As council declares it's no longer bankrupt', people say closure of services have added to social isolation and crimeWhen Birmingham city council announced last week it was no longer bankrupt", after years of budget cuts and asset sales, one retired police officer was left feeling despondent.Wendy Collymore had experienced first-hand the impact of the council's cost-cutting drive on the UK's second largest city when the adult day centre her elderly father attended was forced to close in 2024. Continue reading...
by Matthew Taylor Environment correspondent on (#73F35)
Born of student disquiet after the 2008 crash, the group says it is reshaping economists' educationAs the fallout from the 2008 global financial crash reverberated around the world, a group of students at Harvard University in the US walked out of their introductory economics class complaining it was teaching a specific and limited view" that perpetuated a problematic and inefficient system of economic inequality".A few weeks later, on the other side of the Atlantic, economics students at Manchester University in the UK, unhappy that the rigid mathematical formulas they were being taught in the classroom bore little relation to the tumultuous economic fallout they were living through, set up a post-crash economics society". Continue reading...
Two decades of weak pay growth have left poorer households stuck, Resolution Foundation says, fuelling political uneaseIt would take 137 years for lower-income families in the UK to see their living standards double at the current rate of growth, according to a thinktank.A two-decade stagnation in disposable incomes has created a mood of unease" across the country, the Resolution Foundation says, warning of the risk of further political disruption" unless pay growth accelerates. Continue reading...
Workers and unions condemn ICE operation as horrific' as pressure builds on Susan Collins, facing re-election this yearMaine, the US's whitest state, has been shaken by the Trump administration's immigration crackdown, a crackdown that could threaten Republican control of the Senate in November's crucial midterm elections.Immigration Customs and Enforcement (ICE) agents launched Operation Catch of the Day" in the state on 21 January, targeting the worst of the worst criminal illegal aliens who have terrorized communities", according to the administration. Continue reading...
Rising GDP continues to mean more carbon emissions and wider damage to the planet. Can the two be decoupled?During Cop30 negotiations in Brazil last year, delegates heard a familiar argument: rising emissions are unavoidable for countries pursuing growth.Since the first Cop in the 1990s, developing nations have had looser reduction targets to reflect the economic gap between them and richer countries, which emitted millions of tonnes of CO as they pulled ahead. The concession comes from the idea that an inevitable cost of prosperity is environmental harm. Continue reading...
Liam Byrne is echoing Robin Cook's ethical trade policy, warning the UK needs deals more open to scrutiny to prevent future issuesTrade can be a dirty business. Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor was tolerated as a special representative for trade and investment" in the noughties despite allegations that he kept convicted gun smugglers for friends, while Peter Mandelson's ability to schmooze the rich and famous repeatedly overruled concerns about his probity.To close a deal, there are always compromises to be made, and sometimes the terms are unsavoury. Continue reading...
Deregulation alone can't make homes affordable when rising inequality, not zoning, is what is driving prices upDonald Trump has an interesting view of how housing plays in US politics. I don't want to drive housing prices down. I want to drive housing prices up for people that own their homes," he said at a recent cabinet meeting. Unaffordable housing may be front and center of the affordability crisis" pissing off voters. Still, he insists: We're not going to destroy the value of their homes so that somebody that didn't work very hard can buy a home."It can be hard to square some things Trump says with other things Trump says, let alone with reality. One can't help but remember his campaign goal of cutting the cost of a new home in half" by eliminating pesky regulations that raise the cost of construction. Forget that cheap new entry-level homes will weigh on the price of the existing housing stock. Continue reading...
A wartime boom in Russia has given way to sluggish growth, tax hikes and squeezed public services. Will it affect the conflict in Ukraine?Western leaders were bullish when they imposed sanctions on Russia after the invasion of Ukraine in 2022.The Russian economy is on track to be cut in half," said the then US president, Joe Biden, in March, a month into the war. Continue reading...
Data from November 2025 was also revised lower amid a softening in labor market conditions at the end of the yearUS job openings dropped to the lowest level in more than five years in December and data for the prior month was revised lower amid a softening in labor market conditions at the end of 2025.Job openings, a measure of labor demand, decreased by 386,000 to 6.542m by the last day of December, the lowest level since September 2020, the labor department's Bureau of Labor Statistics said in its Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey, or Jolts report, on Thursday. Continue reading...
by Damian Carrington Environment editor on (#73BDB)
States and financial bodies using modelling that ignores shocks from extreme weather and climate tipping pointsFlawed economic models mean the accelerating impact of the climate crisis could lead to a global financial crash, experts warn.Recovery would be far harder than after the 2008 financial crash, they said, as we can't bail out the Earth like we did the banks". Continue reading...
Rolling coverage of the latest economic and financial newsBen Barringer, head of technology research at wealth manager Quilter Cheviot,says investors are shunning' the software market due to uncertainty over AI's potential, and the disruption it could cause:All innovation means there is going to be disruption at some point, and we appear to be at a significant point in that journey for software and IT services companies. The launch of the Claude Cowork agent has sent share prices of these companies into a spin, and this is hurting other tech names too.We are not yet at the point where AI agents will destroy software companies, especially given concerns around security, data ownership and use, but this market rout suggests the potential disruption that is on the cards for markets in the coming days, weeks and months. There is a lot of uncertainty around exactly what AI agents can do, and as such investors are choosing to shun the software market altogether, leaving nowhere to hide. Continue reading...
Longest period of job shedding' in 16 years taking place as business activity grows at fastest rate since August Business live - latest updatesCompanies in the UK's services sector cut jobs last month, as they turned to automation" rather than hiring new staff, a closely watched survey showed.The monthly purchasing managers' index showed employment numbers fell more sharply in January compared with December, continuing a trend that started in October 2024. Continue reading...
Jump of 37bn in budget deficit by 2040 would force government to increase taxes, NIESR predictsThe UK economy would be 3.6% smaller by 2040 if net migration fell to zero, forcing the government to raise taxes to combat a much bigger budget deficit, a thinktank has predicted.The National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR) said falling birthrates in the UK and a sharp decrease in net migration last year had led it to consider what would happen if this trend continued to the end of the decade. Continue reading...
Decaying town centres are fuelling a sense of disillusionment with mainstream parties. Labour's regeneration strategy must be bolderIn the 60s it was a fabulous place to live," sighed one resident of the north-east English town of NewtonAycliffe, in an interview published last week as part ofour investigation into the state of Britain's high streets. The town centre was absolutely beautiful...You would be ashamed to bring someonehere now.It's unrecognisable."Similar perceptions of decline are now the norm across the nation. In postwar Britain, high streets became the thriving hubs of a more affluent society and a source of local identity and pride. But almost 13,000shops closed in 2024 - an attrition rate of around 37 a day, which particularly affected the north of England, the Midlands and deprived coastal areas. The emergence of superstores and retail parks, and the postpandemic boom in internet shopping, has hollowed out the centres of towns and left a gaping sense of loss.Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here. Continue reading...
by Presented by Nour Haydar with Greg Jericho. Produc on (#739ZP)
Last August, to the relief of many homeowners, the Reserve Bank's governor, Michele Bullock, announced a cut in interest rates and expressed confidence that inflation was heading in the right direction. But on Tuesday, the RBA hiked rates for the first time in over two years, raising the cash rate by 25 basis points to 3.85%.Guardian columnist and chief economist of the Australia Institute, Greg Jericho, talks to Nour Haydar about what the rate hike means, why he sees it as cowardly' and what it all has to do with the AshesRead more: Continue reading...
A whistle-stop tour of the greatest hits of progressive policy fails to take account of a central conundrumIf you've written a successful book based around one big idea, what do you make the next one about? Back in 2009, Kate Pickett's The Spirit Level (co-authored with Richard Wilkinson) argued that inequality was the ultimate cause of almost all our social problems, from obesity and teenage pregnancy to violent crime; more equal societies, they claimed, had better outcomes across the board. While criticised - as most big idea" books are - for overstating the case and cherrypicking evidence, they struck a chord, and some aspects of their thesis are now mainstream.However, when it comes to the UK, there is an awkward problem, both for Pickett and for economists like me who, while not entirely convinced by The Spirit Level, would still like to see a more equal society. In the first chapter of Pickett's new book, inequality is once again the root of all (social) evils: if you know a country's level of inequality, you can do a pretty good job of predicting its infant mortality rate, or prevalence of mental illness, or levels of homicide or imprisonment". By contrast, she argues that GDP or GDP growth are very poor measures ofoverall welfare. Pickett then goes onto list the ways in which the UK has become a worse place to live since 2010 - higher child poverty, flattening life expectancy and child mortality, more people in prison. Continue reading...
January 2026 report to be rescheduled after BLS has already been faced with major delays from last year's shutdownThe US's closely watched jobs report will once again be delayed, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) announced on Monday, amid a government shutdown.The January 2026 jobs report, originally scheduled to be released on Friday, will be rescheduled when federal funding resumes. Data collection for the report has been completed, but the shutdown has forced a delay to releasing the report, which will provide crucial jobs data on the US labor market following the weakest year for job growth since 2020, with the addition of only 584,000 jobs in 2025 compared with 2 million in 2024. Continue reading...
Trump's pick of respected central banker' Kevin Warsh as Fed chair prompts investors to sell safe haven assetsGold and silver prices seesawed on Monday, after a meltdown" in the metals market deepened and rattled investors around the world.Gold prices tumbled by as much as 8% to $4,465 an ounce on Monday, ending a run of record highs that took it to nearly $5,600 last week. It later recovered some ground, but was still down by 3.5% at $4,700 in afternoon trading. Continue reading...
Auditor calls renewable energy targets unrealistic' unless EU ups its game' in mining, refining and recycling of metals such as rare earthsThe EU is struggling to free itself from dependence on China and countries in the global south for critical minerals and rare earths needed for everything from smartphones to wind turbines and military jets.A damning report by the European Court of Auditors (ECA) in Luxembourg found that the bloc's targets for 2030 were out of reach" because of lack of progress in domestic production, refining and recycling. Continue reading...
Greater optimism in PMI survey, adding to signs Bank of England will keep interest rates on hold this weekBritish manufacturers enjoyed one of their best months since Labour came to power in January, according to a closely watched survey, adding to signs that the Bank of England will decide to keep interest rates on hold this week.The purchasing managers' index (PMI), which measures activity in the private manufacturing sector, rose to 51.8 in January from 50.6 in December, the best reading since August 2024. Any reading above 50 represents growth. Continue reading...
CIPS warns of cracks' in global supply chain affecting computers, electrical machinery and transport equipmentThe price of consumer goods including computers, electrical machinery and transport equipment could surge this year as a result of soaring shipping costs, an industry body has said, adding that cracks [are] forming in the global trading system".The cost of transport, energy and raw materials continues to rise and prices remain volatile, which could feed through to businesses and consumers during 2026, according to a study by the Chartered Institute of Procurement and Supply (CIPS). Continue reading...
Trump's wounding of the US economy offers Beijing an unparalleled opportunity - if it dials back its overbearing trade tacticsWhen the Canadian prime minister, Mark Carney, took to the podium at the World Economic Forum in Davos last week to lament how great economic powers" were dismantling the international order, it seemed clear that he was talking about the United States. He might have been talking about China as well.Not a week earlier, Beijing had revealed that China's trade surplus ballooned by 20% in 2025, to $1.2tn. Despite Donald Trump's wall of tariffs that crashed Chinese sales to the US, its overall exports expanded more than 5%. Sales to the 11 countries in Asia's Asean bloc increased more than 13%. Exports to the European Union rose over 8%. Chinese imports, by contrast, were flat. Continue reading...
by Lauren Aratani in New York and Tom Knowles on (#7376S)
Pick of former Fed governor to replace Jerome Powell comes as White House seeks to tighten grip on central bankDonald Trump has announced Kevin Warsh as his nomination for the next chair of the Federal Reserve, selecting a candidate who has been an outspoken critic of the US central bank.The move ends months of speculation about who the president would pick to replace Jerome Powell, as he waged an extraordinary campaign to influence policymaking at the Fed by repeatedly calling for interest rate cuts. Powell's second term as chair is due to end in May. Continue reading...
US president warns against closer ties with China during British PM's trip to secure lower tariffs and better market accessDonald Trump has warned the UK against doing business with China, just hours after Keir Starmer lauded the economic relationship during a landmark visit to Beijing.The US president said it was very dangerous" for the UK to pursue closer ties with the rival superpower as the prime minister's three-hour talks with Xi Jinping underlined a thaw in previously strained relations. Continue reading...
Several deals have been struck so far but there does not appear to be a big bundle of investments worth billionsKeir Starmer will be pleased that he has secured several agreements to mark his visit to Beijing and by the warm tone of President Xi Jinping's remarks about his government. However, No 10's announcements do not put a figure on the value of the deals, and there does not appear to be a big bundle of investments worth billions by Chinese or British firms, which prime ministers have usually tended to hold up as a sign of success. These are the agreements secured by the UK so far. Continue reading...
Experts say factors including Trump's aggressive policies and pressure on the dollar are pushing investors toward safe haven' of precious metalsLast year's extraordinary run in precious metals has only intensified in 2026, as Donald Trump has continued to rip up the rules of the global economy.Gold has been on a tear since last summer, repeatedly breaking records. It has risen by more than a quarter this month and hit a new high of just under $5,595 (4,060) an ounce on Thursday. Continue reading...
PM praised for not pressuring Xi over his ties with Putin on a trip seen as business taking precedence over politics'Keir Starmer's visit to Beijing has been cautiously welcomed by Chinese state media as an act of economic pragmatism by a beleaguered British prime minister.The presence of 50 business and cultural leaders with Starmer, who is the first British prime minister to visit China in eight years, was taken as a sign that the UK was prioritising its ailing economy over political considerations. Continue reading...
Rolling coverage of the latest economic and financial news, as metal prices continue to soarThe weak dollar has helped to drive the copper price to a record high today too.The benchmark three-month copper on the London Metal Exchange jumped almost 8% to a new all-time peak of $14,125 a tonne, before slipping back slightly.Investors are piling into base metals on the Shanghai Futures Exchange on expectations for stronger US growth and more spending on data centers, robotics and power infrastructure. That's spurring global prices higher.Inflation is close to the target of 2 percent.The Swedish economy is growing at a solid pace. The labour market is weak but showing signs of improvement. Continue reading...
by Presented by Pippa Crerar and Kiran Stacey, produc on (#736SR)
Keir Starmer held talks with the Chinese leader Xi Jinping this week and proclaimed Britain should have a more sophisticated' relationship with China. Pippa Crerar, who was with the prime minister on the trip, tells Kiran Stacey what all this means Continue reading...
The mother of all deals' is as much about the tariff-heavy geopolitics of the Trump era as it is about bilateral tradeThe year was 2007. Steve Jobs had announced the launch of the first iPhone, the sub-prime mortgage crisis was bubbling up in the US, the EU had enlarged to include Romania and Bulgaria, and India had for the first time become a trillion-dollar economy. This was when trade talks between Delhi and Brussels were initiated for the first time. But it wouldn't be until this very week, almost 20 years later, that a deal was signed after a few final months of unusually accelerated negotiations.On Tuesday, the president of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Council Antonio Costa and India's prime minister, Narendra Modi, announced the mother of all deals", which promises to bring together about 2 billion consumers and a quarter of the world's GDP. The agreement opens parts of India's famously protectionist domestic market with a focus on exporting manufacturing and services; in return, middle-class Indian consumers will find it cheaper to buy European cars and wine. The overarching EU-India comprehensive strategic agenda is really much larger in scope, taking in defence and security, commitments to multilateralism, mobility and cooperation in a range of areas.Ravinder Kaur is professor of Asian studies at the University of Copenhagen and is writing a book about the history of the global south Continue reading...
In today's newsletter: With China now central to the world's green tech and economic future, the UK faces a series of strategic discussions it can no longer postponeGood morning. The Starmer has landed.Yesterday, Keir Starmer became the first British prime minister to make the trip to China since Theresa May's in 2018 (meaning a surprisingly large number of PMs didn't) and has vowed to bring stability and clarity" to the UK's approach to Beijing.Iran | Donald Trump has warned time is running out for Tehran and said a massive US armada was moving quickly towards the country.Assisted Dying | Supporters of assisted dying will seek to force through the bill using an archaic parliamentary procedure if it continues to be blocked by the Lords.UK politics | Centrist ideas are no longer wanted in the Conservative party, Kemi Badenoch has said.Ofsted | A snap inspection of a Bristol secondary school criticised for postponing a visit by an MP who is a member of a group that advocates for Israel has found no evidence of partisan political views".BBC | The BBC has named senior executive Rhodri Talfan Davies as its interim director general, as the corporation continues the search for a permanent replacement for Tim Davie. Continue reading...
by Words by Josh Halliday, graphic by Anna Leach and on (#735AF)
Newton Aycliffe was meant to be a model town for a fairer postwar Britain. But unaffordable rents on a high street amounting to 0.12% of its property tycoon owner's holdings have made it a symbol of decline - and a warning for Labour
The package being offered is not insignificant but the hospitality sector is still in troubleWill the chancellor's inevitable U-turn on business rates for pubs be enough to quieten the developing riot behind the taps? Possibly, a bit. After two months of damaging headlines, Rachel Reeves has granted pubs a 15% discount on bills, worth 1,650 on average in the next tax year, then a two-year freeze in real terms, with the promise of a change in methodology in time for the next revaluation in 2029. Live music venues get the same deal. The package is not insignificant, especially as it was the year-three escalation in bills that was causing the most angst.Yet it would be a mistake to think the government's troubles on business rates end there. First, and most significantly, the rest of the hospitality industry got nothing extra in Tuesday's announcement beyond a similar pledge to rethink valuation methods for hotels in future. Continue reading...
Wide-ranging deal will cut tariffs to zero over seven years as Modi hails largest free trade agreement' in India's historyThe European carmakers' association has welcomed the EU's trade deal with India, saying it sent a strong statement of intent by both parties to furthering more open and mutually beneficial trade relations."It will greatly help European automobile exports enter a market of 4 million passenger cars that, until now, has been protected by prohibitively high import tariffs of up to 110%," the European Automobile Manufacturers Association, or ACEA, added. Continue reading...