4 d. ago Bank of England poised to cut rates as fears grow over impact of Trump tariffs

Markets suggest quarter-point reduction to 4.25% is almost certain but some economists say Bank must go furtherThe Bank of England is poised to cut interest rates on Thursday amid growing concerns over the hit to UK jobs and growth from Donald Trump’s increasingly erratic global trade war.In the Bank’s first intervention since the US president’s “liberation day” tariff policy announcement sent shock waves through the world economy, Threadneedle Street is expected to reduce its key base rate from the current level of 4.5%. Continue reading...

Politics

6 d. ago Life in the seaside town with a £470m blackhole: How Skegness is battling spiralling debt, drugs, homelessness and a 'snobby' nickname they can't stand

Staycations at Butlins, theme parks and beach days powered by hot sugary donuts and sticks of sickly sweet rock is the image conjured up in most people's minds when they think of Skegness.

Economics

8 d. ago McDonald’s and General Motors say Trump’s tariff war is harming business

Fast-food company reports 3.6% fall in sales and carmaker says tariffs could cost it as much as $5bn in 2025McDonald’s and General Motors have warned that uncertainty around Donald Trump’s tariff policy is hurting business, hitting sales and knocking profits.The fast-food chain reported a 3.6% fall in sales in its US home market during the first quarter, driven mainly by lower customer numbers as consumers reined in their spending in the face of an unpredictable economic outlook. Continue reading...

Politics

8 d. ago Trump tariffs cause fastest slump in British factory export orders in five years – business live

Live, rolling coverage of business, economics and financial markets as UK manufacturers report falling export orders and China signals openness to US trade talks Fhaheen Khan, senior economist at Make UK, a lobby group for British manufacturing, said:UK manufacturers are caught in the eye of a perfect storm, with rising costs and international trade uncertainty undermining growth prospects. While actual changes in trade have been limited, the unpredictability, particularly around US tariff policy, is doing significant damage and paralysing decision makers. Many firms are delaying major investment decisions until greater clarity emerges, while being forced in the meantime to cut costs through redundancies while pushing through price increases.This has left manufacturing experiencing its most severe slowdown in years, with the UK at a competitive disadvantage compared to our European peers who are weathering current challenges relatively better. As a result, it is now vital that gover...

Politics

9 d. ago ITV The Chase's Anne Hegerty names Chaser who is 'best in the world'

The Chase star Anne Hegerty, better known as the The Governess, has a 79.9 per cent success rate on the ITV show but has admitted there is one Chaser who she is "nowhere near" as good as.

Politics

9 d. ago Trump hails Bezos for scrapping plan to show Amazon shoppers tariff price hikes on products

Online retail giant claims that policy angry president attacked showing tariff price hikes on products was ‘never approved and is not going to happen’

Economics

1 week ago Senate Democrats to mark Trump’s ‘100 days from hell’ with marathon speeches

Minority leader Chuck Schumer accuses president of ‘acting like a king, a despot, a wannabe dictator’Trump’s first 100 daysUS politics live – latest updatesDemocratic senators will on Tuesday mark Donald Trump’s 100th day in office with marathon floor speeches intended to highlight his administration’s failures, seizing on his divisive tariff policy and attacks on the judiciary to argue he was not joking when he mulled governing as “a dictator”.Republicans, meanwhile, praised the president’s actions over the first 100 days, though the House speaker, Mike Johnson, acknowledged “some bumps along the road” he described as the necessary byproduct of the radical changes Trump campaigned on. Continue reading...

Politics

2 w. ago A dozen US states sue to stop Trump’s ‘reckless and insane’ tariff policy

Lawsuit rebukes claim that president can arbitrarily impose tariffs based on act intended for emergenciesA dozen states sued the Trump administration in the US court of international trade in New York on Wednesday to stop its tariff policy, saying it is unlawful and has brought chaos to the American economy.The lawsuit said the policy put in place by Donald Trump has been subject to his “whims rather than the sound exercise of lawful authority”. Continue reading...

Politics

2 w. ago UK government borrowing soars as private sector activity contracts at fastest rate for 2 years

Overshoot of £15bn in public sector borrowing puts pressure on Reeves to raise taxes as PMI figures indicate falling business confidence

Politics

2 w. ago UK annual borrowing nearly £15bn above official forecast; stocks rise as Trump rows back on Fed attack – business live

UK government borrowed £151.9bn in year to March; investors cheered by hopes of US-China trade dealEuropean stocks have also opened higher, as a wave of relief spread across markets.The UK’s FTSE 100 index is up by 1.2% at 8,430, while the Italian FTSE MiB rose by 1.4%.Bessent threw a lifeline to fragile US sentiment with conciliatory remarks on the US-China trade war. Bessent said the current tariff situation is “unsustainable” and expects a de-escalation in the near term.We could witness a period where the dollar is tossed around by headlines of Fed independence risk and market-friendly news on US tariff policy. What is clear by now is that no other G10 currency has a higher positive beta to trade news than the dollar. Continue reading...

Politics

2 w. ago Fifteen years after Deepwater Horizon, Trump is setting the stage for disaster | Terry Garcia

Cuts to science, environmental and safety agencies are a rejection of hard-won knowledge gained from studying the disaster that occurred 15 years agoLast month, I joined nearly 500 former and current employees of National Geographic, where I was executive vice-president and chief science and exploration officer for 17 years, urging the institution to take a public stance against the Trump administration’s reckless attacks on science. Our letter pointed out that the programs being dismantled are “imperative for the success of our country’s economy and are the foundation of our progress and wellbeing. They make us safer, stronger and more prosperous.” We warned that gutting them is a recipe for disaster.In the face of this danger, none of us can remain silent.Terry Garcia was National Geographic’s executive vice-president and chief science and exploration officer for 17 years. He also served as the assistant secretary of commerce for oceans and atmosphere and deputy administrator of N...

Politics

3 w. ago Campaigners and charities horrified by revelations about impact of Trump’s ‘reckless’ USAID cuts

Trump has been accused of giving ‘millions of people a death sentence’ after The Independent exposed the reality of the cuts on the ground

Politics

3 w. ago Trump halts construction of big wind farm off New York coast: ‘reckless and overreaching’

Wind power developer eyes legal remedies to order that blocks renewable energy projects and eliminates green job opportunitiesThis story was originally published by Inside Climate News and is reproduced here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration.The buildout of renewable energy projects in downstate New York – the region that includes the Hudson valley and below – is often complicated. The space for these projects is limited, particularly in New York City, and they’re often expensive. Continue reading...

Politics

3 w. ago Now Trump wants to take over Manhattan’s Penn Station renovation

‘President Trump has made it clear: the days of reckless spending and blank checks are over,’ the transportation said, in a jab to the Metropolitan Transportation Authority

Politics

3 w. ago Trump attacks Fed chair over interest rates and says his termination ‘cannot come fast enough’

President, whose tariff policy has caused turmoil, said Jerome Powell is ‘always too late and wrong’ with rate policyBusiness live – latest updatesDonald Trump early on Thursday blasted the Federal Reserve chairman, Jerome Powell, for not lowering US interest rates and expressed a wish for him to be gone from his role.The US president lambasted Powell as “always too late and wrong” in a post on his Truth Social platform. Trump noted that the European Central Bank (ECB) was poised on Thursday to lower interest rates again, without mentioning that the body has been responding to the chaos caused by Trump’s initiatives on tariffs. Continue reading...

Politics

3 w. ago Trump’s tariffs are reckless – but they hold a key lesson for Democrats | David Sirota

There is a middle ground on tariffs. But Democrats’ free-trade advocacy allows Trump to play the populistTo tariff or not to tariff? Today’s tweet-length political discourse pretends this is a binary choice. Donald Trump has pitched across-the-board import levies as a panacea to rebuild American manufacturing, while Democrats insist the president’s proposals are an attempt to crash the economy, and that their party should tout its opposition to all tariffs.But neither the policy nor politics of this moment are that neat and simple. While too few or too many tariffs can destroy economies, there is a Goldilocks zone that’s just right. It’s just being omitted from the conversation. Continue reading...

Politics

3 w. ago Japan’s population drops to record low as government looks to tackle birth rate issue

Japan’s population fell for the 14th straight year amid concerns over the ageing population

Politics

3 w. ago ‘Severe strain’ on tech supply chains will cause more price rises in electronics

Experts say the ongoing uncertainty around Donald Trump’s tariff policy is forcing firms to put prices up – as Sony announced PS5 price rises.

Science

3 w. ago Donald Trump insists there will be NO tariff exemptions in dramatic policy reversal

President Donald Trump took to Truth Social to clarify that China - which is embroiled in an escalating trade war with the US - will not be exempt from tariffs on electronics and semiconductors

Events

3 w. ago Donald Trump insists on NO exemptions in tariff policy for electronics

The US President declared that there would be no exemptions from the tariffs on Sunday evening, after an initial notice on Friday raised hopes that electronic gadgets from China would be spared

Politics