UK could face gaps on supermarket shelves by summer if Iran war continues

The UK could face some gaps on supermarket shelves this summer if disruption caused by the Iran war continues, with shortages of carbon dioxide potentially hitting supplies of chicken, pork and fizzy drinks.Government ministers are drawing up contingency plans for a “reasonable worst-case scenario” if the key shipping lane of the strait of Hormuz does not reopen, disrupting supplies of the CO2 required by the food industry.Officials from departments including No 10, the Treasury and the Ministry of Defence have run a planning operation named Exercise Turnstone to rehearse various scenarios of how British industry could be affected by a long closure of the strait.The planning exercise run by the government’s Cobra emergency committee, details of which were first reported by the Times, was based on multiple disruptive events happening at once, including the strait still being closed in June, a lack of a permanent peace deal between the US and Iran, and a mechanical failure at one of the UK’s key CO2 plants.The business secretary said on Thursday that the public should be “reassured” by the fact ministers were making contingency plans for possible repercussions from the war, adding that supplies of CO2 were “not a concern” for the UK economy

EasyJet warns of impact on profits as Iran war hits bookings and fuel prices

The budget airline easyJet has warned the impact of the Iran war on bookings and oil prices will hit its profits, having driven up fuel costs by £25m in the last month alone.It said it expected to report an increased pre-tax loss of £540-£560m for the six months to March, up from £394m in the first half of 2024-25. The carrier typically makes its money in the second half of the year which includes the peak summer period.The airline said it remained confident in its fuel supply. While it has hedged 70% of its needs for the rest of the financial year to September, it said that each $100 (£74) movement in the spot price jet of fuel per metric tonne was adding £40m in costs for its unhedged supply – and currently the price is about $800 higher than before the conflict started

UK economy showed surprise 0.5% growth before Iran war

UK GDP expanded by a stronger than expected 0.5% in February, official figures show, suggesting the economy was gaining momentum before the onset of war in the Middle East dashed hopes of recovery.The jump, reported by the Office for National Statistics (ONS), was significantly bigger than the 0.1% forecast by economists. January’s flatlining figure was also revised up, to 0

Drax claimed record £999m in subsidies for burning trees in 2025, thinktank says

The owner of the Drax power plant in North Yorkshire received record subsidies of almost £1bn for burning trees to generate electricity in 2025, a climate thinktank has calculated.The company was paid £999m last year for generating about 4.5% of Great Britain’s electricity from its biomass plant, costing each household £13 a year, according to analysts at Ember.The power plant was able to claim £2.7m a day from energy bills in part by increasing its power generation by about 2% from the year before – but mostly due to the rising payouts from a legacy renewables support scheme

Reeves gives more energy bill support to businesses as Iran war pushes up costs

Rachel Reeves has announced an expansion of support for the most energy-intensive UK businesses, as they face soaring bills as a result of the Middle East conflict.The chancellor said the long-promised British Industrial Competitiveness Scheme (BICS) would be expanded to cover 10,000 companies, up from the 7,000 originally announced.The scheme, which the government says will cut companies’ bills by up to 25%, will not come into operation until next year, although in a significant concession Reeves said support would then be backdated to this month.The announcement was welcomed by business groups, but some criticised the fact the money would not arrive until next April, urging Reeves to bring support forward as they face a looming crisis as a result of the ongoing closure of the strait of Hormuz.Speaking in Washington, where she is attending the spring meeting of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) this week, the chancellor said: “This government has the right plan for the economy: backing British industry, cutting electricity costs and building a stronger, more resilient future

Shares in Allbirds surge after maker of wool sneakers announces pivot to AI

Allbirds, the maker of minimalist wool sneakers beloved by Silicon Valley, announced on Wednesday that it is leaving shoes behind and pivoting to artificial intelligence. The new focus and rebrand as “NewBird AI” sent the company’s stock up 582% as of mid-day during a flurry of trading.The surging stock price and new direction is a bizarre, rapid turnaround for a company that had fallen into disrepair in recent years. Once valued at $4bn, Allbirds’ shares had lost 99% of their worth since 2021 and earlier this month the company announced plans for a $39m sale to brand management firm American Exchange Company.Allbirds’ declaration that it will concentrate on acquiring graphics processing units to help support AI compute stands out as one of the most baffling pivots of the AI boom, a period in which many companies have tried to shoehorn in AI to appeal to investors and the market

Live Nation and Ticketmaster had monopoly over big venues, US jury finds

The concert giant Live Nation and its Ticketmaster subsidiary has a harmful monopoly over big concert venues, a Manhattan federal jury has found, dealing the company a loss in a lawsuit over claims brought by dozens of US states.The jury deliberated for four days before reaching its decision on Wednesday in the closely watched case, which helped peel back the curtain on a business that dominates live entertainment across much of the world.Live Nation Entertainment owns, operates, controls booking for or has an equity interest in hundreds of venues. Its Ticketmaster booking platform is widely considered to be the world’s largest ticket-seller for live events, from music to sports.The civil case, initially led by the US federal government, accused Live Nation of using its reach to smother competition – by blocking venues from using multiple ticket sellers or retaliating against them when they did, for example

Wall Street scales fresh record high as investors bet on end of Iran war

Wall Street scaled a fresh all-time high on Wednesday amid growing optimism among investors that the US-Israel war on Iran will soon be over.The benchmark S&P 500 breached 7,000 points for the first time in history, after climbing 0.8% over the course of the day, finishing at 7,022.95. The tech-heavy Nasdaq also rose 1

UK’s largest housebuilder to buy less land in blow to Labour’s homes target

Britain’s largest housebuilder is planning to dramatically cut back on buying new land, blaming the impact of the conflict in the Middle East and putting Labour’s ambitious housing target under more pressure.Barratt Redrow said it intended to approve between 7,000 and 9,000 plots of land for purchase in its current financial year, far lower than previous guidance of between 10,000 and 12,000.The company, which had already committed to buying less land this year than the previous year, said “geopolitical events” had prompted the further reduction.“Now, with a less certain backdrop, given recent geopolitical events and their likely impact on mortgage rates and build cost, we are being even more selective,” the company said.As a result, Barratt Redrow now expects to spend between £700m and £800m on land this year, down from previous guidance of between £800m and £900m

IMF calls for countries to economise on energy supplies, and hails UK’s budget deficit improvement – as it happened

Newsflash: The International Monetary Fund has applauded the UK’s progress in reducing its budget deficit last year.A day after slashing the UK’s growth forecasts, the IMF cited Britain as an example of an major economy which managed to trim its borrowings, after the UK’s deficit fell from 6.1% of GDP in 2024 to 5.4% in 2025.In its latest Fiscal Monitor report, just released at its spring meeting in Washington, the IMF says:double quotation markIn 2025, the headline deficit for advanced economies excluding the United States held broadly steady at 2

Big US banks rake in near $50bn profit as Iran war shakes markets

Big US banks raked in nearly $50bn (£37bn) worth of profits in the first three months of the year, as they benefited from stock market turbulence triggered by the US-Israeli war on Iran.Wall Street’s largest lenders have reported a jump in first-quarter earnings, reflecting the surge in demand for trading services as investors dumped risky stocks and bonds and sought safer havens for their cash.On Wednesday, Bank of America and Morgan Stanley posted a leap in profits, joining Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan, Citi and Wells Fargo in announcing strong results this week. Collectively, the six banks reported $47.4bn in profits

Gina Rinehart has been forced to share her riches. But will she fight on or end the family feud?

Gina Rinehart does not like to lose.Engaged in bitter legal battles for most of the past 35 years, Australia’s richest person has shown her propensity to fight tooth and nail to retain control of her family’s iron ore empire – and the riches that flow from it.Even as her own children were due to receive their inheritance from their grandfather Lang Hancock almost 20 years ago, Rinehart sought to block them in an ugly legal dispute that showed the lengths she was prepared to go to retain control.But as rain drizzled down on Perth’s central business district on Wednesday, Justice Jennifer Smith handed down a judgment that will force Rinehart to share. Not just hundreds of millions of dollars in royalty payments pocketed by Hancock Prospecting, but also some of the credit for the making of the Pilbara iron ore industry

Roast chicken, cheesy scones and a genius cocktail: Ravinder Bhogal’s recipes for cooking with lime pickle

I’m obsessed with lime pickle. It’s savoury, sour, funky, spicy and full of bold personality that enlivens anything it’s smeared on. It’s made by salting and fermenting limes with chillies and spices for a fierce, flavour-packed condiment that’s traditionally eaten as a side to poppadoms or with simple dal and rice. Over the years, I have also folded it into grilled cheese toasties, marinades for fat prawns to barbecue in the summer or made compound butters with it to smother over sweet potatoes before roasting. It’s an instant flavour bomb and my pantry is never without a jar

Vegemite is recognised globally – but how many people know Milo was invented in Australia?

The chocolate malt powder is sold in more than 40 countries, and Australian cafe owners say there’s ‘jingoistic pride’ in serving it on their menusGet our weekend culture and lifestyle emailWhen I order the jumbo-sized Milo Godzilla at Ho Jiak in Sydney’s Haymarket, it arrives as advertised – it’s comically large. The Malaysian restaurant prepares the drink by swirling Milo powder with hot water, adding sweet drizzles of condensed milk then chilling the mix with ice. Scoops of ice-cream are added and extra choc-malt powder is showered on top. Served in a one-litre jug, it’s so big I can’t finish it solo: staff hand me three takeaway cups to transport the leftovers.Like many beloved Milo drinks, the Godzilla is native to south-east Asia

What can I do with leftover rice? | Kitchen aide

How do I store cooked rice safely, and what can I make with it the next day?Michael, by email“It’s a bit of a running joke with rice, because I think of all the people in China who aren’t spreading their leftover rice immediately on to a tray to cool and are still alive,” says Amy Poon, of Poon’s at Somerset House in London. “But I have to be responsible and say: cool the rice as quickly as possible, within the hour, and put it in an airtight container and pop it in the fridge [or freezer] straight away.” The reason being, as food science guru Harold McGee notes in his bible On Food & Cooking, “Raw rice almost always carries dormant spores of the bacterium Bacillus cereus, which produces powerful gastrointestinal toxins. The spores can tolerate high temperatures, and some survive cooking.” In short: good storage practices will prevent bacterial growth, not to mention open a whole world of dinner opportunities

José Pizarro’s recipe for nettle (or wild garlic) and goat’s cheese tortilla

When I was growing up in the small village of Talaván in Extremadura, Spain, we never ate nettles. They were wild plants that grew along the edges of the fields, and the sort you tried to avoid: like many children, I learned about them the hard way, brushing against them while playing and getting stung. It was only when I came to the UK that I first saw nettles used in cooking, which surprised me: suddenly, this wild plant had a place in the kitchen. Now, whenever I visit my mum, Isabel, I see them everywhere. It makes me smile to think that at this year’s Spring Garden at the Chelsea flower show, I will be cooking among a world of magnificent plants and gardens

Gone from shop shelves, but not forgotten | Letters

How lucky for Adrian Chiles that he didn’t live in the German Democratic Republic (Rose’s Lime Marmalade? Gone. Dark chocolate Bounty? No more. But what about their heartbroken fans?, 8 April). After reunification, there were street markets selling the last of products from the old days, and there was an exhibition in a national museum – memorably called “They’ve even taken our tomato ketchup” – lamenting the loss of many food products and other features of former times, such as children’s TV programmes.Derek JanesDuns, Scottish Borders Can Adrian Chiles tell me where to find Halls’ chocolate sour lemons? Maybe they stopped being made because they turned your tongue black, but they tasted great

Cornichon shortage leaves British sandwich shops in a pickle

With their sharp flavour and crunch, pickled cucumbers are an essential component of any sandwich worth its salt.But an unexpected shortage of cornichons has caused consternation in sandwich shops across the country as cafes scramble to get their hands on jars of the small green pickles.A favourite sandwich of hungry office workers is the simple jambon beurre. A staple across the Channel, the French sandwich contains ham, a generous amount of butter, and, crucially, a sharp, crunchy cornichon to cut through the fat.Sandwich chain Pret a Manger brought it to popularity in the UK, and a jambon beurre retails for about £4 in its shops

Rukmini Iyer’s quick and easy recipe for chilli eggs with miso beans and spinach | Quick and easy

My go-to cheat ingredient for a dash of heat is White Mausu’s peanut rāyu – it has a gentler flavour profile than, say, Lao Gan Ma crispy chilli in oil, and works perfectly in this dish of creamy, lemon-spiked beans and eggs. I recommend using jarred white beans for the speediest cook time. For an easy, get-ahead breakfast, make and chill the spinach and beans the night before, then reheat the next morning and crack in the eggs when the beans are piping hot.Prep 10 min Cook 20 min Serves 2-32 tbsp neutral oil 2 onions, peeled and roughly sliced2 garlic cloves, peeled and finely grated200g baby spinach, roughly chopped570g jar white haricot or butter beans, drained and rinsed (400g net)2 heaped tsp red miso paste (white will work, too) 150ml single cream Juice of ½ lemonSalt (optional)2 eggs 2-3 tbsp White Mausu peanut rāyu, to tastePut the oil in a large, heavy-based saucepan on a medium heat, then add the onions and stir-fry for five minutes, until just colouring around the edges. Stir in the garlic, turn down the heat to low, then partly cover the pan and cook for five minutes, to soften

The US small town coffee shop that created a viral drink: ‘I still don’t understand how it went so far’

A viral coffee drink created by a little college town coffee shop on the outskirts of Minneapolis is now making its way around the world after its inventors decided to give the recipe away for free.After Little Joy Coffee’s raspberry danish latte, a spring seasonal drink, went viral in March, the shop’s owners decided to encourage coffee shops to rip off the recipe directly and add it to their menus.Posting both a home recipe and step-by-step instructions for coffee shops, they asked shops if they wanted to be added to a map of places that will serve the raspberry danish latte. Hundreds of shops quickly signed up. A map of the shops shows a presence on every continent except Antarctica, with pins in dozens of countries

How to make Southern fried chicken – recipe | Felicity Cloake's Masterclass

Let’s be honest, fried chicken is one of those things that’s almost always good, but making it yourself has the benefit of allowing you to be sure of the provenance of the meat. Where fast-food restaurants tend to rely on pressure fryers for a juicy result, at home I brine the meat first using buttermilk – its slight acidity will also have a tenderising effect. Double win.Prep 5 min Marinate 4 hr+Cook 40 min Serves 2-3300ml buttermilk (see step 1)2¼ tsp salt 6 pieces of chicken of your choice – I like a mixture of drumsticks and thighs110g plain flour 40g cornflour, or rice or potato flour (see step 4)½ tsp freshly ground black pepper ½ tsp smoked paprika ¼ tsp MSG (optional)Neutral oil (vegetable, sunflower, groundnut or lard), for fryingButtermilk is the ideal consistency for this, but if you can’t get hold of any, instead whisk a little water into natural yoghurt to make it pourable. Put 275ml in a container large enough to hold all the meat, then stir in two teaspoons of salt – this improves the chicken’s ability to hold on to moisture, giving a juicier texture

Simpson’s-in-the-Strand, London WC2: ‘A rollicking list of cosy British joys’ – restaurant review | Grace Dent on restaurants

The British may not have the most sophisticated palates, but we are adorable in our culinary urgesAs we sit awaiting the beef rib trolley in the Grand Divan dining room at the whoppingly sized Simpson’s-in-the-Strand, we fizz with ideas of how to describe its wildly unfettered quaintness. “It’s all a bit Hogwarts, isn’t it?” I say to my friend Hugh.He’s been four times already, but then, Simpson’s is that kind of place: a handy-as-heck, posh canteen a short stroll from Covent Garden. There’s a twinkly, ye olde cocktail bar upstairs as well as Romano’s with its more European-style menu. But, for now, let’s concentrate on the Grand Divan

Benjamina Ebuehi’s sweet and salty chocolate chip cookies recipe | The sweet spot

Everyone has different ideas on what makes the perfect chocolate chip cookie, with everything from thickness and chewiness to the amount of chocolate up for debate. In my opinion, no cookie is worth eating if it’s not well salted; without it, everything feels a little off balance and flat. My not-so-secret way of salting cookies is to use a bit of miso. Not so much that it becomes a miso cookie, but just enough to bring a slightly savoury, umami vibe that makes the cookies a bit more complex-tasting and not sickly sweet.Prep 5 min Cook 30 min Chill 3 hr+ Makes 12100g unsalted butter, softened 110g dark brown sugar 110g caster sugar 35g white miso paste 1 large egg 220g plain flour ½ tsp baking powder ½ tsp bicarbonate of soda 100g milk chocolate, roughly chopped100g dark chocolate, roughly choppedPut the butter and both sugars in a large bowl and beat for two to three minutes until creamy, scraping down the sides of the bowl often

Gentleman’s Relish is toast after its maker axes the pungent anchovy spread

Fans of traditional British cuisine were heartbroken by news that Gentleman’s Relish was being discontinued by its manufacturer.But Jeremy King, who last month reopened Simpson’s in the Strand, has instructed his chef to create a version of the pungent anchovy-based condiment almost identical to the real thing for the 198-year-old London restaurant.King, who has run famed establishments including the Ivy, the Wolseley and Le Caprice, told the Guardian: “We actually make our own, due to the difficulty in obtaining, so are able to continue to serve it.”Simpson’s, which offers traditional fare including spotted dick and roast beef carved on a silver trolley, serves the relish on toast for £6.50