UK government borrowing costs hit 5% as Iran war fuels bond market sell-off

UK government borrowing costs have risen above 5% amid an intensifying global bond market sell-off fuelled by the Iran war.The yield – or interest rate – on 10-year debt hit its highest level since the 2008 financial crisis, rising 13 basis points to 5.081%, as investors acted on concerns about the economic fallout from the conflict.Borrowing costs also rose for the US and eurozone governments, underscoring growing turbulence in the global financial system after Donald Trump’s extension of a deadline for a peace deal failed to soothe jittery investors.Financial markets worldwide slumped on Friday, extending falls seen since the outbreak of the war, with losses in London and across major US and EU trading hubs

Italy investigates beauty brands over concerns about young girls’ mental health

Italian regulators are investigating Sephora and Benefit Cosmetics over the apparent use of “covert marketing strategies” to sell beauty products to young girls that might be fuelling an unhealthy skincare obsession known as “cosmeticorexia”.The Italian Competition Authority said it was looking into promotions for skincare products such as face masks, serums and anti-ageing creams that in some cases appeared to target girls under 10.“These practices are linked to the broader issue of ‘cosmeticorexia’ – an obsession with skincare among minors,” the authority said.The cosmetics brands, which are both owned by the French luxury group LVMH, appeared to have adopted a “particularly insidious marketing strategy”, it said. This involved using “very young micro-influencers who encourage the compulsive purchase of cosmetics among young people, a particularly vulnerable group”

Ministers should ‘start doing stuff’ to help farmers and cut fuel costs, says Asda boss

Asda’s executive chair has called on the government to “stand up and start doing stuff” to support farmers and ease the price of fuel as he warned that food prices would inevitably rise as a result of the conflict in the Middle East.Allan Leighton said farmers were under pressure but the supermarket chain had so far received “a trickle of requests not an avalanche” of cost price increases from its suppliers, as they were under pressure from higher fertiliser, energy and fuel costs.“I do believe it will create inflation,” he said, adding that the pace of cost increases was volatile and quite different across the various commodities.Leighton also warned of “temporary shortages’” at petrol stations, as supplies are squeezed by the conflict in the Middle East, with the RAC reporting on Friday that the average price of unleaded petrol in the UK had risen to 150p a litre.Leighton accused the government of benefiting from £3bn of income from fuel duties as prices rose and said it should ease these duties or support farmers on energy or other costs

‘It’s fired people up’: support grows, including within Labor, for new gas tax to curb wartime profits

The gas industry is mobilising in opposition to a potential new tax on the sector as political momentum builds – including among Labor MPs – for the government to use the May budget to prevent producers profiting from the Middle East war.The Australian Energy Producers (AEP) chief executive, Samantha McCulloch, claimed a new tax would punish the same Asian trading partners Australia was leaning on to supply more fuel amid the global energy crisis.The gas sector was blind-sided by revelations the Treasury was modelling options for a new levy to capture windfall profits from gas and thermal coal companies, as well as potential changes to the Petroleum Resources Rent Tax (PRRT) and corporate tax.Government, industry and opposition sources believe the public mood on taxing the resources giants has shifted, giving the Albanese government cover to pursue changes it might have considered too politically risky a few months ago.The sources point to a campaign spearheaded by independent senator David Pocock, social media influencer Konrad Benjamin of Punter’s Politics fame and progressive thinktank the Australia Institute, which has highlighted how much tax gas companies pay

Blink and miss: Trump’s tactic of threats first and U-turn later is proving stale in Iran war

President’s move, dubbed Trump Always Chickens Out, appears to have soured as he loses hold on situation in IranMiddle East crisis – live updatesFrom Wall Street to the White House, the dish everyone’s talking about this week is the Persian Taco. It’s what’s served when Trump chickens out in Iran.In the early hours of Monday morning, witnessing oil prices surge, stock futures plummet and bond yields climb due to his threat to pummel Iran’s civilian power infrastructure, the president hurriedly walked it back, announcing he would put off the bombing because talks with Iran were actually going great. After the bombast and bloodshed, it was time for Taco (Trump Always Chickens Out), a move he first put on display during the tariffs crisis last year.Bonds snapped back in instants and the price of Brent crude recoiled to below $100 a barrel from more than $112 seconds earlier

UK car production falls 17% as industry warns of ‘worrying’ decline

Fewer cars rolled off UK production lines in February in what the industry called an “extremely worrying” slump even before the impact of the Iran war was felt.Vehicle production was 17% lower last month on the same period in 2025, according to the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders, as exports dropped sharply.A further decline is expected in March, after the war sent global energy prices soaring and further dented consumer demand, a double blow for carmakers.Mike Hawes, chief executive of the SMMT, said: “Another decline for UK vehicle production and exports is extremely worrying, given these figures pre-date the crisis in the Middle East. While the sector has made efforts to build resilience into its logistics and supply chains post-Covid, the conflict adds further strain

Almost half a million Lloyds customers had personal data exposed in IT glitch

Lloyds Banking Group exposed the personal data of nearly 500,000 customers in an IT glitch that left people’s payments, account details and national insurance numbers visible to other users, a committee of MPs has revealed.A letter from Lloyds, published by MPs on the Treasury select committee on Friday, blamed the glitch on a software defect introduced during an IT update to its Lloyds, Halifax and Bank of Scotland mobile banking apps overnight into 12 March.The bank explained that customers would have had to be looking at their app within “small fractions of a second” of other users in order to access their details.However, it still meant up to 447,936 customers were potentially able to view private information of other users, with Lloyds adding that about 114,182 people ended up clicking into transactions that revealed account details, national insurance numbers or payment references.Even people who were not Lloyds Banking Group customers may have had their transaction details exposed, the bank said

Five firms including Autotrader and Just Eat investigated over fake review failings

The UK competition watchdog has launched investigations into five companies including Autotrader and Just Eat over concerns they have not done enough to tackle fake and misleading online reviews.The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), which has previously investigated the tech companies Amazon and Google, said its latest crackdown includes the funeral services operator Dignity, the review company Feefo and the restaurant chain Pasta Evangelists.The CMA said that in the case of Autotrader and Feefo it was looking at whether a number of one-star reviews, moderated by Feefo, were excluded from being published on the car-selling platform and therefore did not give consumers a full picture of other customers’ experiences.The Dignity investigation focuses on whether staff were asked to write positive reviews about the company’s cremation services.Just Eat, the food delivery company, is being investigated over concerns that its system “inflated certain restaurants’ and grocers’ star ratings”

US markets see biggest slump since start of US-Israel war on Iran

US markets saw their biggest slump since the start of the US-Israel war with Iran on Thursday as Donald Trump said the conflict’s impact on oil prices had not been as bad as he expected.The Dow closed 450 points down, while the S&P 500 dipped 1.7%. The tech-heavy Nasdaq fell 2.3%, plunging into correction territory, which happens when an index falls at least 10% below its most recent peak

The Middle East price shock hasn’t hit Next – yet | Nils Pratley

In the context of Next, which has just reported full-year pre-tax profits of £1.16bn, an estimated £15m of extra fuel and air freight costs arising from the Middle East conflict is tiny. The sum, which in any case assumes disruption lasts three months, can be lost in the wash, or more precisely “offset by savings elsewhere”.The chief executive, Simon Wolfson, a boss who tends to err on the side of caution when guiding on profits, saw no reason not to add £8m to this year’s number as a mechanical read-through from last year’s outcome. If there wasn’t a war on, one can assume there would have been a proper profit upgrade

NS&I chief executive replaced in ‘fresh start’ over missing savings crisis; bad day for markets – as it happened

The boss of National Savings and Investments appears to have been dismissed over the £476m savings scandal at the bank.Pensions minister Torsten Bell has told MPs that he has appointed Sir Jim Harra, a senior civil servant, to take over as the chief executive of NS&I on an interim basis, replacing Dax Harkins.Bell says Harra, a former first permanent secretary at HMRC, will provide “a fresh start for NS&I”, following its failure to trace missing savings belonging to customers who have died.Updating MPs on the crisis over deceased customers’ savings, Bell says he wants to make sure NS&I has “the very best leadership” in place.Bell tells MPs: double quotation markSir Jim will undertake a review over the next three months to spell out in detail the background to this tracing problem and to set out what lessons must be learned for NSI going forward

Next says Middle East conflict could raise clothing prices by up to 10%

The boss of Next has said clothing prices could rise by 4% to 10% if conflict in the Middle East extends into the autumn and factories are hit by higher fuel and fabric costs.Simon Wolfson said the clothing and home retailer had so far seen little disruption to its supply chain.While container ships are being delayed by up to two weeks as they travel slowly to save fuel, he said the company already held enough spare stock to prevent gaps on shelves.He said these costs could amount to £15m if the conflict lasts three months and prices could begin to rise by about 1% from June or July if disruption dragged on until then.Lord Wolfson added that Next was offsetting additional costs on fuel and air freight with savings elsewhere and it did not expect any effect on profits for the year ahead

Aperitivo or dinner? Portuguese whites are always right

Portuguese wines have been making steady advances on British drinkers in recent years, and for good reason. The country is home to many delightful indigenous grapes (bom dia baga, encantado encruzado), as well as the sort of varied maritime, mountainous terrain that encourages personality. Its winemakers tend to be forward-thinking and climate-conscious, too, and there are lots of bottles of interest at the “midweek” price point – that is, £8-£13. Case in point: the “yellow tram wine”, AKA Porta 6 Lisboa, is now a ubiquitous presence on our high streets.The Guardian’s journalism is independent

From basil to pistachio and peas – in praise of pesto, whichever way you make it

It was not without satisfaction that I found my 14-year-old son making pesto the other week – for the first 13 years of his life he referred to it as either “pesto-the-bogey-man”, or “gross”. To avoid interfering and sabotaging the moment, I didn’t look too closely, so I didn’t clock the shallow bowl and immersion blender combination. I did hear the noise – a blunt churn – as the blade hit the leaves and nuts. Acting more like a leaf blower than cutter, it sent green and white oily fragments up the cupboards and over pretty much every pot, utensil and tool nearby. Impressively unfazed, he managed to scrape a good proportion of the elements into the food processor and make an extremely tasty pesto, which was mixed with linguine, green beans and potatoes

Anything but eggs – the best chocolate for Easter

If you like chocolate and nut butter, Radek’s Chocolate is doing wonderful things with both, and its dairy free Silky Almond Chocolate Rabbit is magically creamy. Looking more like subservient mice than bunnies, NearyNógs’ dark chocolate bunnies, stuffed with salted caramel, were my favourite. A superb, successful marriage of very good Ecuadorian chocolate and caramel: worthy of a royal telegram.The Guardian’s journalism is independent. We will earn a commission if you buy something through an affiliate link

Four knockout bakes and tips from the master: Edd Kimber’s recipes for cooking with chocolate

From a white chocolate cheesecake tart and flourless chocolate cake to double chocolate olive oil and marbled matcha cookies, explore chocolate’s endless versatilityChocolate is a truly magical ingredient. Not only is it a powerhouse of flavour, it also pairs beautifully with other ingredients to make something incredible. Chocolate isn’t one note, mind; from the heady richness of an intense dark chocolate to the nostalgic creaminess of milk chocolate and the often maligned simplicity of white chocolate, it can be the star of the show or simply the supporting act. Chocolate can do it all.This is my go-to dinner party dessert

Sauces, spreads, sprinkles – and cocktail in a can: whose fridge is this?

Amba sauce “I’m very jar orientated; a lot of my cooking is about combining big flavours. I’m also a sucker for a sour ingredient, and this Iraqi pickled mango condiment is really sour – more so than tamarind. If I’m garnishing a dish with tahini, then I’ll use amba to cut through the richness, otherwise I’ll use it in lieu of citrus.”Stem ginger in syrup “My grandpa always gave me this when I was a kid, and I thought it was disgusting. However, now it’s essential; I often make a (chopped) stem ginger and spring onion salsa – it’s sweet and spicy

Rachel Roddy’s recipe for potato, aubergine and herb tortino alla fiorentina

The sky is the same shade as old Tupperware, our tortoise appears to have gone back into hibernation, the flat upstairs has builders in, but the kitchen smells gorgeous, thanks to this week’s recipe. It is one of the variations suggested by Anna Gosetti Della Salda for her aubergine and egg tortino alla fiorentina in the Tuscany chapter of Le Ricette Regionali Italiane, an indispensable book that I would save from a fire. The addition of potato to the aubergine makes it an even more substantial, velvet-like and better-tasting dish, I think: a layered vegetable bake crossed with a frittata that fancies itself as having a touch of baked eggs (although don’t expect any puffing up).Instead of the aubergine, you could use artichoke hearts (trimmed and cut into slim wedges), courgettes or cardoon, and, if you fancy, you could also add a crumbled sausage or a handful of diced pancetta. Whatever you use, however, a fundamental stage in terms of both flavour and texture is the initial cooking of the vegetables: frying the potatoes, then covering the pan so they fry-steam into tenderness; the aubergine by simply frying

How to turn old sourdough into a classic pudding – recipe | Waste not

Bread-and-butter pudding is a zero-waste recipe that has stood the test of time, not least because it’s so practical, comforting and thrifty. Like the best no-waste dishes, it transforms something worthless such as old bread into something truly indulgent. This version is based on Raymond Blanc’s classic, with a few of my own simplifications and adaptations over the years.Most traditional bread-and-butter pudding recipes call for white bread, caster sugar and extra egg yolks, but, unless you’ve got a clear plan for those egg whites, they can very easily end up being wasted. Whole eggs work beautifully in custard, and make very little difference to the richness of the finished pudding; I simply use a touch less milk to compensate

Fresh start: Hetty Lui McKinnon’s recipes to celebrate spring

Vegetables are in my blood. I grew up surrounded by them; boxes upon boxes scattered around my childhood home, a perk from my father’s job as a wholesale purveyor (of bananas, specifically) at Sydney’s Flemington Markets (now known as Sydney Markets). Our family enjoyed an embarrassment of nature’s riches; an endless supply of succulent Asian greens, rotund cauliflowers, glossy aubergine, perky spring onions, and bulging cabbages that overflowed from crates in and around the kitchen and dining room. We needed to step over trays of stone fruit and cartons of oranges to get to the bathroom. In the summer, I gorged on apricots and cherries until I was sick (true story) – I had no self-control when it came to the fresh stuff

Kurdish kitchens, baked bean alaska and Mexican soul: the best spring cookbooks for 2026 – review

Nandên: Recipes from my Kurdish Kitchen by Pary BabanBecause the Kurdish people are spread across several national boundaries, their food tends to get lumped in with that of the Turkish, Iranian, Syrian and other communities with which they coexist. Indeed, when Pary Baban opened her first London restaurant she was told by a fellow Kurd she was “brave” to advertise it as Kurdish, given how few people would be familiar with the concept. “If I don’t do it,” she recalls saying then, “and you don’t do it, then who will do it, and when will we put our food on the map?” For those who can’t make it to Nandine (which, like Nandên, means kitchen in Kurdish) in Camberwell to learn from her own hands, this book serves as an admirable guide through a world of slow-cooked lamb and vegetable stews, fluffy breads and cooling yoghurt soups, as well as a wealth of stories from her childhood surrounded by the peaks of Iraqi Kurdistan. Driven out by Saddam Hussein’s government in the 1980s, she and her family fled east into the hills, staying with relatives, farmers, shepherds and foragers, in mountain villages – a journey that ignited Baban’s interest in recording her people’s traditions at a time when it seemed they could easily be lost for good. She began scribbling down their recipes in notebooks: and almost 40 years of cooking later, Nandên is the very fine end result

‘Truly vile’: the UK’s 25 best (and worst) novelty hot cross buns – tested!

Can you beat a traditional spiced yeast bun at Easter? There’s only one way to find out. Bring on the rhubarb and custard version, the red velvet, the chocolate and fudge, the tiramisu …The Guardian’s journalism is independent. We will earn a commission if you buy something through an affiliate link. Learn more.Hot cross buns, the Easter treat traditionally eaten on Good Friday, now appear in our shops as early as January

What’s the best material for a chopping board, and how to avoid mould?

I saw an influencer advocating for titanium chopping boards. Are they really the way to go? If not, which material is best? My wooden one has some black mould.Lenka, by email“From the off, no!” says Itamar Srulovich, whose latest cookbook, Honey & Co Daily, co-authored by Sarit Packer, is published later this spring. “The technology of chopping boards works, it’s bulletproof – this is criminal!” Sam Clark, co-founder of London’s Moro and Morito, couldn’t agree more: “The idea of chopping on a titanium board, with metal against metal, sends shivers down my spine,” he says.Of course, the surface on which you choose to chop will impact your knife, and for Milli Taylor, who is behind the When in Rome Substack, she “couldn’t imagine anything worse than titanium”

Spring’s bounty: what to sow, plant, prune, harvest and eat

ElderflowerPick on the sunniest May days, when their scent is heady and sweet, to infuse for cordial. For a truly special tipple, pour a litre of gin into a large, shallow dish, and stand as many elderflower heads, florets down, as fit for two hours. Drain, bottle, and enjoy with tonic and ice on a warm evening.RhubarbThe world’s finest rhubarb comes from a few square miles of Yorkshire thanks to a combination of climate, soil and culture. A delicious treat for the freshest stalks: dip raw in the syrup of a jar of stem ginger and nibble