Sector cites ‘billions of pounds in additional costs’ from new business rates and increase in minimum wage thresholds Two-thirds of hospitality businesses are planning to cut jobs as a result of “suffocating” costs imposed by government, as new business rates and higher wage bills come into force. Many pubs, restaurants and hotel companies will see their costs increase significantly from 1 April a...
Sector cites ‘billions of pounds in additional costs’ from new business rates and increase in minimum wage thresholds Two-thirds of hospitality businesses are planning to cut jobs as a result of “suffocating” costs imposed by government, as new business rates and higher wage bills come into force. Many pubs, restaurants and hotel companies will see their costs increase significantly from 1 April after Rachel Reeves’s changes to business rates and an increase in minimum wage thresholds announced at the chancellor’s November budget. Continue reading...
London Coliseum Superbly cast, the dancer brings stratospheric levels of charisma to a rather pedestrian show driven by Cyndi Lauper’s songs Johannes Radebe ( AKA Jojo from Strictly ) is a born performer. He is utterly magnetic on stage, and when he’s dancing you can’t take your eyes off him. The role of the drag queen Lola in Kinky Boots could have been written for Radebe, whose entrances alone a...
London Coliseum Superbly cast, the dancer brings stratospheric levels of charisma to a rather pedestrian show driven by Cyndi Lauper’s songs Johannes Radebe ( AKA Jojo from Strictly ) is a born performer. He is utterly magnetic on stage, and when he’s dancing you can’t take your eyes off him. The role of the drag queen Lola in Kinky Boots could have been written for Radebe, whose entrances alone are a thing to behold – rising from a trapdoor, say, draped in a floor-length crimson gown and wearing a curly blond wig, part Diana Ross, part Whitney Houston. The musical is based on the 2005 film inspired by the real-life story of a troubled Northampton shoe factory that switches to making thigh-high boots for drag queens. It’s a riot of feathers and sparkle, with designers Robert Jones and Tom Rogers going all out on the costumes. The foil to Lola’s otherworldly glamour is the everyman character Charlie Price (usually played by 2010 X Factor winner Matt Cardle, but due to illness, by understudy Liam Doyle on the night I watch). Charlie is likable, directionless, pulled back home from London by the death of his father to reluctantly take over the ailing family business. A chance encounter with Lola and her friends leads to a mad scheme to save the factory, and a bit of culture clash comedy. Kinky Boots approaches gender and sexuality in a warm, good-humoured way, and lightly explores themes of fathers and sons, expectations and acceptance. Continue reading...
UK researcher uses maths to explain seeming inevitability of phenomenon experienced by many motorists It is a situation experienced by many motorists: one driver overtakes another only to find the slower car is right behind them when they reach a red light. Now a researcher has used mathematics to reveal why the situation feels inevitable. Dr Conor Boland from Dublin City University has called his...
UK researcher uses maths to explain seeming inevitability of phenomenon experienced by many motorists It is a situation experienced by many motorists: one driver overtakes another only to find the slower car is right behind them when they reach a red light. Now a researcher has used mathematics to reveal why the situation feels inevitable. Dr Conor Boland from Dublin City University has called his work “The Voorhees law of traffic”. Continue reading...
There is a section of Scotland supporters who have taken to booing the head coach and the team. With a World Cup coming, they need to keep perspective, writes Tom English.
There is a section of Scotland supporters who have taken to booing the head coach and the team. With a World Cup coming, they need to keep perspective, writes Tom English.
Novo Nordisk A/S ’s obesity drug Wegovy will be an option for about 1.2 million more patients in England’s National Health Service, after the drug price regulator recommended it to prevent heart attacks and strokes. The decision will significantly expand access to Wegovy on the state-run NHS, where the blockbuster drug is currently available through specialist weight-management services, limiting ...
Novo Nordisk A/S ’s obesity drug Wegovy will be an option for about 1.2 million more patients in England’s National Health Service, after the drug price regulator recommended it to prevent heart attacks and strokes. The decision will significantly expand access to Wegovy on the state-run NHS, where the blockbuster drug is currently available through specialist weight-management services, limiting its uptake. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence is now recommending it to treat overweight patients who have had a heart attack or stroke, or have serious circulation problems in their legs. The regulator, which assesses the cost-effectiveness of drugs, has faced intense pressure from the pharmaceutical industry over its stringent criteria. Last year, the UK agreed to a 25% spending boost by lifting the threshold it uses to determine if a drug represents value for money. Under the new recommendations for Wegovy, patients must have a body mass index of 27 or more to access the shot, alongside other criteria linked to risk of heart attacks and strokes. That BMI is lower than the threshold currently used for access to Wegovy — or Eli Lilly & Co. ’s rival drug Mounjaro — for weight loss. The drug will be offered as part of existing cardiovascular care, meaning doctors will be able to consider Wegovy as an option alongside standard treatments, Novo said in a separate statement. The drug regulator estimates that patient population at about 1.2 million. Wegovy’s approval in the UK to protect against heart disease is based on a large study, backed by Novo, that found the drug cut the risk of heart attack and stroke by a fifth. Current NHS restrictions on eligibility for Wegovy for weight loss means most patients access the drug via private prescriptions. Lilly’s Mounjaro is also being rolled out on the NHS via a phased program for weight loss, limiting access.
The idea of a bot pouring and serving drinks might unsettle some people, but for CNBC host Jim Cramer, it sounded more like a solution to a costly problem he dealt with for years. Tired of bartenders skimming cash at his Brooklyn bar, Cramer once pitched Nvidia Corp. (NASDAQ:NVDA) CEO Jensen Huang the idea of an AI-powered bartender, the CNBC host said on the "Big Technology" podcast in December. ...
The idea of a bot pouring and serving drinks might unsettle some people, but for CNBC host Jim Cramer, it sounded more like a solution to a costly problem he dealt with for years. Tired of bartenders skimming cash at his Brooklyn bar, Cramer once pitched Nvidia Corp. (NASDAQ:NVDA) CEO Jensen Huang the idea of an AI-powered bartender, the CNBC host said on the "Big Technology" podcast in December. "I told Jensen that I wanted to see a bartender that’s not human because humans steal cash," Cramer
The home affairs select committee said Prevent cannot deal with the modern challenges of fighting extremism The government’s anti-terrorism programme, Prevent, is “outdated and inadequately prepared” to deal with modern challenges such as extremists adhering to no particular ideology, an influential cross-party group of MPs has concluded. The home affairs select committee has called for a reset to...
The home affairs select committee said Prevent cannot deal with the modern challenges of fighting extremism The government’s anti-terrorism programme, Prevent, is “outdated and inadequately prepared” to deal with modern challenges such as extremists adhering to no particular ideology, an influential cross-party group of MPs has concluded. The home affairs select committee has called for a reset to the approach for dealing with fast-evolving online subcultures promoting antisemitism, anti-Muslim hostility, misogyny and violence, as well as an over-representation of neurodiverse people and those with mental health conditions. A growing prevalence of under-18s being drawn into extremism. Neurodiverse individuals, particularly those with Autistic Spectrum Disorder, being over-represented among referrals to the programme. Fluid or hybrid ideological beliefs among those referred and a shift toward nihilistic violence. Influencers and creative tools such as memes, humour and coded messaging being used to spread extremist content in a way that is accessible and appealing. Generative AI being used to produce large volumes of tailored content and disinformation. An increase in hate crimes and incidents in the UK that are linked to anti-blasphemy activism, anti-Israel extremism, anti-Muslim hostility and eco-extremism. Continue reading...
The new rules are the first major change to the country’s laws governing child-rearing in more than a century Divorced couples in Japan will be able to negotiate joint custody of their children from Wednesday, in the first major change to the country’s laws governing child-rearing in more than a century. Previously, Japan’s Civil Code required couples to decide which parent would take custody of t...
The new rules are the first major change to the country’s laws governing child-rearing in more than a century Divorced couples in Japan will be able to negotiate joint custody of their children from Wednesday, in the first major change to the country’s laws governing child-rearing in more than a century. Previously, Japan’s Civil Code required couples to decide which parent would take custody of their children when they divorce . Continue reading...
Trans and gender-diverse people experience ‘significant and preventable barriers to their safety and dignity’, report finds Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast The sex discrimination commissioner says there has been a concerted disinformation campaign against transgender rights since Australia’s postal survey on same-sex marriage. The Australian Human Rights Commission rel...
Trans and gender-diverse people experience ‘significant and preventable barriers to their safety and dignity’, report finds Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast The sex discrimination commissioner says there has been a concerted disinformation campaign against transgender rights since Australia’s postal survey on same-sex marriage. The Australian Human Rights Commission released a report on Tuesday – coinciding with international trans day of visibility – finding that trans and gender-diverse people experience “significant and preventable barriers to their safety, dignity and full participation in society” spanning healthcare, housing, education, employment and public life. Continue reading...
Policymakers should address financial barriers that hinder young people from starting families, says thinktank Politicians hoping to persuade young people in the UK to have more children should prioritise tackling housing affordability, according to research by the Resolution Foundation thinktank. There has been growing concern in recent years about Britain’s declining birthrate , given the long-t...
Policymakers should address financial barriers that hinder young people from starting families, says thinktank Politicians hoping to persuade young people in the UK to have more children should prioritise tackling housing affordability, according to research by the Resolution Foundation thinktank. There has been growing concern in recent years about Britain’s declining birthrate , given the long-term fiscal pressures of supporting an ageing population. Continue reading...
Ollama, a runtime system for operating large language models on a local computer, has introduced support for Apple's open source MLX framework for machine learning. Additionally, Ollama says it has improved caching performance and now supports Nvidia's NVFP4 format for model compression, making for much more efficient memory usage in certain models. Combined, these developments promise significant...
Ollama, a runtime system for operating large language models on a local computer, has introduced support for Apple's open source MLX framework for machine learning. Additionally, Ollama says it has improved caching performance and now supports Nvidia's NVFP4 format for model compression, making for much more efficient memory usage in certain models. Combined, these developments promise significantly improved performance on Macs with Apple Silicon chips (M1 or later)—and the timing couldn't be better, as local models are starting to gain steam in ways they haven't before outside researcher and hobbyist communities. The recent runaway success of OpenClaw—which raced its way to over 300,000 stars on GitHub , made headlines with experiments like Moltbook and became an obsession in China in particular —has many people experimenting with running models on their machines. Read full article Comments
Jonathan Kitchen/DigitalVision via Getty Images It's no secret that I'm not exactly an AI or software bull in general. It's also no secret that I expect something pretty bad to happen in the market eventually, once this current capital-fueled spending spree aimed at AI and Data centers starts winding down. In my daily investing and analyzing practice, I see many indicators of overvaluation, which ...
Jonathan Kitchen/DigitalVision via Getty Images It's no secret that I'm not exactly an AI or software bull in general. It's also no secret that I expect something pretty bad to happen in the market eventually, once this current capital-fueled spending spree aimed at AI and Data centers starts winding down. In my daily investing and analyzing practice, I see many indicators of overvaluation, which have started encroaching in sectors that I did not expect it to do. From companies like Utilities, to companies like Construction and building materials companies to companies even such as insurers, many industries are seeing surges in valuation related to capital tied in turn to expectations or forecasts for AI investments. It's not as though the bearish assumptions are unknown. However, I believe as we're now moving into 2026, and as things are starting to clear up, and debt investors and capital companies are starting to raise their eyebrows, I think the worries are going to rise slowly but surely until they at some point "pop" - much like the market popped following COVID-19 (though obviously for entirely different reasons). So what I will do in this article is to lay out the worries I have for the AI-fueled surge of growth and spending - what I believe will "break" it and why I believe this is starting to happen even as we speak (and some of the worrying signals there). AI Infrastructure Investments Are Massive, But So Far Mostly Unprofitable It's no secret now that for some time, AI companies have been looking to invest, to raise funds for investing, and to scale their operations. As usual, the market seems deadlocked on two very opposing views. One view that's positive says that not only is the current rally and growth likely to continue and justified to do so, it might also grow even further. The other view, which is negative, is that there are so many clear signs of a bubble that anyone not seeing them would be blinding themselves. The Bearish And Bullish Camps For...
Amazon’s Big Spring Sale may not have been as “big” as Black Friday or even Prime Day, but depending on what you’re after, the discounts are more appealing than you might think. Take charging accessories, for instance. Anker, Twelve South, Baseus, and others have sharply lowered the prices of some of our favorite add-ons, including handsome 3-in-1 charging stands , 25,000mAh battery packs , and in...
Amazon’s Big Spring Sale may not have been as “big” as Black Friday or even Prime Day, but depending on what you’re after, the discounts are more appealing than you might think. Take charging accessories, for instance. Anker, Twelve South, Baseus, and others have sharply lowered the prices of some of our favorite add-ons, including handsome 3-in-1 charging stands , 25,000mAh battery packs , and inexpensive Qi2 pucks . Unsurprisingly, the vast majority of the discounts are set to expire at 11:59PM PT this evening when Amazon’s spring promo officially draws to a close. However, unlike some of the recent deals we saw on Apple devices and Sonos gear , many of the deals we’re seeing on charging devices are still up for grabs — well, at least for the time being. Baseus Free2Pull Retractable USB-C Cable 100W Baseus’ slick USB-C charger supports 100W passthrough and takes a puck-like form when not in use, with male connectors on either side that retract inward with a quick tug. Where to Buy: $16.99 $9.95 at Amazon (3.3-foot) $21.99 $15.19 at Amazon (6.6-foot) $16.99 at Baseus (3.3-foot) Twelve South HiRise 3 Deluxe Twelve South’s 3-in-1 charging stand offers full 15W MagSafe iPhone charging and can simultaneously top off a set of AirPods while fast-charging a compatible Apple Watch. It also includes a power supply (with travel adapters) to deliver enough juice over its 5-foot / 1.5m USB cable. Where to Buy: $149.99 $79.99 at Amazon $149.99 $79.99 at Twelve South Anker Laptop Power Bank Anker’s 25,000mAh power bank sports two built-in USB-C cables (one of which is retractable), plus one USB-C and USB-A port. It tops out at 165W when charging two devices simultaneously, or 130W when charging three or four. Where to Buy: $119.99 $95.99 at Amazon $119.99 $95.99 at Anker $119.99 $95.99 at Walmart Ugreen 100W 20,000mAh Power Bank Ugreen’s portable power bank has a 20,000mAh battery and a maximum power output of 100W, making it possible to charge more robust devices like laptops. ...