Business

London’s investment bankers and lawyers make more than £1bn in takeover frenzy
Posted on Sunday September 27, 2026

Bumper fees paid in the year’s mergers and acquisitions spark anger over high City pay during cost of living crisis

London’s investment bankers and lawyers have made more than £1bn from a frenzy of takeover deals this year, sparking anger over high City pay during the cost of living crisis.

The value of mergers and acquisitions of UK stock market listed companies has surged 175% in 2026 to $132.9bn (£100bn), according to the London Stock Exchange, as overseas buyers snap up British companies at record pace.

Bill Gates says unchecked AI could ‘cause a billion deaths’ in call for regulation
Posted on Sunday September 27, 2026

Microsoft co-founder and philanthropist speaks with NBC’s Kristen Welker in interview airing on Sunday

Bill Gates has called on the US’s federal legislators and law enforcers to regulate the development of artificial intelligence (AI), saying in an interview airing on Sunday that the technology left unchecked could cause “a billion deaths” and “no one thinks self-regulation is enough”.

“You need law enforcement and the politicians to get into the discussion about what safeguards and monitoring look like,” the Microsoft co-founder and philanthropist said to Kristen Welker, the NBC Meet the Press host. “And that has to be a required thing.”

‘People are standing up and fighting back’: the north Devon revolt against a vast AI datacentre
Posted on Sunday September 27, 2026

Plans for one of Europe’s largest AI campuses in a Unesco-designated reserve have sparked a fierce local backlash

The datacentre revolt spreading across the US has reached the rolling hills of north Devon in an uprising against a planned hyperscale AI data campus in the middle of a globally protected landscape.

Perched on an inland cliff, the town of Great Torrington has views that stretch for miles over the landscape of the Unesco biosphere reserve in which it sits, taking in the winding River Torridge and rolling acres of wooded valley and wildflower meadows. Pastoral and peaceful, its history was notably punctured by violence in 1646 when the royalists’ resistance in the first English civil war was brought to an end by the parliamentarian New Model Army in a battle fought out in the narrow streets in heavy rain and darkness.

Burnham’s plan for a radical reset collides with economic reality | Heather Stewart
Posted on Sunday September 27, 2026

Surging energy bills, higher borrowing costs and rising inflation have left the PM and his chancellor in a fiscal bind

As Labour heads to Liverpool this week, Andy Burnham has promised to deliver “stability” in the public finances; but the economic backdrop is anything but stable.

The longer the US-Israeli war on Iran persists, the more likely it is that UK consumers will have to swallow higher mortgage rates and energy bills – just as the government is wrestling with its own surging borrowing costs.

Poland is racing ahead with military spending – but will it help or damage its economic growth story?
Posted on Sunday September 27, 2026

In the first article in a series on the Polish economy, we look at the country’s defence boom and its implications

A short distance north from Warsaw along the Vistula river, camouflaged missile launchers roll through the quiet village of Czosnów.

As recently as two years ago, their destination – a hi-tech weapons facility opened this month – had been a cornfield. Now, as Poland drives up defence investment at one of the fastest rates in the developed world, this rural spot has been transformed amid Europe’s response to Russian aggression and US disengagement.

Houses can be built on floodplains despite failing safety test, says high court
Posted on Sunday September 27, 2026

Decision to allow development of 190 new homes in north Somerset sparks campaign for change in the law

Houses can be built on floodplains even if they fail a crucial safety test, according to a high court judgment that will be of “immense interest” to developers across England and Wales.

The ruling clears the way for a highly controversial development of 190 new homes on north Somerset’s floodplains, despite the site being in “flood zone 3a”, the highest level of flood risk before land is considered a functional floodplain.

Work intensifying on UK laws to stamp out concert ticket touts, say sources
Posted on Saturday September 26, 2026

Artists including Tinie Tempah and the Smiths’ drummer Mike Joyce ramp up pressure on government to keep its pledge to outlaw for-profit resales

The government has stepped up work on new laws to stop ticket touts fleecing fans, as the prime minister came under pressure from artists including the drummer from the Smiths, one of his favourite bands.

Keir Starmer said last year that the government would “stop fans from being ripped off” by outlawing the for-profit resale of tickets on sites such as Viagogo and StubHub, a pledge Labour first made in its 2024 election manifesto.