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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

Exclusive: Work and pensions secretary signals possible reform to welfare as ministers await key reviewsLabour must stop “simply writing a cheque” for health and disability benefit claimants and will provide more job support instead, the work and pensions secretary has said.Pat McFadden said the government was preparing to launch a renewed effort at welfare reform with a focus on encouraging more people with health conditions to get into work and off benefits. Continue reading...

IBM issued profit warning after weak second quarter, triggering selloff in software sector including MicrosoftShares in IBM plunged more than 25% on Tuesday after the US tech giant released disappointing preliminary second-quarter results. IBM’s stock was on track for an even steeper single-day decline than it suffered during ⁠the 1987 “Black Monday” crash.IBM had issued a profit warning and blamed shifts in corporate customers’ spending. The company said revenue for the three months e

Stock markets fall as analysts price in two quarter-point UK rate rises by the end of the yearBusiness live – latest updatesOil and gas prices have jumped and expectations of interest rate rises in Europe have increased after the US carried out a third night of military strikes against Iran.Brent crude, the international benchmark for oil prices, rose by as much as 4.6% to $87.08 a barrel on Tuesday, its highest level in just over a month. Continue reading...

BBPA wants content definition for beer to be considered alcohol free to be changed from 0.05% to 0.5%Pubs and brewers are being prevented from capitalising on Britons’ record-breaking thirst for alcohol-free beer because of over-strict regulation, a trade body has warned.More than 64m pints of low- and no-alcohol beer is forecast to be sold over the summer, an increase of 8m compared with 2025, the British Beer and Pub Association (BBPA) said, citing the figures as proof that the categ

Lobby appeals to prospective PM’s reindustrialisation agenda as it pushes for Rosebank and Jackdaw approvalThe UK’s North Sea oil industry has made a last-ditch attempt to curry favour with the Labour government by appealing to Andy Burnham’s reindustrialisation agenda just days before he is expected to become Britain’s next prime minister.Industry lobbyists have written to more than 400 Labour MPs to call on the government’s new leaders to allow more oil and gas drilling in UK waters

More than 90 residents have expressed interest in contamination claim against AGC Chemicals EuropeA Pfas factory in Lancashire has announced plans to close down, just days after the Guardian revealed that more than 90 residents have signed up to be involved in a potential legal claim over contamination of the local area.AGC Chemicals Europe Ltd is consulting with employees and their union representatives about plans to cease operations at its manufacturing plant in Thornton-Cleveleys,

I’ve been asked to put away the dog bed – and even my shower gel. Surely prospective buyers should know that I’ll take all my mess with me when I leaveTrying to sell a house is pretty much a once-a-decade event for me, so I shouldn’t be surprised that times have changed. When I sold my first flat in 2006, the norm was actively anti-tidy. Obviously you’d spirit away food waste and animal detritus, maybe you’d put a lid on your laundry basket, but the market was overheated; everything wa

Public health advocates warn of conflicts of interests and say panel likely to provide justification for key rollbacksThe Trump administration has stacked a top chemical safety board with industry-aligned scientists who have a range of financial conflicts of interest and stand to profit from deregulation, public health advocates say.The Environmental Protection Agency’s science advisory committee on chemicals (SACC) is slated to review research for dozens of toxic chemicals during the

The long-running series in which readers answer other readers’ questions on subjects ranging from trivial flights of fancy to profound scientific and philosophical conceptsThis week’s question: Why is there no rugby culture in Germany?I would like to know why we build solar farms over green space, when we could just put them over massive car parks as a popular current internet meme suggests. Chris, MiddlesbroughSend new questions to [email protected]. Continue reading...

If Starmer won’t act then his successor should – by restricting the power of a small group of mega-donors Just as Nigel Farage kicks off a summer of “arguing with a bin”, as Rachel Reeves called it, Labour’s bill to clean up politics returns to the House of Commons this week.As more questions emerge about the financing of Reform and Farage’s mega-donor chums – through the brilliant reporting of Guardian colleagues – MPs should seize the opportunity to toughen it up. Continue reading.

These financiers want to remodel the UK into a form that suits them – one that could threaten to erode the barriers between crime and businessThis coming Tuesday, the government’s representation of the people bill comes back to the House of Commons for its third reading. It bundles up a multitude of measures, including an extension of the franchise to 16- and 17-year-olds and welcome changes to voter registration. But thanks to the continuing furore around Nigel Farage and his extremel