At last the groceries code adjudicator has found evidence that the country’s biggest supermarket short-changed its suppliersAt last, chapter and verse on how Tesco treats its suppliers. For decades, farmers have been complaining about the exploitative practices of the big supermarkets. Now it is clear that, at least in Tesco’s case, there was an abuse of buying power. It was not even so consumers gained from low prices; it was all about impressing the financial markets with good profit margins. The inquiry by the groceries code adjudicator, Christine Tacon, found evidence of payments delayed to disguise missed targets, and suppliers left waiting for million-pound payments for up to two years. Sometimes there were arbitrary or unfair deductions from payments too. But although Ms Tacon found serious breaches of the groceries code, she was unable to impose a fine because at the time the offences were committed she did not have the power to impose financial penalties.Most of the evidence Ms Tacon investigated relates to the period before September 2014 when Tesco’s new boss, David Lewis, took over. He has apologised and insists that the days are over when his predecessor allegedly flattered Tesco’s bottom line with questionable accounting procedures. That matter is still under investigation by the Serious Fraud Office. Continue reading...

Her party has been taking a pounding of late, but the Lib Dem candidate for City Hall believes the middle ground can revive its fortunes in the capital

The west Cumbrian town of Arnside is braced for further bad weather with heavy rain and high-speed winds expected to continue as storm Jonas arrives in the area from the Atlantic. There are numerous flood alerts active for towns in Cumbria ahead of the coming wind and rain Continue reading...

Environment group calls on outdoor clothing companies to phase out PFCs, which have been linked to reproductive and developmental problemsOutdoor types, known for their love of the wilderness and healthy lifestyles, are contributing to the accumulation of toxic and long-lasting synthetic chemicals that are now found in everything from remote lakes to human breast milk.Related: Sweat it out: could your sportswear be toxic? Continue reading...

An exceptionally hot year, 2015 shattered records, but will just be the norm in 15 years’ time

Senator dubs investigation the ‘Bender inquiry’ in honour of Queensland farmer whose suicide after 10-year battle with gas companies put issue in spotlightThe Queensland senator Glenn Lazarus says he hopes a Senate inquiry into unconventional gas mining will restart political momentum around a push for farmer land rights which has waned in the months since the death of activist George Bender.

The historic COP21 agreement is poised to create a jump in sustainability hiring. Here are four areas of the job market expected to grow significantly in five yearsThe COP21 agreement was a historic milestone for climate change action, with a similarly historic price tag. According to the International Energy Agency, achieving its goals will cost an estimated $16.5tn by 2030.By comparison, when US President Barack Obama referenced “the single biggest investment in clean energy in our history” in his 2016 State of the Union address, he was referring to a comparatively tiny $90bn investment part of the 2009 Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Continue reading...

Like his brother, physicist and meteorologist Piers Corbyn is a man of revolutionary zeal. His own battle, however, is against all this ‘climate-change nonsense’…When Jeremy Corbyn won the leadership of the Labour party in September he celebrated in a pub up the road from the Houses of Parliament with a thank you to supporters and a rousing rendition of the Red Flag. On the edge of the impromptu stage that day, beside Len McCluskey of Unite and John McDonnell the future shadow chancellor, was a singular figure singing with particular pride: Piers Corbyn, the new leader’s elder brother, who has, you could say, led a parallel career of stubborn principle to his younger sibling. I was in the euphoric crowd that day, and since then I’ve wondered a bit about the relationship between the brothers, what they have learned from each other. With some of this in mind I called Piers recently and asked if he might like to talk about some of that. He agreed, but typically on the basis that he would happily talk about any subject under the sun – apart from his relationship with Jeremy and the vexed question of how his leadership is going. He shares much of his brother’s mistrust of the press; recently, he suggests, the Independent published an account of an exchange that had taken place over a family Christmas dinner. That wasn’t on. What he will talk about, though, is the thing he has talked about for just about as long as he can remember: the weather.On this very British basis we met last week in a cafe over the road from his office on Borough High Street in south London. You don’t have to speak to Piers for very long to realise that at least a couple of Corbyn family traits are indelible: the first is that intransigent rasp of a voice with faint traces of west country burr; the second is the sense that life, like politics, is best played as a long game. Continue reading...