chats to party conference meetings – in a fundamental shake-up of transparency laws, the government’s ethics watchdog has said.A review led by Doug Chalmers, the head of the ethics and integrity commission, has called for a new register to highlight who is lobbying, which policies th

Extension comes as government encourages first nuclear power projects in a generation to meet UK’s growing need for electricityBritain’s most recently completed nuclear power plant will continue generating electricity until 2055 after the government granted the power plant a 20-year life extension.Sizewell B in Suffolk was due to shut down within the next decade, but under a deal with the government its lifetime will be extended to 60 years to help meet the UK’s growing demand for low-