UK’s first rapid-charging battery train ready for boarding this weekend

The UK’s first superfast-charging train running only on battery power will come into passenger service this weekend – operating a five-mile return route in west London.Great Western Railway (GWR) will send the converted London Underground train out from 5.30am to cover the full Saturday timetable on the West Ealing to Greenford branch line, four stops and 12 minutes each way, and now carrying up to 273 passengers, should its celebrity stoke up the demand.The battery will recharge in just three and a half minutes back at West Ealing station between trips, using a 2,000kW charger connected to a few metres of rail that only becomes live when the train stops directly overhead.There are hopes within government and industry that this technology could one day replace diesel trains on routes that have proved difficult or expensive to electrify with overhead wires, as the decarbonisation of rail continues

AstraZeneca to invest £11bn in China after rowing back on UK expansion

Britain’s biggest drugmaker AstraZeneca is to invest $15bn (£11bn) in China, it announced during Keir Starmer’s visit to the country, just months after cooling on plans for expansion in the UK.The Cambridge-based company said it would spend the money by 2030 to expand medicines manufacturing and research and development in China, where it already has a big presence. It includes the construction of a $2.5bn research hub in Beijing, which was announced last March.During the first visit by a British prime minister to China in eight years, Starmer said the move would help AstraZeneca to grow into a bigger business, thereby supporting thousands of UK jobs

What is behind the extraordinary rise in investment into silver and gold?

Last year’s extraordinary run in precious metals has only intensified in 2026, as Donald Trump has continued to rip up the rules of the global economy.Gold has been on a tear since last summer, repeatedly breaking records. It has risen by more than a quarter this month and hit a new high of just under $5,595 (£4,060) an ounce on Thursday.It dropped sharply later in the day to $5,250 (£3,810) as speculation swirled about possible US action in Iran, but that remains almost double the price as when Donald Trump’s second term in the White House began a year ago.Silver, meanwhile, was trading below $30 (£22) an ounce when the president prepared to announce his “liberation day” tariffs last April, but has since almost quadrupled in price, to more than $118 (£86) an ounce, with the most rapid run-up coming in the past month

‘Generational shift’ towards sparkling wine behind strong sales, says UK’s Chapel Down

Chapel Down has credited a “generational shift” towards sparkling wine for strong sales growth last year.The Kent-based wine maker, which listed on the Aim junior stock market in 2023, said sales rose by a better-than-expected 19% to £19.4m in the year to 31 December, led by a 38% increase in retail sales as well as strong exports.James Pennefather, the chief executive of Chapel Down, said: “In spite of continued economic pressures, consumers are continuing to find reasons to celebrate, with over 1m bottles of Chapel Down traditional method sparkling wines dispatched for the first time during 2025.“We are seeing a generational shift into English sparkling wine as millennials, who prefer a lighter, fresher, crisper style of wines, are increasingly adopting the category

Brent crude tops $70 per barrel on Iran concern; gold and silver tumble from record highs – as it happened

Britain’s main stock market index has just hit a new record high, lifted by shares in oil companies and miners.The FTSE 100 shares index has just touched a new peak of 12,259 points, two points above the previous record high hit nearly two weeks ago.Copper producer Antofagasta is leading the charge; it’s up 11% today, as the copper prices has hit new record levels over $14,000/tonne (see earlier post), and after reporting a 9% increase in quarterly copper production earlier today.The jump in the oil price today has lifted Shell (+2.1%) and BP (+1

Rate-rigging convictions of five bankers referred to UK appeals court

Five more former bankers convicted of rigging interest rates will be given a fresh chance to clear their names, after the supreme court overturned a decade-old ruling against the trader Tom Hayes last year.The Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) said on Thursday that it had referred the ex-City traders’ convictions back to the court of appeal. The men were jailed between 2016 and 2019 on charges of manipulating the euro interbank offered rate, Euribor, or the now defunct London interbank offered rate, Libor.The Euribor and Libor rates affected the value of ordinary people’s pensions, mortgages and savings, as well as hundreds of trillions of pounds and euros worth of financial products around the world. Nine bankers accused of rigging the rates were given fraud convictions, including Hayes