Financial news

• Here is a political lesson progressives need to learn, and fast: British pubs are crucial | Simon Jenkins

  05-02-2026 18:36 via theguardian.com
  Politics has recklessly downplayed the significance of the local inn, but the hard right has cottoned on – and its opponents better follow suitNigel Farage thinks poor families should be denied benefits and the cash go to their local pub. When he runs the country, he says, he will cut child benefit for those with more than two children and switch the £3bn saved to keep down the price of beer.The art of populism lies in headlines. It is about the way you tell it. Farage also says he w
  
  Read more

• How cryptocurrency’s second largest coin missed out on the industry’s boom

  05-02-2026 16:00 via theguardian.com
  A leaked pitch to reshape Ethereum’s leadership exposed deep divisions over politics, power and ether’s static priceUS crypto developer Danny Ryan submitted a proposal in November 2024 to Vitalik Buterin, the founder and symbolic leader of Ethereum, a prominent blockchain powering the world’s second-largest cryptocurrency. Ryan, who had worked for seven years at the Ethereum Foundation (EF), Ethereum’s de facto governing body, suggested that Ethereum could be on the cusp
  
  Read more

• Dubai’s potent lure: the reality behind the real-estate frenzy

  05-02-2026 15:10 via theguardian.com
  Bankers and billionaires are flocking to the city where income tax is zero but critics say it ignores money laundering – and pay disparities are huge Business live – latest updatesAidan Doyle was an estate agent in Liverpool before he decamped to Dubai and turned a £30,000 annual income into £500,000 a year and climbing.Acting as an agent for buyers and sellers, Doyle has seen his commission soar beyond anything he could hope to generate in the UK after just three years i
  
  Read more

• Why the Bank of England is holding rates despite a weakening economy | Phillip Inman

  05-02-2026 14:18 via theguardian.com
  Rising unemployment and falling inflation made a strong case for a cut butAndrew Bailey opted to wait and seeBank of England keeps interest rates on holdBusiness live – latest updatesWhen unemployment is rising and inflation falling, the Bank of England would, under normal circumstances, cut the cost of borrowing.Add to the mix a faltering economy and the public might reasonably expect a reduction in interest rates to lift their spirits. Continue reading...
  
  Read more

• Advertisement

• ‘We can learn from the old’: how architects are returning to the earth to build homes for the future

  05-02-2026 14:00 via theguardian.com
  Rammed earth sourced from, or near, the grounds of a proposed building site is attracting attention as an eco-friendly construction materialFrom afar, the low-rise homestead perched in the Wiltshire countryside may look like any other rural outpost, but step closer and the texture of the walls reveal something distinct from the usual facade of cement, brick and steel.The Rammed Earth House in Cranborne Chase is one of the few projects in the UK that has been made by unstabilised rammed earth &nd
  
  Read more

• ‘In the end, you feel blank’: India’s female workers watching hours of abusive content to train AI

  05-02-2026 09:00 via theguardian.com
  Women in rural communities describe trauma of moderating violent and pornographic content for global tech companiesOn the veranda of her family’s home, with her laptop balanced on a mud slab built into the wall, Monsumi Murmu works from one of the few places where the mobile signal holds. The familiar sounds of domestic life come from inside the house: clinking utensils, footsteps, voices.On her screen a very different scene plays: a woman is pinned down by a group of men, the camera shake
  
  Read more

Follow @financialnwsUK on Twitter!