Author: Blake Anderson

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.UK retail spending growth slowed to its weakest pace this year in May, according to new data, casting doubt on the strength of consumer resilience.The value of retail sales increased at an annual rate of 1 per cent in May, the lowest rate in 2025 and well below the average of 2.5 per cent between January and May, according to figures published by the British Retail Consortium on Tuesday.The figure also lagged behind the April inflation rate of 3.4 per cent, suggesting a…

Stay informed with free updatesSimply sign up to the UK tax myFT Digest — delivered directly to your inbox.A UK special investigations team doubled its tax haul from wealthy people in 2023-24, compared with the previous year, in a crackdown on the rich. A department at HM Revenue & Customs set up to target wealthy taxpayers netted more than £1.5bn in 2023-24, according to the latest data obtained from a freedom of information (FOI) request.“HMRC have been set some very hard targets for extra tax collection by the chancellor. It is hard to see how they can achieve those targets…

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.Sir Mel Stride, Conservative shadow chancellor, will on Thursday apologise for the chaos unleashed by Liz Truss’s ill-fated “mini” Budget in 2022 and plead for time to be allowed to rebuild the party’s economic reputation.Stride’s speech is an acknowledgment of the bleak political legacy of the 49-day Truss premiership, admitting: “The damage to our credibility is not so easily undone.”But it is also a plea to his party to be patient, in spite of the Tories’ grim opinion poll rating, and to…

Stay informed with free updatesSimply sign up to the UK energy myFT Digest — delivered directly to your inbox.Government proposals to split Britain’s power market into zones, under which households and businesses would pay different rates depending on how close they are to wind and solar farms, have been backed by an influential group of peers.Baroness Dido Harding, who led the government’s test and trace scheme in England during the Covid pandemic, and Lord Udny-Lister, a former Downing Street chief of staff, are among the group that has come out in support of so-called “zonal pricing”. The House of Lords…

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.By spring 2024, Neil McDonald had not been able to see an NHS dentist for four years. In “absolute agony” and on the verge of pulling out a second tooth, the 61-year-old Ipswich resident called the 111 medical helpline.It referred him to a new state-funded service in the town in the east of England, one of the nation’s “dental deserts”, where a quarter of patients tried and failed to see a dentist between January and March last year, according to the latest…

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.“Ambitious reform” of funding and regulation is needed to stave off financial crisis in UK higher education as competition for students is stopping cash-strapped universities joining forces to cut costs, a review has warned.Sir Nigel Carrington, chair of the Transformation and Efficiency Taskforce, said the “marketisation” of higher education since tuition fees in England rose to £9,000 in 2012 had led institutions to “operate as islands”. Last year ministers agreed to increase domestic tuition fees in England in line with inflation for…

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.The UK military will unify cyber and electronic operations under a single command as part of a sweeping reorganisation of high-tech warfare, defence secretary John Healey has announced. The move will be a central plank of the government’s strategic defence review, expected to be unveiled on Monday, that will lay out military spending plans and priorities for the coming years.The Ministry of Defence also plans to spend more than £1bn developing an artificial intelligence-driven system to analyse and filter the gargantuan amounts of data…

This article picked by a teacher with suggested questions is part of the Financial Times free schools access programme. Details/registration here. Read all our IB ToK picks here. SpecificationAn FT article, in which ‘cradle Catholic’ Enuma Okoro discusses why the late pope was a fan of artist Caravaggio, and the role art plays in helping us understand the human condition. Subject links Visual arts, Religion, History, LanguageEssential terms Deeper prophecies, Power of the arts, Multiplicity of truths, Human condition, Redemption, Judgment vs. grace, DoubtsKey concepts Values, Perspectives, Interpretation, Truth Themes & AOKs The arts, Religion, K&K, History BQ Perspectives, Values, SpinRead the article and then…

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.A row over a £1bn train fleet has broken out between the government and private transport operator First Group, threatening to overshadow the first nationalisation of a train operator under the Labour government. South Western Railway, one of the UK’s busiest rail operators, was taken into state control on Sunday. But only around five of its flagship new trains will be available to run, following years of delay in their rollout.First Group held the contract to operate the SWR franchise from 2017…

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for freeRoula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.British security officials are investigating whether Russia may be involved in three arson attacks on properties connected to Sir Keir Starmer, according to senior Whitehall figures.The attacks on the UK prime minister’s family home in Kentish Town, north London, along with a car and a residential property that the prime minister previously owned, took place earlier this month.Two Ukrainian men and a Romanian national have been charged with conspiracy to commit arson with intent to endanger life in connection with the fires.…