Discount retailer looks for successor for Mike Schmidt, who is stepping down as chief financial officer
The discount retailer B&M has ousted its finance chief after reporting a £7m accounts blunder that will cut its annual earnings – its second profit warning within two weeks.
The company told investors it looking for a successor to Mike Schmidt, who is stepping down as chief financial officer, after the accounting error.
Continue reading...Collapse in construction activity causing alarm but mayor and Whitehall face pushback over ‘extreme solutions’
Sadiq Khan has known for a while that he has a problem with housebuilding in London. But last week a consultancy published figures about the scale of the problem, which prompted full-scale alarm in City Hall and Whitehall.
The analysis from Molior showed that new housebuilding in the capital had collapsed. Only 40,000 homes are under construction – two-thirds the normal rate – and in the first three months of the year builders started work on just 3,248 private sector units.
Continue reading...Environment Agency says pollutant in Norfolk river is ‘an unknown substance’ and is investigating
Dead fish have been found on a river in Norfolk where a large stretch of white foam appeared, the Environment Agency has confirmed.
Images shared by the agency on Saturday showed the foam covering an area of the River Thet.
Continue reading...Linden Kemkaran told fellow Kent councillors those who disagreed with decisions would have to ‘suck it up’
The leader of Reform UK’s flagship local authority has told her fellow councillors that she launched a hunt for the “cowards” who leaked a recorded meeting in which she said those who disagreed with decisions would have to “fucking suck it up”.
Bitter divisions among Reform members of Kent county council, one of 10 controlled outright by Nigel Farage’s party, were laid bare at the weekend by the Guardian in a leaked video of a chaotic internal meeting.
Continue reading...Trump’s 20-point plan is forcing regional rivals to set aside differences and collaborate after years of competition
If the war in Gaza had dramatic consequences across the Middle East, overturning long-held assumptions, resetting the geopolitical map and provoking massive shifts in public opinion, any durable peace is likely to have equally momentous effects.
Some counsel caution.
Continue reading...Triple-action therapy drug amivantamab could be given as an injection to help treat recurrent or metastatic cancers
Doctors have hailed “incredibly encouraging” trial results that show a triple-action smart jab can shrink tumours in head and neck cancer patients within six weeks.
Head and neck cancer is the world’s sixth most common form of the disease. If it spreads or comes back after standard treatment, patients may be offered immunotherapy and platinum chemotherapy. But if this fails, there is often little else doctors can do.
Continue reading...Fake reviews, forged certificates and stolen corporate identities being used to lure victims, KwikChex finds
Suspected scam investment companies are exploiting Trustpilot’s review system by giving themselves five-star ratings to persuade would-be investors that they are legitimate businesses, a report has warned.
An investigation by the verification firm KwikChex found operators using fake reviews, forged certificates and stolen corporate identities to lure victims.
Continue reading...Scheme will offer training for plumbers, welders and carpenters as well as promoting trade union recognition
Plumbers, electricians and welders will be in huge demand as part of a national plan to train people for an extra 400,000 green jobs in the next five years, Ed Miliband has said.
The energy secretary revealed a new scheme to double those working in green industries by 2030, with a particular focus on training those coming from fossil fuel jobs, school leavers, the unemployed, veterans and ex-offenders.
Continue reading...Club cited possible safety ‘concerns’ after West Midlands police decided to ban Maccabi fans from fixture
Aston Villa told matchday stewards they would not have to work during the club’s Europa League fixture against the Israeli football team Maccabi Tel Aviv, citing possible “concerns” over safety, it has been reported.
West Midlands police decided to ban Maccabi fans from the forthcoming match, after saying the force would not be able to police the fixture safely owing to “violent clashes and hate crime offences” at a previous match in Amsterdam in 2024.
Continue reading...Mid Norfolk MP George Freeman calls spread of AI-generated misinformation a ‘dangerous development’
A Conservative MP has reported an “AI-generated deepfake” video of him announcing that he has joined Reform UK to the police, according to reports.
George Freeman, the MP for Mid Norfolk, denounced the video and, in a Facebook post, called the deliberate spread of misinformation through AI-generated content a “concerning and dangerous development”.
Continue reading...Two men tried to plant flag of St George in centre circle
Far-right group calls it protest against Neville’s ‘treachery’
Salford’s League Two match against Oldham was briefly disrupted when two men tried to plant a flag of St George inside the centre circle at the Peninsula Stadium.
The men entered the field during the first half wearing white hoodies displaying the message “Gary Neville is a traitor” before being removed by stewards and police.
Continue reading...One of the largest mussel exporters in Britain lose £150,000 after three lorries were prevented from entering the EU
One of Britain’s largest mussel exporters has suffered a £150,000 loss, after three of its shipments to the EU were rejected in recent weeks by French customs.
Family-run business Offshore Shellfish, based in Devon, has continued exporting blue mussels to its European customers since Brexit, despite the administrative burden and onerous paperwork requirements.
Continue reading...Johnathan Walton, who was a victim of Marianne ‘Mair’ Smyth, had helped UK authorities track her down
A US podcaster and author who helped UK authorities convict a woman derisively known as the “Queen of the Con” of defrauding a group of Northern Irish mortgage advice customers has expressed disappointment in her being sentenced on Friday to only four years in prison.
“She scams or tries to scam everyone she meets, and she will never change,” Johnathan Walton said in a statement after Marianne “Mair” Smyth’s sentencing closed the books on a transatlantic case against her.
Continue reading...BPA, a synthetic chemical used in production of plastics, found in baby products made by three big European brands
A chemical linked to impaired sexual development, obesity and cancer has been found in baby dummies manufactured by three big European brands.
Dummies made by the Dutch multinational Philips, the Swiss oral health specialists Curaprox and the French toy brand Sophie la Girafe were found to contain bisphenol A (BPA), according to laboratory testing by dTest, a Czech consumer organisation. Philips said they had carried out subsequent testing and found no BPA, while Sophie la Girafe said the amount found was insignificant.
Continue reading...Club and Penguin bars are now ‘chocolate flavour’ after owner McVitie’s cuts cocoa content amid soaring prices
If you like a lot of chocolate on your biscuit you can no longer join our Club or pick up a Penguin, as the lunchbox favourites have reduced the amount of cocoa in their recipe so much they are now only “chocolate flavour”.
The two snacks, both made by McVitie’s, changed their recipes earlier this year amid soaring cocoa prices – which have prompted manufacturers to try a number of different tactics to keep prices down.
Continue reading...Reduction in higher-level roles linked to government decision to cut foreign aid budget, says union
Almost 2,000 civil servants at the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office face the risk of redundancy, with the biggest union for government workers vowing to fight the cuts.
The PCS union, which has about 200,000 members, said it has been told that 1,885 jobs at the second highest level, known as delegated grades, are “at risk”, in addition to redundancy notices that have already been issued to some senior civil servants.
Continue reading...Fans of Israeli football team Maccabi Tel Aviv banned from match at Aston Villa next month
Zarah Sultana, the former Labour MP who is now a member of the Independent Alliance in parliament, alongside Ayoub Khan and four others, has also defended the Maccabi ban on the grounds that Israeli teams should not be competing in international sport. She says:
Next UEFA must ban all Israeli teams.
We cannot have normalisation with genocide and apartheid.
Apartheid South Africa was banned from the Olympics for 32 years.
The same people who called Nelson Mandela a “terrorist” now say we can’t boycott apartheid Israel.
There are two distinct issues. One is the safety aspect … If the police in West Midlands find it challenging because they simply do not have the resources to ensure safety, then that’s one aspect.
The second aspect is a moral argument that Maccabi Tel Aviv should not even be playing in this international competition.
Continue reading...FoI data shows 180,000 students and graduates weighed down by private debt amid cost of living crisis
Students have accrued nearly £500m in “hidden debts” to their universities, including library fines, unpaid accommodation and support loans, according to figures that highlight the cost of living crisis on UK campuses.
The figures from freedom of information requests sent to 148 UK universities showed that 180,000 students and graduates owe private debts totalling £486m to universities, averaging about £2,650 each.
Continue reading...Signs of credit stress send markets in Europe and Asia down, while investors turn to safe haven assets
European stock markets fell on Friday and gold hit a record high after two US regional banks said they had been exposed to millions of dollars of bad loans and alleged fraud.
Signs of credit stress rattled markets across Europe and Asia. In London the FTSE 100 fell 0.9%, Germany’s Dax fell 1.8%, Italy’s FTSE Mib fell 1.5%, the Ibex in Spain was off 0.3% and France’s Cac 40 dropped 0.2%.
Continue reading...FCA cites study showing victims’ ‘red flags’ are often missed and calls for improved monitoring systems
The City regulator has called on banks and payment firms to bring in stricter controls protecting customers from romance fraud after a study showed a number of missed “red flags” that led to people losing huge sums of money.
The review by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) highlighted one case where someone lost £428,000, another where a customer made 403 payments totalling £72,000 to a fraudster and a case where someone wanted money to transfer cryptocurrency to their “partner” in Iraq.
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