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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

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

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

More than 158,000 items of fake kit seized featuring World Cup semi-finalists England, France and SpainMore than 158,000 fake football strips have been seized in an operation targeting World Cup counterfeit kit and blocking criminals from trying to “cash in on fan demand”.Edinburgh’s trading standards team confiscated 9 tonnes of Scotland, England and other nations’ fake kits, worth an estimated £5.5m. Continue reading...

Brent crude jumps 3.4% and European markets drop, with airlines including Ryanair among hardest hitBusiness live – latest updatesOil prices jumped and stocks fell after the US launched a fresh wave of attacks against Iran amid an escalating standoff over the strait or Hormuz.Brent crude, the international benchmark for oil prices, rose 3.4% to $78.59 a barrel on the renewed hostilities in the Middle East. It had been trading at $72.48 before the outbreak of the war in February, and hit

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

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

Mega-donors are coming under scrutiny with growing calls for donations cap beyond those from overseas investorsThe question of who funds politicians and political parties – and why they want to give money to get people elected – is an extremely heated one. In principle, UK voters can support their chosen politicians through donations or benefits, as long as those candidates and their parties keep within spending limits during an election period, which is designed to stop powerful inter

Questions swirl about origins of gifts, loans and donations as even party supporters wonder if it can weather the stormUK politics live – latest updatesWhy is Farage quitting as an MP, only to stand again?Scrutiny is mounting on Reform UK’s finances.On Tuesday, amid an investigation by parliamentary standards into an undisclosed £5m gift, Nigel Farage announced he would resign and trigger a byelection in his constituency of Clacton-on-Sea. Continue reading...

Brent crude dips slightly below $78 a barrel; most Asian stock markets bounce backBritain’s second-biggest drugmaker GSK has also taken a hit from recent drug failures.The Californian biotech Alector has said that GSK has ended their neuroscience collaboration covering ​two experimental antibody drugs, after both drug candidates suffered setbacks in clinical trials.The CARDIO-TTRansform trial was designed to examine the role of Wainua, a gene silencer treatment, on top of today’s stand

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

The company’s target to hit £1bn profitability is intact. Why isn’t the board putting up a proper fight?Some foreign takeover swoops on UK listed companies are easier to swallow than others. Sometimes it is hard to mount an argument that shareholders should stick to the virtuous path of independence and say no to an offer of hard cash at a fat premium. The current £10bn bid for Intertek, the FTSE 100 product testing and quality inspection firm that had been going sideways for a while,