Brexit: ‘the biggest disaster any government has ever negotiated’

Exclusive: British cheesemaker says Brexit and subsequent trade deals have cost his firm £270,000

A British cheesemaker who predicted Brexit would cost him hundreds of thousands of pounds in exports has called the UK’s departure from the EU single market a disaster, after losing his entire wholesale and retail business in the bloc over the past year. Simon Spurrell, the co-founder of the Cheshire Cheese Company, said personal advice from a government minister to pursue non-EU markets to compensate for his losses had proved to be “an expensive joke”.

“It turns out our greatest competitor on the planet is the UK government because every time they do a fantastic deal, they kick us out of that market – starting with the Brexit deal,” he said.

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Stella McCartney got pay rise while fashion firm took furlough cash

The designer’s salary rose to £2.7m last year while her company claimed almost £850k in government support

Stella McCartney took a near £2.7m salary from her fashion company last year, up more than £220,000 on the year before, while the business claimed almost £850,000 in support from the government’s furlough scheme.

The designer’s pay went up despite a 26% fall in sales to £28.4m in the year to 31 December 2020, as sales in the UK more than halved, while the company recorded a pre-tax loss of £31.4m, according to accounts for Stella McCartney Limited filed at Companies House. The group made a £33.4m pretax loss the year before.

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Festive shrinkflation: tricks chocolate makers use to make us pay more

At this time of year, manufacturers have a few new tactics to get us to buy less for more money

Getting value for money might not be your prime goal when buying Christmas presents but if you are planning to snap up chocolates or sweets for the ones you love, it pays to check what you are going to get for your cash. That fancy box or tub may come at a cost (financial and environmental) – and, contrary to appearances, it might mean fewer treats for the recipient, not more.

We’ve all heard about “shrinkflation”, where companies sneak through price rises by shrinking pack sizes, but when it comes to festive confectionery, it’s important to be wise to the other packaging tricks that manufacturers and retailers maybe hope we won’t notice.

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‘Worst fashion wage theft’: workers go hungry as Indian suppliers to top UK brands refuse to pay minimum wage

Shortfall of 16p a day leaves children living on just rice as suppliers to Nike, Zara and H&M in Karnataka underpay by estimated £41m

Garment workers making clothes for international brands in Karnataka, a major clothing production hub in India, say their children are going hungry as factories refuse to pay the legal minimum wage in what is claimed to be the biggest wage theft to ever hit the fashion industry.

More than 400,000 garment workers in Karnataka have not been paid the state’s legal minimum wage since April 2020, according to an international labour rights organisation that monitors working conditions in factories.

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Bee aware: do you know what is in that cheap jar of honey?

British beekeepers call for stricter labelling on supermarket blends to identify the countries of origin

British beekeepers are calling for a requirement on supermarkets and other retailers to label cheap honey imports from China and other nations with the country of origin after claims that part of the global supply is bulked out with sugar syrup.

The UK is the world’s biggest importer of Chinese honey, which can be one sixth of the price of the honey produced by bees in Britain. Supermarket own-label honey from China can be bought for as little as 69p a jar. Supermarkets say every jar of honey is “100% pure” and can be traced back to the beekeeper, but there is no requirement to identify the countries of origin of honey blended from more than one country. The European Union is now considering new rules to improve consumer information for honey and ensure the country of origin is clearly identified on the jar.

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Sniffing out a bargain: how dog-friendly are Britain’s shops?

With more retailers welcoming pets, our reporter ventures out with her puppy Calisto to see if we really are a nation of animal lovers

It’s a Saturday morning and I’m crammed into a small changing room, attempting to try on a new pair of trousers. It’s always a struggle with the multiple layers of autumnal clothing, and I’m even more flustered than usual. Because also crammed into the tiny space is a large dog, giving me a quizzical look and clearly wondering if this is the start of a new game. She quickly decides, yes, yes it is.

Dog ownership is booming. According to the Pet Food Manufacturers’ Association, there are 12.5m dogs in the UK this year, with 33% of households having a canine companion, while the Kennel Club is among the charities and organisations that have reported a surge in puppy ownership during the Covid pandemic.

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Stop overfishing or we’ll buy elsewhere, top UK fish firm warns European states

Young’s Seafood joins calls for sustainable quotas of mackerel, herring and blue whiting to be agreed in line with scientific advice

The UK’s largest seafood processor is threatening to stop sourcing fish from the north-east Atlantic unless coastal states, including the UK and countries in the EU, reach a suitable agreement on managing populations this month.

Young’s Seafood has joined Tesco, Co-op, Princes, Aldi, Asda, Waitrose, Marks & Spencer and other retailers and suppliers in calling for urgent action from ministers to manage populations of mackerel, herring and blue whiting more sustainably.

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Out of style: Will Gen Z ever give up its dangerous love of fast fashion?

As a generation, they care deeply about the environment and sustainability - but are also under pressure to change their wardrobe constantly. Which impulse will win?

Alessia Teresko, a 21-year-old student from Nottingham, seldom wears the same outfit online twice. Which is why, last month, for a friend’s birthday, she bought a minidress: a 70s-style Zara dress in a swirling print, for which she paid £27.99. On Instagram, she posted a photograph of herself in her new dress, with a caption that read “Besties wknd”. The post racked up 296 likes and with it, Teresko’s Zara purchase was sent to the giant wardrobe in the sky. (Namely, the Depop account, where she resells the clothes she no longer wears.) “I can’t take another picture in it because I already posted it,” says Teresko. “I know that sounds very superficial.”

In Edinburgh, 23-year-old Mikaela Loach, a student and climate justice activist, understands the pressure that Teresko is under. “Honestly,” she says, “as someone with a platform, even I feel pressure to be wearing different clothes online.” She buys her clothes secondhand. “Only if I can’t find it secondhand,” Loach says, “will I buy something new and then make sure I’ve done rigorous research on the company.”

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Lego doubles profits as demand soars beyond Covid-19 lockdown

Brick brand says it does not not expect problems with Christmas stock despite global supply crisis

Lego profits more than doubled in the first six months of the year as brick fans stayed home to build Star Wars and Harry Potter models even after the Covid-19 lockdown ended.

The Danish toymaker was one of the winners from Covid restrictions as children and adults turned to its model kits to occupy themselves – and that trend has continued. Sales jumped 43% to DKr23bn (£2.6bn) in the first six months of 2021 while net profits surged 140% to DKr6.3bn.

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European lorry drivers ‘will not want to come to UK’, warn haulage chiefs

Emergency visa plan will not resolve Britain’s road transport crisis, says industry as majority blame Brexit in poll

The government’s emergency programme to issue temporary visas to thousands of lorry drivers is far too little to resolve Britain’s supply-chain crisis and is unlikely to attract them to the UK, haulage chiefs have warned.

Downing Street on Saturday night confirmed hastily compiled plans to add 5,000 HGV drivers and 5,500 poultry workers to a visa scheme until Christmas, to help the food and fuel industries with shortages.

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Chilled food delivery group collapses putting over 400 jobs at risk

EVCL Chill goes into administration hit by severe driver shortages and loss of customers

More than 400 jobs are at risk after a chilled food delivery business collapsed into administration – in part as a result of the driver shortage.

EVCL Chill, based in Alfreton, Derbyshire, had struggled after the loss of a number of customers over the past year and severe driver shortages, administrators PwC said.

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Fresh calls for windfall tax on companies that prospered during Covid

Research highlights six firms that increased their profits by a total of £16bn

Campaigners have issued fresh calls for a windfall tax on companies that prospered during the pandemic, after research highlighted six firms that increased their profits by a total of £16bn.

The outsourcing firm Serco and online clothes retailer Asos were among the companies that saw their global profits more than double over the last financial year, while one investment trust, Scottish Mortgage, saw its returns grow to nine times the average of preceding years.

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Coronavirus live: passports ‘needed to keep England venues open’; Vietnam says city residents must get vaccine

England vaccines minister says passes needed for nightclubs and mass events; Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi residents must receive one dose by 15 September

The BBC reports that Scottish Labour will not support the Scottish government’s plans to introduce vaccine passports.

Anas Sarwar told BBC Scotland’s The Sunday Show:

This is not opposition for opposition’s sake. Neither is this an ideological opposition to the principle of vaccine passports. This is about what works, and what’s going to make a meaningful difference. We all agree the vaccine is working in helping reduce hospitalisations and reduce deaths but there is a fear that using vaccine passports might actually entrench vaccine hesitancy rather than encourage uptake.

US officials have expressed optimism that Covid-19 booster shot delivery can start for all adults on 20 September, the goal set by President Joe Biden, as cases continue to rage across the country fueled by the highly transmissible Delta variant.

The officials insist, however, that boosters will not be rolled out without US health agencies’ authorisation, leaving open the possibility of delays.

Related: US officials optimistic Covid booster rollout can start on 20 September

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Australians urged to plan ahead for Christmas shopping amid ‘dramatically bad’ global supply chain crisis

Covid shutdowns of major international ports are putting extreme pressure on retailers to fill orders and keep shelves stocked

Australians have been warned not to leave their Christmas shopping until the last minute with the global supply chain crisis leaving retailers struggling to fill orders and keep shelves stocked.

The “dramatically bad” global supply chain situation in Asia could also see major Australian retailers dumping Black Friday sales as they are left with limited stock.

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Food, beer, toys, medical kit. Why is Britain running out of everything?

Poor pay and conditions for HGV drivers and the loss of many thousands of EU workers are plunging the UKs supply chain into crisis

Gaps on supermarket shelves. Fast food outlets pulling milkshakes and bottled drinks from their menus. Restaurants running out of chicken and closing. Empty vending machines. Online grocery orders full of substitutions. Fruit and vegetables rotting in the fields.

These are just some of the most visible signs of Britain’s deepening supply chain crisis, which has seen stocks in shops and warehouses slump to their lowest levels since the Confederation of British Industry began surveying in 1983.

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Scrawny trees, patchy grass, terrible view … why £6m Marble Arch Mound still falls flat

After a summer of free entry, visitors will now have to pay up to £8 to climb the London project. But will they bother?

It has been called a “BTec Eiffel Tower” and a “slag heap”. It’s been compared to “a car-park Santa’s grotto, with dogs pretending to be reindeer”. The Marble Arch Mound, the temporary artificial hill commissioned by Westminster city council as an “ambitious” visitor attraction, has become, as a representative of the local community put it, “an international laughing stock”.

The council responded to criticism by allowing free entry during August, and a certain number of the curious and the ghoulishly fascinated have turned up. This week it will start charging again. Given fundamental flaws in the project’s conception, the question is whether people will want to pay £8 for a weekend fast-track ticket now, any more than they did when it first opened at the end of July.

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Incoming boss of Sports Direct owner to get £100m payout if he doubles share price

New chief executive Michael Murray, 31, who is Mike Ashley’s future son-in-law, has till 2025 to achieve target

The incoming 31-year-old boss of Sports Direct owner Frasers Group could be handed shares worth more than £100m if he more than doubles its share price.

The company, which also owns the House of Fraser department stores and the designer fashion chain Flannels, revealed the bumper potential payout on Wednesday night, weeks after it announced that Michael Murray would be taking over from his future father-in-law, Mike Ashley, next spring.

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A look in the mirror: the existential threat facing beauty halls

Covid pandemic has accelerated shift to online purchases, with big brands buying up startups

The department store beauty hall is facing a fight for survival: the pandemic has accelerated the shift to buying cosmetics, skincare and other pampering products online, and a growing number of sales are now via a smartphone rather than over the counter.

Manicured sales assistants, testing pots and makeovers are being replaced by powerful influencers and digital beauty halls that can switch up the products on offer at the tweak of an algorithm.

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Toxic cat food fear as UK vets struggle with mysterious illness

As cases of blood condition pancytopenia persist, investigators suggest food fungi could be to blame

Cats are still dying in significant numbers from a mystery illness that investigators believe may be linked to widely sold cat food brands, prompting concern that not enough is being done to warn owners about a nationwide product recall.

Vets around the UK are understood to have been swamped by cases of pancytopenia, a condition in which the number of red blood cells, white blood cells and platelets decreases rapidly, causing serious illness.

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How Games Workshop grew to become more profitable than Google

Tabletop gaming, based on a mix of science fiction and fantasy worlds, has seen sales surge during lockdown

It started in a small flat in west London, with three friends selling board games and a fanzine via mail order; now Games Workshop is worth more than Marks & Spencer and Asos and is more profitable than Google.

This week the Nottingham-based company, which produces the Warhammer fantasy role-playing brand, announced all of its workers would get a £5,000 bonus after sales and profits surged during the pandemic.

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