Next chief Simon Wolfson paid record £7.4m – and could get far more this year

The Next chief executive, Simon Wolfson, took home more than £7m last year, his highest ever pay package, and could be handed up to £9.27m this year after the retailer announced plans to increase his basic salary and bonuses.The listed company said it was increasing its pay deal for the long-term leader of the fashion and homewares retailer, which now controls a string of brands in the UK including Gap, Victoria’s Secret, Cath Kidston, Reiss and FatFace, as his remuneration was 30% below the average for FTSE 100 bosses.The directors on its remuneration committee said in the annual report published on Thursday that the changes were also being made as Next’s returns to shareholders had been higher than other leading listed companies over several years.“Given this sustained outperformance, the committee does not consider the current levels of remuneration to be appropriately aligned with performance,” the report said

It will take more than £600m a year to boost UK industrial competitiveness | Nils Pratley

It is “bold action” to boost UK competitiveness, claimed the government. Not everybody shared that assessment of the British industrial competitiveness scheme (Bics), the long-awaited plan to cut electricity bills for UK manufacturers by up to 25% – or, at least, to cut them for a subset of firms that are aligned with the eight chosen sectors of the “modern” industrial strategy.“Gas intensive industries in the UK have been shamefully ignored by the government in this announcement – it’s a total disgrace,” said Gary Smith, the general secretary of the GMB union, banging the drum for the likes of ceramics-makers and brickmakers that aren’t deemed modern enough for support. Employer bodies mostly did the polite thing of welcoming government assistance of any form before using phrases such as “drop in the ocean”.And, it’s true, £600m a year across 10,000 companies isn’t much

Liz Kendall urges UK public to embrace AI as government makes first £500m fund investment

The UK technology secretary has urged the country to “make AI work for Britain”, brushing off fears about its impact on jobs and cybersecurity as the government announced its first investment under a £500m sovereign AI fund. Liz Kendall said the UK had to “seize” the opportunity offered by AI despite concerns underlined this month when US startup Anthropic revealed it had developed an AI model that posed a potentially significant cyber threat. Asked how the government makes the case for embracing a technology that could disrupt jobs and now cybersecurity, Kendall said: “We have to seize this to make it work, for Britain, for our jobs, for solving the biggest challenges we face as a world.”Speaking on Thursday as the government unveiled its first investment in a UK company as part of a £500m sovereign AI fund, Kendall acknowledged “people are worried about the risks and what it means for their jobs”, but AI entrepreneurs also believed they can “make it work … they can create jobs”.In January Kendall admitted “some jobs will go” as AI automates certain tasks and roles, but it would also create new employment opportunities

‘How do I end a call?’: the elderly Japanese people determined to master smartphones

It’s not only young people whose gaze is fixed on tiny screens. But for these users in Tokyo, clicking and scrolling is anything but second nature.“I can’t deal with all of the apps that jump out at me,” says one. “How do I know if I’ve definitely ended a call?” asks another.They are common concerns among the four women and one man attending a beginner’s smartphone class at a public facility for older residents in Nerima in the Japanese capital’s north-west suburbs

Gout Gout eases into 100m semis to leave shot at breaking 10-second barrier on hold

Gout Gout has tuned his legs for a showdown in under two months against American superstar Noah Lyles with a solid opening run over 100m at the national junior championships in Brisbane on Friday.Five days after becoming the 16th fastest 200m runner ever by clocking 19.67sec at the national championships in Sydney, the teenager backed up at the shorter distance against athletes his own age.Gout recorded the fastest time in the heats, stopping the clock at 10.19sec with a tailwind of +0

Hull fans and players unite behind ‘betrayed’ coach Cartwright as St Helens go top

There is rarely a shortage of emotion and passion in this particular part of the rugby league world but even by the usually high standards set in Hull, this was a night many, least of all their head coach, will never forget.On any other night, the headline would be St Helens producing another impressive statement of their title credentials to go top of Super League. But this was no ordinary night: perhaps underlined not necessarily by the action on the field, but by what transpired after Saints’ win over Hull FC.As the game ebbed into its closing moments, the big screen inside the MKM Stadium panned to Hull’s coach, John Cartwright. What followed was a stadium-wide round of applause despite his side heading for a fifth league defeat in eight games