Financial news

• Five years on: Britons among hardest hit by Covid fallout

  08-03-2025 19:40 via theguardian.com
  
  Life expectancy, homelessness and young people’s mental health were among the areas where Britain performed poorly despite spending more than other countriesBritain performed worse than most other developed nations in its response to the Covid pandemic, according to an Observer analysis of international data, five years on from the first lockdown.The UK spent more money than most other countries on economic help yet still ended up with larger drops in life expectancy, more people too sick
  
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• ‘World’s hottest brand’: how Miu Miu defied sales plunge in fashion industry

  08-03-2025 18:00 via theguardian.com
  
  As luxury firms struggle worldwide, the ‘knowingly cool’ label is posting record-breaking sales figuresWhile profits fall across the luxury fashion industry, one kooky Italian label is posting record-breaking sales figures.For a global industry worth almost £1.5tn, fashion is having a bruising time. Last month London fashion week had such a small number of catwalk shows it shrank to a weekend. Even super-conglomerate LVMH – which includes Dior, Fendi, Louis Vuitton and mo
  
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• Buy British: it will help defend the UK against Trump | Phillip Inman

  08-03-2025 18:00 via theguardian.com
  UK manufacturing is unloved and underinvested – but the defence industry is more essential than ever in a changing political ageInvest in Britain. You might make a fortune. Take a punt on a fintech company or an artificial intelligence startup. Better still, join the rest of the world by targeting property, which is the go-to asset class for 80% of global investments seeking a stellar payout.Whatever you do, avoid retail. And steer clear of manufacturing, which needs lots of startup capita
  
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• Skype got shouted down by Teams and Zoom. But it revolutionised human connection | John Naughton

  08-03-2025 17:00 via theguardian.com
  The company that pioneered voice communication over the internet has withered to dust in Microsoft’s hands. Still, I for one am grateful for itSo Microsoft has decided to terminate Skype, the internet telephony company it bought in 2011 for $8.5bn (£6.6bn). Its millions of hapless users are to be herded into Microsoft Teams, a virtual encampment with a brain-dead aesthetic that makes even Zoom look cool. This eventuality had been telegraphed for quite a while but, even so, it comes a
  
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• US rise of cryptocurrency and fall of regulation pose ‘profound risks’ – report

  08-03-2025 15:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Center for Political Accountability, which advocates for corporate disclosure, warns of fallout from Trump’s effortsA new report warns of “profound risks” in American politics as cryptocurrency companies increase their political spending and Donald Trump oversees regulatory retreat while promising to create a “crypto strategic reserve”.The situation “illustrate[s] the profound risks that unchecked corporate political spending presents, particularly within the
  
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• Meet-cutes, boys’ bedrooms and buff bodies: meet the people behind TikTok’s viral vox pop accounts

  08-03-2025 15:00 via theguardian.com
  
  From the woman who asks to see teenage boys’ rooms to the gang who want to know how couples found love, some people are attracting a huge following (and financial rewards) from being nosy - and asking one killer questionRachel Coster, @boyroomshow TikTok followers: 232,400 Instagram followers: 71,400 Continue reading...
  
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• ‘Major brand worries’: Just how toxic is Elon Musk for Tesla?

  08-03-2025 14:00 via theguardian.com
  
  With sales down and electric vehicle rivals catching up, the rightwing politico’s brand is driving into a stormGlobally renowned brands would not, ordinarily, want to be associated with Germany’s far-right opposition. But Tesla, one of the world’s biggest corporate names, does not have a conventional chief executive.After Elon Musk backed Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) – calling the party Germany’s “only hope” – voters are considering an al
  
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• How Trump’s dizzying jerks and jolts on tariffs are ‘freezing’ US business

  08-03-2025 12:00 via theguardian.com
  
  As the US president warns of a ‘a little short-term interruption’, businesses are struggling to make decisions amid heightened uncertaintyDonald Trump declared there to be “no room left” for a deal with Canada and Mexico this week, launching a trade war against his nation’s closest allies that he presented as an effort to protect America’s soul.Then he pulled back. It wasn’t his first feint and retreat. It probably won’t be the last. Continue readi
  
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• When politicians tell us to focus on growth we need to ask: ‘Why, and for whom?’

  08-03-2025 09:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Isolate growth from public good and you are simply planning for breakdown. My research shows that a resilient society should be rooted in wellbeing, not wealthFive years ago, we were beginning to face the imminent reality of lockdown. We were confronted with an uncertain future in which our habitual ways of coping, succeeding, displacing and overworking were going to be put mercilessly on hold because of an unprecedented existential threat. And for a few months we lived through a see-saw of emot
  
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• ‘It’s so exciting to be in on this’: why Chelsea owners bought into the Hundred

  08-03-2025 09:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Jonathan Goldstein, who with Todd Boehly spent £40m to buy half of Trent Rockets, says English cricket has been ‘significantly underexploited’ until nowAs a man who has negotiated with Roman Abramovich and Daniel Levy, Jonathan Goldstein is no novice when it comes to investing in sport, but even he professes to have been stunned and thrilled when participating in last month’s Hundred auction.The Chelsea director “maintained discipline” as a rival Silicon Valle
  
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• ‘Musk? He’s horrendous’: Martha Lane Fox on diversity, tech bros and International Women’s Day

  08-03-2025 08:37 via theguardian.com
  
  The investor and former Twitter board member believes rejecting DEI initiatives is simply denying US firms talentAs Elon Musk grinned in the Oval Office, one of Britain’s most influential tech investors looked on in horror. “He is absolutely horrendous. I have said it multiple times: I think it is horrifying what is happening,” says Martha Lane Fox.For the British peer and ex-Twitter board member, the sight of Musk holding forth from the bully pulpit of Donald Trump’s Whi
  
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• Longer pre-film ads ‘wasting time’ of frustrated cinema fans

  08-03-2025 08:00 via theguardian.com
  
  In past decade, pre-film reels have extended to about 25 minutes for ads and trailers, according to expertsMovie buffs already lamenting the length of time it takes to get to the start of a film might be disappointed to learn pre-cinema ads are getting longer.Over the past 10 years, adverts for products and brands have taken up a larger proportion of pre-film reels in cinemas, according to experts. Continue reading...
  
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• ‘Bloody awful!’: Martin Lewis hits out at crypto scams costing victims dear

  08-03-2025 08:00 via theguardian.com
  Crypto cons top the list of investment frauds, with Elon Musk also among the figures used in fake adsRevealed: the scammers who conned savers out of $35mHow call centre scammers duped 6,000 peopleMartin Lewis and Elon Musk don’t appear to have much in common. One is a trusted British personal finance guru; the other is the world’s richest person and a close ally of Donald Trump. However, their wisdom and wealth respectively make them a powerful weapon for scammers.“I have the d
  
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• London councils buy £140m of property to move homeless people out of city

  08-03-2025 07:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Exclusive: More than a dozen authorities have bought more than 850 properties in English towns and cities since 2017London councils and housing companies they own have spent more than £140m buying up homes to relocate homeless people out of the city.More than a dozen councils in the capital have collectively spent millions buying up more than 850 properties in towns and cities across England since 2017, Guardian analysis of property ownership data found. Continue reading...
  
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