Can an AI make art? And would it be worth looking at? Life&Style The last year has seen artificial intelligence disrupt almost every industry – but can it really create art? Chris Dorrell speaks to artists working with AI and meets a robot painter In a darkened room in Camden, I kneel at an altar, pressing buttons on an illuminated red keyboard. Embossed with the shapes of human [...]
Ministers should ‘stop managing scarcity’ in living standards push Politics Government policy should concentrate on reducing the cost of essentials to help improve living standards for lower-to-middle income households, according to a new report from Bright Blue. The centre-right think tank argued that policy should focus on lowering energy costs and improving housing affordability, two areas where the UK performs particularly poorly compared to international [...]
Foreign buyers circle ‘undervalued’ UK firms Markets Foreign buyers continued to circle “undervalued” UK firms in the final quarter of last year, new figures show, with the value of inward Mergers and Acquisitions (M&A) surging to its highest level in four years. The total value of deals in which foreign companies acquired UK firms rocketed to £27.4bn in the final quarter of [...]
Labour urged to give HENRYs a hand to boost investment March 4, 2026 The sheer tax cliff-edge facing workers earning £100,000 or more is harming the UK’s ambitions to foster greater retail investment, according to IG. New research from the online investment platform found that HENRYs, an acronym which stands for High Earner, Not Rich Yet, are unable to invest as much as they would like due to [...]
UK economy held back by ‘rationing’ of energy, land and capital March 4, 2026 The government must focus on “ending the rationing” of the UK’s energy, land and capital if it wants to reinvigorate the economy, according to a leading City analyst. In a research note published this morning, Simon French, head of research at Panmure Liberum, argued that policies from successive governments had effectively created a rationing system [...]
UK lithium miner taps up wealthy backers March 3, 2026 A UK-based lithium miner targeting production in the North East is planning to raise £3m from rich backers and retail investors, ahead of an anticipated £30m fundraise later this year. Northern Lithium, which is looking to extract lithium from the Ludwell Farm site in County Durham, said the funding would come from existing shareholders and [...]
Borrowing costs spike as Middle East conflict rages March 3, 2026 The cost of UK government borrowing spiked on Tuesday morning, while the pound plummeted as markets continued to digest the impacts of the intensifying conflict in the Middle East. The yield on the 10-year Gilt jumped 0.15 percentage points to 4.46 per cent while 2-year Gilt yields, which closely track interest rate expectations, spiked 0.16 [...]
Oil price surge pushes investors to bet against interest rate cut March 2, 2026 Investors have pared bets that the Bank of England will cut interest rates in March, as analysts worry that the surge in oil and gas prices could prop up inflationary pressures in the economy. European gas prices were up over 40 per cent on Monday while oil prices gained seven per cent to hover around [...]
Gas prices ‘go stratospheric’ as Qatari plant hit by Iran strikes March 2, 2026 European gas prices surged on Monday after Iranian retaliatory strikes shut down the world’s largest export plant for liquified natural gas (LNG), based in Qatar. In a statement, QaterEnergy, the Qatari state energy company, said it had ceased production of LNG due to “military attacks” on Ras Laffan Industrial City and Mesaieed Industrial City. “One [...]
UK firms deliberately halting growth to dodge VAT March 2, 2026 Thousands of businesses are deliberately constraining their growth to remain below the £90,000 threshold at which firms start paying VAT. City accounting firm Lubbock Fine has argued that the government should raise the threshold to £115,000, the level it would be if it had increased in line with inflation since 2017. The VAT threshold was [...]
