Thames Water bidder says it is offering £1bn extra cash injection

A bidder for Thames Water has said it would inject £1bn more into the struggling utility company than rival proposals if it gained control.John Reynolds, the chief executive of the independent water retailer Castle Water, said the current plans under discussion with creditors to rebuild Thames Water’s finances did not go far enough and did not properly address its environmental crisis.Castle Water would provide a cash injection of at least £1bn over current proposals, he told the Times.“No one wants a restructuring that does not stick. The negotiations are not heading anywhere,” he said

WPP shares leap amid takeover bid speculation

Shares in WPP have risen sharply amid speculation that the advertising group could be the subject of a takeover by a rival or a private equity buyer.Its French rival Havas, which was listed on Euronext in Amsterdam in December and is controlled by the billionaire Vincent Bolloré, has reportedly held internal talks about a potential bid as WPP’s share price languishes at levels not seen since the mid-1990s.The company’s shares rose 11% on Monday, making it the biggest riser on the FTSE, after the Sunday Times report, which also suggested private equity groups Apollo and KKR had held internal discussions about certain WPP assets.However, Apollo has ruled out making a bid. KKR, which last year acquired WPP’s PR operation FGS Global, declined to comment

Reeves could allow holiday tax on English hotel and Airbnb stays

British holidaymakers could have to pay a nightly tax on hotel stays and Airbnb-style visits in plans expected to be announced by Rachel Reeves in the budget next week.The chancellor is reportedly preparing to give mayors powers to raise taxes by charging tourists on the cost of an overnight stay in their cities.The tax could raise hundreds of millions of pounds for mayors to invest in transport and public services, but it would represent a further blow for the hospitality industry, which was squeezed by tax rises and extra employment costs announced in the last budget.The trade body UKHospitality, which represents thousands of restaurants, hotels and pubs, said a tourism tax of 5% – the rate to be set by Edinburgh from next July – would mean an effective consumer tax of 27%. That figure includes standard 20% VAT on the hotel stay, as well as VAT on the holiday tax itself, making it one of the highest tourist tax rates in Europe, the trade body said

FCA’s first deputy CEO calls for stronger grip on vital tech firms

The City watchdog has said the UK needs to “strengthen” its grip on foreign tech firms providing critical services to banks, amid growing concerns over outages and cyber-attacks.Sarah Pritchard, who was appointed the Financial Conduct Authority’s (FCA) first deputy chief executive this summer, said there had been “very frequent reminders” of how important it was for the banking sector to have “good, strong operational resilience and cyber controls”.“It remains an area that everybody should pay attention to because of the consequences if it goes wrong,” Pritchard said.Last month, Lloyds Banking Group and the London Stock Exchange were among more than 2,000 companies whose online services were disrupted by a glitch at Amazon’s cloud computing services operations in North Virginia.The episode sparked renewed warnings over the perils of relying on a small number of foreign companies for operating services across the internet, including crucial government and financial services

Asking prices fall as UK housing market hit by budget speculation, Rightmove says

Budget speculation has depressed the UK property market, figures from a leading property website have suggested, with asking prices slipping in the run-up to Rachel Reeves’s much anticipated fiscal set piece on 26 November.The average new seller asking price fell by 1.8%, or £6,589, month on month in November, the figures collated by the property website Rightmove set out, taking the average price tag on a British home put up for sale to £364,833.The data has emerged as the chancellor has come under pressure to reform property taxes, with housing market experts including the TV presenter Kirstie Allsopp saying “people are in a panic” about potential stamp duty changes, and “sitting tight” before the budget.It is fairly common for prices to fall month on month in November, when the average monthly price drop has been 1

Joe Rigby obituary

My father, Joe Rigby, who has died aged 87, was a working-class Catholic boy from Birmingham. He left school at 15, but rose to be a television executive at Granada Television in Manchester.For 20 years from 1973, he was Granada’s head of programme planning, where he hired, inspired and nurtured the team of scriptwriters who wrote the on-air promotions for programmes. Many of them, including Andy Harries, David Liddiment and Dearbhla Walsh, went on to great success as television producers and directors.Joe was born in Erdington, north of the city centre, to Theresa (nee Byrne) and Charles Rigby, who worked in the family engineering company and as a barman

Merchants’ ‘victory’ over credit card fees will just complicate things more for them

Want to buy a new shirt from your friendly neighborhood small business? In some cases, be prepared to pay out 2.5% more as a “financing” fee because you’re using a credit card. Enjoying that meal at the local diner? Better have cash or you could be subject to the same fee. Grabbing a bag of chips and a soda at the local convenience store? Oops … Unless you’re prepared to spend a minimum of 10 bucks you can’t use your credit card, sorry.I’ve always been irritated by these practices

UK watchdogs need to step in on rip-off bills, which are bad for consumers and the economy | Heather Stewart

Ever felt swizzed by the small print in your mobile contract, bamboozled by a plethora of insurance products or locked into a subscription you signed up for by mistake?Then you are far from alone: a paper on the UK’s productivity predicament suggests the way the markets for some key services work is not only a monumental pain for consumers but bad for the economy, too.Rachel Reeves has promised to tackle the cost of living in her 26 November budget – alongside bringing in tax rises.Briefing in advance has suggested she and her colleagues are focused on cost-cutting levers they can easily pull from Whitehall: removing VAT on energy bills, for example.However, in their paper “getting Britain out of the hole”, the economists Andrew Sissons and John Springford suggest a much more muscular approach to making markets for key services work better.They argue that lack of proper competition for services is an important explanation for the UK’s frustratingly “sticky” inflation

‘I think the city is falling apart’: Leicester braces for a make-or-break budget

Anika* has a full-time job, but says she never eats in local cafes or restaurants and takes her lunch to work. The cost of living is too high for her to buy more than the basics of life.“Everything is so expensive. I cry, and ask myself what more can I do to make things better,” she says.The charity worker lives in Leicester, the local authority where people have the least spare cash after paying taxes, property ownership costs and pensions contributions

UK budget watchdog in danger of strangling economic growth, says TUC boss

Britain’s budget watchdog is in danger of strangling growth and should be modernised to ditch its “hardwired” support for austerity economics, the Trades Union Congress has warned.Less than two weeks before Rachel Reeves’s autumn budget, the trade union umbrella group said the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) was at risk of being a “straitjacket” on growth in living standards.It called for an urgent review into the OBR’s role at the heart of the chancellor’s budget-setting process from the earliest opportunity after her 26 November tax and spending statement.Paul Nowak, the TUC general secretary, told the Guardian: “I don’t think the chancellor, whatever happens at the budget, wants to go down the road of austerity 2.0

Business secretary backs shift to electric arc furnaces at British Steel plant

The business secretary, Peter Kyle, has backed a shift to cleaner electric arc technology at the state-controlled British Steel plant, raising questions about the future of the UK’s last remaining blast furnaces.Kyle said the government was “keen to see that transition happen”, as he works on a new steel strategy, which is expected to be published in December.A shift to electric arc furnaces at Scunthorpe, Lincolnshire, would secure the future of steel production at the plant – under emergency state control since April – as the UK tries to meet its target of net zero carbon emissions.However, it would also raise doubts about the fate of blast furnaces that employ thousands of people, and the UK government’s previous pledges to preserve Britain’s primary steelmaking ability, producing steel from iron ore.When the government recalled parliament in April to take control of British Steel, it feared the site’s Chinese owner, Jingye Steel, was planning to close it permanently, with the loss of as many as 2,700 jobs

One of Britain’s biggest housebuilders urges government to support first-time buyers

The boss of one of Britain’s biggest housebuilders has urged the government to announce more support for first-time buyers to revive a property market that has cooled in the “very long shadow” of the looming budget.Jennie Daly, the chief executive of Taylor Wimpey, also warned against an “accumulation of regulation”, arguing that a “perverse outcome” of green measures could be that it becomes unviable to build new homes in poorer areas of the country.The expiry of a stamp duty holiday in March marked the first time in 60 years that there was no direct support scheme targeted at first-time buyers, Daly said.She called for a similar property tax break, or the reintroduction of a help-to-buy equity loan scheme to aid first-time buyers, but said she had “limited expectations” that this would happen in the 26 November budget.David Thomas, who runs the rival housebuilder Barratt Redrow, has also called for practical support, particularly for first-time buyers

‘Simple, well-crafted and excellent’: supermarket chutneys, tasted and rated | The food filter

Our resident taster dipped, spread and dolloped his way through 10 chutneys in time for Christmas, so you don’t get in a pickle choosing one for yourself The fair price for 14 everyday items, from cleaning spray to olive oilThe Guardian’s journalism is independent. We will earn a commission if you buy something through an affiliate link. Learn more.Chutney is a heritage recipe that’s been largely unchanged for a century, and some of the best versions are the simplest and most traditional. That said, even when it’s made on an industrial scale, chutney usually features just fruit, sugar, vinegar and perhaps some pectin

It’s not all about roasting on an open fire – there’s so much more you can do with chestnuts

If I’d ever spared a thought for how chestnuts – the sweet, edible kind, not the combative horsey sort – were harvested, I would probably have conjured rosy-cheeked peasants bent low in ancient forests and filling rough-hewn hessian sacks by hand. Back-breaking labour, sure, but so picturesque!I was delighted, therefore, while on a writing retreat in Umbria last month, to get the opportunity to watch an elderly couple manoeuvre a giant vacuum around their haphazard orchard, followed by their furious sheepdog. The fallen crop was sucked into a giant fan that spat their bristly jackets back out on to the ground, and the nuts then went to be sorted by other family members on a conveyor belt in the barn – the good ones to be sold in the shell, the less perfect specimens swiftly dropped into a bucket for processing.Later in the week, a lorry turned up in the village square to pick up bags from other small local producers, and that evening I roasted a pan of chestnuts on the fire with new appreciation, while loudly bemoaning the disappearance from the streets of London of the chestnut sellers of my childhood (though this makes me sound positively Dickensian, I can confirm that I’m talking about this century. Note also that Nigel Slater is less starry-eyed on the subject

Benjamina Ebuehi’s recipe for apple, brown butter and oat loaf | The sweet spot

I adore a good loaf cake. There’s something about them that’s just inherently cosy and wholesome, and this one in particular is perfect for the colder months, not least because it’s simple and sturdy in the very best way. It’d be right at home with a coffee for breakfast, as well as gently warmed in a pan with butter and served with hot custard on a rainy evening. A real all-rounder.Prep 5 min Cook 1 hr 25 min Serves 8180g unsalted butter 200g light muscovado sugar 2 large eggs 50g soured cream 210g plain flour ½ tsp cinnamon 40g porridge oats, plus extra to finish1½ tsp baking powder ¼ tsp salt 2 eating apples 2 tbsp demerara sugarHeat the oven to 180C (160C fan)/350F/gas 4 and grease and line a 2lb loaf tin

Kids have a wobble in the face of rabbit jelly | Brief letters

I sympathise with Tim Dowling and the challenges of releasing blancmange from a rabbit mould (Jelly’s back! Here are three worth making – and three that should wobble off to the bin, 12 November). My mistake was adding chopped pineapple to the jelly mix, with the resulting jelly looking as though we were seeing the undigested contents of a rabbit’s stomach. My children refused to eat it.Dee ReidTwyford, Berkshire Tim Dowling has missed out one important ingredient from his otherwise commendable recipe for blancmange rabbit: the two sultanas you stick on for the eyes.Jane GregoryEmsworth, Hampshire Regarding concerns over Epstein Road in Thamesmead (Letters, 12 November), spare a thought for those unfortunate residents of Savile Row in central London

Think autumn, think Piedmont – wine from ‘the foot of the mountain’

By the time this column comes out, it will be Big Coat weather, so those collars will be getting higher and the scarves thicker. And, when there’s a chill in the air, I like to eat food than leans towards smoky and earthy flavours: charred vegetables, stews, sausages and mushroom everything.The Guardian’s journalism is independent. We will earn a commission if you buy something through an affiliate link. Learn more

‘I’m now a one-issue voter’: US shoppers fear Italian pasta tariff will cause shortage

On Monday night, Kelly planned to make dinner and spend the night inside with her family. Instead, she told her husband to put the kids to bed so she could get in the car, drive to Wegmans and “panic buy” $100 worth of Rummo pasta.Kelly, a 42-year-old product manager who lives outside Philadelphia, has celiac disease, which means that eating gluten triggers an immune response that leads to digestive issues. She saw fellow gluten-free people on Reddit and TikTok freaking out over the fact that the US is mulling a 107% tariff on Italian pasta imports. According to the Wall Street Journal, the hike could lead to those companies withdrawing from the US market as early as January

Jimi Famurewa’s recipe for puff-puff pancakes

Efteling is a fairytale-themed, 73-year-old amusement park in the south of the Netherlands that, after two consecutive years of visits, has become an acute obsession among my family. We love the vaguely folk-horror animatronic trees, witches and giant sea monsters lurking within a labyrinthine real forest. We love the anthropomorphised talking bins that plead (in a haunting, perpetual sing-song) for crumpled pieces of paper to be shoved into their suction-powered mouths. We love the inventive rides that, variously, judder along rattling wooden tracks, plunge cursed pirate ships into water, or nudge gondolas serenely through sylvan scenes of bum-flashing goblins showering beneath waterfalls.But our very favourite thing about the place might well be the poffertjes stand, a perennially busy kiosk where exhausted families gather for dinky paper boats filled with these yeast-puffed and sugar-dusted miniature buckwheat pancakes that are a Dutch institution

Polpa position: budget tinned tomatoes score well in Choice taste test

Consumer advocacy group Choice has taste-tested 18 brands of chopped and diced tomatoes, finding three cheaper cans outranked many more expensive brands.Four judges ranked tinned tomatoes from Australian supermarkets and retailers, assessing them on flavour, texture, appearance and aroma – with flavour accounting for the biggest percentage of overall scores.Italian brand Mutti’s Polpa Organic chopped tomatoes, costing $2.95 for a 400g tin, was awarded the highest score of 80%. It was the most expensive product tested, described by judge Fiona Mair (who also judges at the Sydney Royal Fine Food Show) as having “an earthy fresh tomato aroma, really rich juice and flesh”

Three plant-based chocolate mousse recipes by Philip Khoury

Mousse au chocolat is one of the most exquisite ways to enjoy chocolate – so here are three recipes that offer it in different textures and levels of chocolate intensity. Each one works beautifully with dark chocolate containing 65-80% cocoa solids. Blends with no specific origin can be further rounded out with one teaspoon of vanilla paste or the seeds from a vanilla bean.Once the mousses have been prepared, they can be frozen and gently defrosted in the refrigerator. Top with chocolate shavings, cocoa nibs or a dusting of unsweetened cocoa powder for texture and contrast

Don’t pour that olive brine down the drain – it’s a flavour bomb | Waste not

When I taste-tested olives for the food filter column a few months ago, it reminded me that the brine is an ingredient in its own right. This intensely savoury liquid adds umami depth to whatever it touches, and, beyond seasoning soups and stews, it can also be used to make salamoia, the aromatic brine that’s traditionally used to top focaccia and create that perfect salty crust.Pouring olive brine down the sink is like washing pure flavour down the drain. Instead, save it to supercharge your focaccia, creating a beautifully flavoured, salted crust that elevates an ordinary loaf into something extraordinary. While I’m partial to rosemary and olives as toppings, this focaccia delivers heaps of flavour even when kept completely plain and simple

Jelly’s back! Here are three worth making – and three that should wobble off to the bin

Jelly has a dowdy reputation, but it may well be the perfect food for the Instagram age: when it works, it’s incredibly photogenic, so who cares what it tastes like?There can be no other explanation for recent claims that savoury jellies – the most lurid and off-putting of dishes, reminiscent of the worst culinary efforts of the 1950s – are suddenly fashionable. This resurgence comes, according to the New York Times, “at a time when chefs are feeling pressure to produce viral visuals and molecular gastronomy is old hat”.The notion that jelly is having a moment is actually a perennial threat: this time last year it was reported that supermarket jelly cube sales were rising sharply, while vintage jelly moulds were experiencing a five-fold increase in online sales. And it was 15 years ago that the high-end “jellymongers” Bompas & Parr – known for their elaborate architectural creations – first published their book on the subject.People who are sceptical about jelly are often put off by its origins

Australian supermarket wheat crackers taste test: ‘All the reviewers knew which one was the real deal’

Nicholas Jordan risks it for the biscuits, sampling 19 wheat crackers in the driest taste test yetIf you value our independent journalism, we hope you’ll consider supporting us todayGet our weekend culture and lifestyle emailI’ve been wanting to write this article for over a year but I’ve been too intimidated and confused to start. There are several hundred supermarket products that could be called a cracker. Imagine a taste test with 100 versions of the same thing. Do I have the stomach space or mental bandwidth to process that much? Otherwise, how do I decide what’s in or out? Even if I did, how do I rule what is a cracker or not? How do you determine the criteria for tasting something rarely eaten on its own? Do you rate the crackers for deliciousness or compatibility? Are those two things even that different?Then there’s the anxiety of spending several days agonising over all that, and conducting a taste test only to arrive at the conclusion that Jatz are great. Do people want to read an article about why Sir Donald Bradman is better than whoever the second-best-ever cricketer is?Instead of answering all those questions, I could just have a lovely afternoon making my way through 17 kinds of chocolate or many iced coffees