Starmer says ‘every lever’ will be explored to ease rising costs of living from Iran conflict

Keir Starmer has promised to look at using “every lever that’s available to the government” to help people cope with the impact on the cost of living of the US-Israel war against Iran, as he prepares for an emergency meeting with senior ministers.The prime minister will chair a meeting of the Cobra committee to discuss possible contingency measures on Monday afternoon, joining Andrew Bailey, the governor of the Bank of England, Rachel Reeves, the chancellor, Ed Miliband, the energy secretary, and Yvette Cooper, the foreign secretary.Speaking to reporters during a visit to a school in London, Starmer said he wanted to reassure Britons that everything was being done to mitigate the economic effects of the conflict, which has resulted in energy prices soaring and the cost of government borrowing also rising.“Cobra is the opportunity at the highest level to bring people together on matters of real, significant national importance,” Starmer said.“Obviously, Cobras are usually used for military considerations, consular considerations, but I think with the Iran war, most people are very concerned now, not only what they’re seeing on their screens in relation to the conflict itself, but also that question of ‘How is it going to affect me and my family?’“And so today we’re looking at the economic impact, and I am asking for every lever that’s available to the government to deal with the cost of living to be discussed at Cobra

Idris Elba-backed firm Huel bought by Danone in €1bn deal

Huel, the protein shake maker which counts the actor Idris Elba among its investors, has agreed to be acquired by the French consumer goods group Danone in a deal worth about €1bn (£870m).The British company, which makes food powders, snack bars and meals from a blend of plant-based ingredients and fortified with vitamins, started out selling its powders online. It is now available in more than 25,000 stores around the world.The Huel co-founder Julian Hearn will make about £400m from the deal, according to filings at Companies House.He started the business in 2015 with the nutrition specialist James Collier, and remains one of the biggest shareholders in the business

Australia’s generation Alpha faces $185k bill over lifetime without urgent action on climate crisis, report finds

The next generation of Australian workers will cop a $185,000 bill over their lifetimes if the country does not act more urgently to address the climate crisis, according to new modelling by a team of young economists at Deloitte.The new report finds that global heating consistent with the current projections would cost the average millennial about $130,000 over the rest of their lives, increasing to $165,000 for gen Z.A gen Z Australian’s lifetime income could be $165,000 lower by 2070 without further global action.For generation Alpha, the eldest of whom turn 16 this year, the bill stretches to $185,000 a person by 2070.The report estimates the damage to worker productivity, infrastructure and property, as well as increased health risks and healthcare costs

UK mortgage interest rates expected to rise despite Trump’s Iran pause

Homeowners’ choice of mortgage deals has shrunk and interest rates on home loans are expected to rise this week despite financial markets reacting positively to Donald Trump’s pause on his threat to attack Iranian power plants.Early on Monday, as the end of a two-day deadline set by Trump for a deal with Iran grew closer, financial market data implied that investors believed the Bank of England would attempt to tackle rising prices with four quarter-point increases in rates before the end of December.After Trump instructed US defence officials to postpone airstrikes against Iranian energy infrastructure for five days, investors reduced the number of rate rises they expect to two quarter-point increases, from 3.75% to 4.25% this year

Workers who fall for ‘corporate bullshit’ may be worse at their jobs, study finds

Ever sat in a meeting where someone declares that your company is “growth-hacking” and “working at the intersection of cross-collateralization and blue-sky thinking” and called bullshit? Turns out you were right.A new study out of Cornell University published in the journal Personality and Individual Differences found workers most excited and impressed by corporate speak may be the least equipped to make effective, practical business decisions, and it can leave companies with dysfunctional leaders.Academically, “bullshit” is broadly defined as “a type of semantically, logically or epistemically dubious information that is misleadingly impressive, important, informative or otherwise engaging”, according to the study.“Corporate bullshit” is a specific type of bullshit that uses puzzling corporate buzzwords and jargon and is ultimately “semantically empty and often confusing”, according to the research. It is often used by management to persuade and impress, sometimes to inflate perceptions of the company to workers and investors

World’s broadcasters urge EU to tighten rules for big tech in smart TV battle

The world’s largest broadcasters have pushed for the EU to enforce its toughest regulations against virtual TVs and smart assistants built by Google, Amazon, Apple and Samsung.The call came in a letter from the Association of Commercial Television and Video on Demand Services in Europe (ACT), whose members include Canal+, RTL, Mediaset, ITV, Paramount+, NBCUniversal, Walt Disney, Warner Bros Discovery, Sky and TF1 Groupe.The letter argues that big tech companies have growing control over the operating systems of smart TVs and voice assistants, allowing them to act as “gatekeepers” funnelling users towards some content and away from others.Services such as Amazon’s Fire TV and Google TV have recommendation systems, as well as search functions, that may prioritise some content over others. These systems, built into many smart TVs, stand to shape how millions of users consume television

HS2 firm says new steel tariffs will ‘exacerbate’ cost pressures for UK construction industry

One of HS2’s biggest contractors has warned the government that raising tariffs on foreign steel imports will “exacerbate” cost pressures for the UK construction industry, amid growing concern over the £100bn railway’s rising budget.Ministers said last week they would double the tariffs on imported steel and slash the amount that can be bought from overseas, in an attempt to save Britain’s struggling steelmakers.However, the move will also raise the cost of the metal, crucial for infrastructure projects such as HS2, at a time when an energy shock from the Iran war is already inflating steel and concrete prices.Mark Reynolds, the chair of the construction company Mace, said that amid the rising energy costs and an already depressed construction sector, the tariffs were “ill-timed and unhelpful and will only exacerbate the challenges” facing the UK industry.Heidi Alexander, the transport secretary, is due to update the Commons on Monday on Labour’s drive to “reset” the cost of HS2 amid concern over its rising price tag

Starmer adviser urges ministers to look at profits cap for energy and petrol firms

The government’s top cost of living adviser has called on ministers to explore a temporary cap on the profits of energy and petrol companies to prevent them from cashing in excessively on the war in the Middle East.Richard Walker – a Labour peer, the chair of Iceland supermarkets and the prime minister’s “cost of living champion” – said he had asked the government to examine limiting how much businesses were able to benefit from higher energy prices after Iran’s blockade of the strait of Hormuz, a crucial shipping route for Europe’s oil and gas, and the wider conflict in the region.“I have asked the government to consider a temporary profit cap … to stop producers and retailers exploiting the crisis to make windfall profits at the expense of consumers,” Walker wrote in a column in the Sunday Times.“As executive chairman of a retailer, I have no problem with profit. It’s what allows businesses to invest, employ people and pay tax

Thousands of care leavers in England ‘locked out’ of work as firms slow to adapt

Thousands of young people leaving care in England are being left “locked out” of work by employers who say they are open to hiring but make few changes to adapt, a charity has warned.Calling on employers to act on their promises, the Drive Forward Foundation said care leavers were almost three times more likely to be out of work than their peers.As ministers push to tackle a youth jobs crisis, the charity, which helps care leavers to find work, said this employment gap had remained “stubbornly consistent” despite a decade of youth jobs initiatives.Figures from the Office for National Statistics show that 40% of care-experienced people aged 19 to 21 are not in employment, education or training (Neet), compared with 12.7% of their non-care-experienced peers

It’s time to take politics out of the Small Business Administration

Kelly Loeffler, the new administrator of the Small Business Administration (SBA), announced recently that the agency charged with supporting the businesses that are the backbone of the US economy would no longer be approving loans to small business owners unless they are US citizens. If you’re a legal, tax-paying immigrant with a green card and full residency? No loans for you.This is a big mistake.It’s one thing to go after and deport undocumented immigrants who have committed crimes. But it’s difficult to watch undocumented immigrants who have committed no crime other than trying to make a better life for their families in this country suffer a similar consequence

‘The new ketchup’? How hummus spread beyond a niche into a British staple

It is a sign of the times. This week it was revealed that hummus is joining the list of foods used to measure the cost of living in Britain as the ubiquity of the dip at mealtimes sees it billed as the “new ketchup”.The decision to drop a pot of hummus in the inflation basket is a moment for the all-conquering chickpea dip, which arrived on supermarket shelves in the late 1980s. Since then Britons have gone from spending virtually nothing to £170m a year on the versatile stuff.“What this shows us is that the UK diet is now global,” says Ramona Hazan, whose first name is emblazoned on pots of hummus stacked in supermarket fridges across the country

Energy shock talk grabs headlines but the Iran war is also driving the world towards a food crisis | Heather Stewart

It is peak harvesting season for avocados in the lush southern highlands of Tanzania but growers are racing against time to find buyers for the precious green fruits before they become overripe.Donald Trump’s disastrous Middle East war is being felt in the world’s energy markets but oil and gas are not the only products that transit through the maritime choke point of the strait of Hormuz. The conflict is also hitting supply chains elsewhere.Shipping routes for Tanzanian avocados towards lucrative markets in the Gulf and beyond are blocked, and air freight capacity is down significantly.The Tanzania Horticultural Association recently warned its members: “Shipping lines have currently suspended acceptance of bookings for consignments across all routes and market destinations including Europe, Middle East, India, and China

Slop it like it’s hot: the rise of build-your-own takeaway salad bowls

Few things have killed the leisurely lunch like capitalism, but to really see this in action, the food court of London’s financial shadowland, Canary Wharf, is a good place to start. Wandering the warren of Prets and Itsus are Deliveroo riders and suits-on-the-clock. And they’re usually carrying the same thing: a nice big bowl of slop.A slop bowl is the universal term for a mishmash of pick-your-own dishes assembled and sold in fast-casual spots that have become the de facto working lunch. The contents vary (they tend to feature Asian and eastern Mediterranean dishes) but as the name suggests, it is always served in a bowl, and by the time you’ve got to your desk, has usually become slop

Osteria Vibrato, London W1: “Worth singing loudly about” – restaurant review | Grace Dent on restaurants

Osteria Vibrato appeared last month on Greek Street, Soho, feeling to any passerby just like any other neutral-fronted Italian restaurant in this pasta-swamped part of the capital. Not much to see here. Pushing your face against the window wouldn’t achieve much, either, apart from an unsightly smear.Meanwhile, all the in-the-know people – that bunch of infuriating, generously paunched “foodies” who keep London restaurant gossip alive – understood that this particular osteria is the latest opening by Charlie Mellor, former proprietor of the Laughing Heart in Hackney, which opened in 2016 and very quickly became favoured by chefs and industry media types alike, because it took food very seriously, stayed open late and danced a dainty line between debauched and old-school cosseting. It sold pumpkin cappelletti with sage, and chicken liver paté with crisp chicken skin and jellied walnut liqueur

I lost my love of cooking after 12 years as a chef. Moving to a pig farm restored it

I was a keen-bean 15-year-old when I got my first job in a commercial kitchen in Canberra, raised on a diet of Jamie and Nigella and bursting with a passion for food. I dived headfirst into an apprenticeship and eagerly put my training into practice on my days off, cooking elaborate meals for friends and creating plenty of dirty dishes.But as the years went on, my love for the kitchen was dulled by a series of toxic workplaces, bullying bosses and long hours. Eventually, cooking for myself became a chore. I was more likely to eat cereal on my kitchen floor than do anything creative that would result in dirty dishes

Lamb shanks with orzo and rhubarb galette: Anna Tobias’ Easter recipes

Easter for me immediately brings to mind two things: cracking dyed red eggs together in the style of conkers (a Serbian Easter game that we play every year) and lamb. We always eat lamb at Easter lunch, and I suppose that simply harks back to religious tradition. Today’s lamb shank dish is a wonderfully straightforward and moreish take on a popular Greek recipe. I’ve gone for rhubarb for pudding, because it’s just so representative of this time of year – it’s also very pretty on the eye and a treat to eat, too.Prep 15 minCook 2 hrServes 650ml olive oil 6 lamb shanks Sea salt and black pepper 3 sticks celery, washed and finely chopped2 onions, peeled and finely chopped3 garlic cloves, 2 peeled and finely chopped, the other peeled1 tbsp dried oregano200g tinned chopped tomatoes (ie, ½ tin)375ml white wine 300g orzo 1 lemon 1 small bunch flat-leaf parsley, leaves pickedHeat the oven to 185C (165 fan)/360F/gas 4¼

Best thing I ever ate? My first In-N-Out burger in LA

They say you never forget your first time, but for most of us, this doesn’t apply to cheeseburgers. We can’t really remember our first cheeseburger, because we start eating them at such an early age, before the memory centres of our brains are fully formed. In fact, in Wisconsin (“America’s dairyland”) babies are traditionally weaned on a fortifying diet of cheeseburgers, bratwurst and fondue, along with little sips of lager, just to make sure we acquire the taste.But while I may not be able to recall the particular details of my very first cheeseburger, the sense-memories of them are embedded deep within my subconscious. The perfect flavour-chord of ketchup, mustard and pickles on molten cheese and juicy beef occupies the same psychological space as the peppery cinnamon-and-clove aroma of my father’s Old Spice and the warmth of my mother’s hug

Reheated rivalry: why I’m the champion of leftovers

There is nothing lovelier than seeing a cook do their thing. By “doing their thing”, I do not mean just going about kitchen work – that is often excruciating to watch (why are they cutting onions like that?) I mean doing their thing: their culinary equivalent of a Mastermind subject, that one dish or process that they do so well, and with such evident pride, that the most crotchety backseat cook is forced to shut up.Take my partner’s method for making fish-finger sandwiches, which involves frying the fish fingers in butter, then creating an in-pan sweatbox to melt artisanal cheese on to them and custom blending condiments. It creates, on average, as much washing up as a full cooked dinner. Others have a special pancake hack or carrot cake recipe, and people tend not to let these things go unnoticed – it’s always my salad dressing, possessive, but we forgive their hubris, because each of us has “A Thing” of our own

Helen Goh’s recipe for peanut and blackcurrant thumbprint cookies | The sweet spot

Niki Segnit writes in The Flavour Thesaurus that, while grape jelly is the familiar partner to peanut butter in the classic PBJ, she thinks blackcurrant, with its sharper, more complex character, would be a far better match for the fatty and salty peanuts. I couldn’t agree more, though I’ll admit I’m not entirely impartial: blackcurrant is my favourite jam. Here, it’s spooned into the centre of a tender, peanut-crusted shortbread, where it bakes into a glossy, slightly chewy jewel that sits in perfect contrast to the crumbly, buttery biscuit. It’s the sort of small pleasure I find myself returning to again and again.Prep 15 min, plus chilling and cooling Cook 35 min Makes 13110g unsalted butter, at room temperature50g caster sugar¼ tsp salt 100g plain flour, sifted60g ground almonds 1 tsp vanilla extract 60g salted roasted peanuts 60g blackcurrant jamPut the butter, sugar and salt in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment and beat for two minutes on medium–high speed, until pale and creamy

Spring has officially sprung – reawaken your palate with zingy, zesty seasonal ingredients

After what felt like months and months of endless rain this winter, in the UK at least, the arrival of spring is more welcome than ever this year. It’s undeniable that a few days of sunshine and milder temperatures change everything: my mood, my palate, my dinner table (see below for my achilles heel: serveware).And to mark the change in season, the Guardian is launching a new seasonal food magazine. This Saturday will see the arrival of the Guardian Food Quarterly, for which I have showcased crab – one of my favourite spring arrivals. I have written five recipes, including a speedy, spicy crab cake banh mi with quick pickles, and a hot cheesy crab and chive dip inspired by the American south

There’s more to Mexican spirits than tequila

“We were amazed,” wrote the Spanish conquistador Bernal Díaz del Castillo as he beheld the extent of the Aztec empire in 1521. “Some of our soldiers even asked whether the things that we saw were not a dream.” I remember feeling a similar vertigo when I first saw the wall of agave spirits at the long-since-closed Los Angeles mezcaleria Petty Cash more than a decade ago. Agave spirits are distilled from the fermented heart (or piña) of the agave plant – not a cactus, but a succulent, like aloe vera or that thing dying on your windowsill.The Guardian’s journalism is independent

Stir-fries, crab cakes and carbonara: Georgina Hayden’s crab recipes

It’s hard not to be excited by the arrival of spring and all the produce that will soon be gracing our kitchens. Asparagus, spinach and new potatoes can’t come soon enough, but it’s not just fruit and vegetables that I count down the days for – there’s plenty of seafood to celebrate too, and in particular crab. Sweet and delicate, its freshness mirrors the arrival of brighter, sunnier days. If you’re lucky enough to pick through a fresh crab, then it needs very little in way of adornment – a squeeze of lemon perhaps, and warm bread and salty butter. Thankfully for the time-poor among us, you can also buy pots of it pre-cooked and picked, which is glorious lightly spiced in a dip or for folding through pasta

Buzz kill: US breweries shutter as fanfare over craft beers appears to fade

In the early 2000s, Chris Bell, then a student at University of Colorado Boulder, followed a common path among people interested in brewing beer. He started doing so at home, then spent years working at established craft beer makers Long Trail Brewing in Vermont and Avery Brewing in Colorado before opening Call to Arms Brewing Company in 2015 in Denver.In a crowded market, the business was successful. Its More Like Bore-O-Phyll beer won a gold medal in the fresh or wet hop ale category at the 2018 World Beer Cup. A local outlet called it one of the city’s best breweries, and it had a 4

Rachel Roddy’s recipe for spaghetti with mushrooms, soft cheese and herbs | A kitchen in Rome

Before cooking something, it is never a bad idea to turn to the expert on the science of food and cooking, Harold McGee. This week, I had mushrooms, which, as he notes, are fruiting bodies, specialised structures that, encouraged by the parent body underground, force themselves up through the soil and open their umbrella-like cap so the gills or pores can release spores into passing air currents. The aim is the same as for all pushy parents: get the next generation into the world and hope they don’t get eaten in the process.I am hoping that a few million spores got out before the white and chestnut mushrooms I bought at our local supermarket were picked and packed. Mushrooms are often described as smelling and tasting earthy, but, as with most things, McGee is right