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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

Vulnerable people more at risk as research finds only half of local authority plans require cooling strategiesEngland risks constructing a new generation of “death trap” buildings that can fatally overheat unless the government tightens standards and prioritises climate safeguards, planning experts have said.Fears are growing about the plight of vulnerable people in heatwaves, with research this week suggesting that 2,700 people had died in the May and June heatwaves in England and Wal

Around the world, climate-sceptic parties are exploiting floods and fires to make political capital. Without urgent changes, this deadly spiral will continueRecent unprecedented heatwaves in the UK may have killed thousands of people. Children are suffering in overheating schools. NHS trusts are straining under record-breaking demand. This all comes after climate extremes have even affected national security, with three of Britain’s five worst harvests coming since 2020, impairing food

Country risks new tariffs from US and EU as it looks likely to match or beat last year’s record surplus of $1tnBusiness live – latest updatesChina’s monthly car ‌exports topped 1m for the first time in June as overall overseas shipments from the world’s second biggest economy rose 27%.Official Chinese customs data showed that a stronger-than-expected trade performance kept China on track to match or beat last year’s record trade surplus of $1tn (£748bn), achieved despite Donald Trump’s

Operator brings in independent legal firm to look into whistleblower allegations relating to June heatwaveGreat Britain’s grid operator has brought in independent investigators to look into accusations that its staff were involved in a cover-up over the power system being at a greater risk of blackouts during the heatwave.The government-owned energy system operator will face the scrutiny of an external legal firm after a whistleblower claimed that control room staff were warned against

Robust action is needed to protect European industries from unfair competition. The alternative is social strife amid growing insecurityAccording to a recent analysis, China enjoys a surplus in its manufactured goods trade with the European Union that is roughly equivalent to Italy’s national income. That trade disparity, it is estimated, continues to grow by about 30% each year. The stark implication, according to a paper from Centre for European Reform, is that Europe, with Germany i

Culture, media and sport committee questions bear a striking similarity to those racing industry has been askingLast Tuesday’s announcement by the Gambling Commission that it planned to introduce “Financial Risk Assessments” – or affordability checks – for gambling customers seemed to mark the end of racing’s fierce, five-and-a-half year campaign against the policy, but there has been a further twist to the extended tale after it emerged that the culture, media and sport committee (CMS

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

Readers respond to an article about a woman who was hit by a child on a Lime bikeThe case of Jane Ouartsi is horrific, but not surprising to many disabled people who move around central London and know how quickly careless riding can become dangerous (‘I felt my spine and body split’: the woman who was hit by a child on a Lime bike – and denied compensation, 7 July).I am a powered wheelchair user in Westminster. I support cleaner streets and fewer car journeys, so I am not opposed to e

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

Regulators say Facebook and Instagram features such as autoplay and infinite scroll contribute to ‘compulsive use’EU regulators have accused Meta, the company behind Facebook and Instagram, of failing to tackle the risks of its “addictive design” on the physical and mental health of users.In an official charge sheet against Meta released on Friday, the European Commission said features such as video autoplay and infinite scroll, which provides an endless stream of content, “shift the b

AI companies want to capture the value created by entire industries. That concentration of wealth and power is society’s greatest riskOpposition to AI datacenters has emerged as a primary theme in US politics, one that – surprisingly – doesn’t fall along party lines. We applaud people coming together for constructive debate on any issue, and agree that communities need to evaluate whether any economic benefits these datacenters bring is worth their costs. Still, we worry that a focus o