UK shoppers expected to spend £3.7bn on Boxing Day

Shoppers are expected to spend £3.7bn, this Boxing Day, up only 1.3% on 2023, with high streets less busy as shoppers snap up beauty and technology bargains online.The ability to click for bargains from the sofa means post-Christmas discounts actually begin before most families have touched a sprout or a slice of turkey as it is now possible to begin spending in the sales from midnight on Christmas Eve.More than 11 million people were expected to buy online on Christmas Day, up 3

Body discovered in wheel well of United Airlines plane in Hawaii

Police are investigating the discovery of a dead body in the wheel well of a United Airlines plane after it landed in Hawaii, the airline and the Maui police department said in statements on Wednesday.The body was found in the wheel well of one of the main landing gears on flight 202, which arrived at Kahului airport from Chicago on Tuesday, United said in an emailed statement.The airline said the wheel well of the Boeing 787-10 was only accessible from the outside of the aircraft, and that it was unclear how or when the person accessed it.In an emailed statement, the Maui police department said it was “actively investigating” the discovery of the body.The flight left Chicago’s O’Hare airport on the morning of Christmas Eve and the body was discovered after the plane touched down at Hawaii’s Kahului airport

The rise and rise of Maye Musk: China’s love affair with Elon Musk’s mother

Maye Musk is a busy woman. As well as being the mother of the world’s richest man, she has been jetting between various glamorous events – many of them in China. In December alone, she attended a gala dinner in Hangzhou, walked the red carpet for a cosmetics company in Wuhan and signed copies of the Chinese edition of her book, A Woman Makes a Plan, which she described as “a bestseller” in China.In fact, the only Musk-related book on the Chinese bestseller lists in October was a biography of her son Elon Musk by Walter Isaacson. Elon Musk is popular in China, and is thought to have the potential to wield pro-Beijing influence in the otherwise hawkish incoming administration of Donald Trump

How 2024 made Elon Musk the world’s most powerful unelected man

Hello, and welcome to Techscape. I’ve been pondering screen-time and isolation after I suffered through a recent bout of Covid. Even a few days of seclusion coupled with lengthy, uninterrupted spates of staring at screens were enough to return me to the state of mind in which I spent most of 2020. I hope all of you reading have a wonderful winter and new year, filled with the opposite of that experience: family, friends, and cheery, in-person parties.Today in Techscape: We look back at the biggest tech story of 2024, Elon Musk, and at the Amazon workers strike in the US

Skelton’s Grey Dawning has talent to light up Kempton in wide-open race

There have been many renewals of the King George VI Chase in recent years which revolved around a clear market leader but there is no obvious starting point for weighing up this year’s race at Kempton on Thursday, as nine of the 11 runners already have at least one Grade One victory over fences to their name and at least four – Spillane’s Tower, Banbridge, Grey Dawning and Il Est Francais – could conceivably set off as favourite.There are also slight question marks over all four of the principals in the betting. Banbridge is unproven at the three-mile trip, Il Est Francais ran poorly after bursting a blood vessel last time out, Spillane’s Tower has shown his best form with more cut in the ground and Grey Dawning had a tough race in the Betfair Chase in November.Every punter will have their own idea about how best to weigh it all in the balance, and Bravemansgame, the winner in 2022 and second behind Hewick last year, is an interesting each-way alternative at double-figure odds as he returns to a track and trip which clearly suits him so well.For a win bet, however, the most appealing option is the progressive Grey Dawning (2

Paris was the Dude: 2024 Olympics were right Games at perfect time

Four months after Paris 2024’s spectacular finale, starring Tom Cruise abseiling off the top of the Stade de France and hurtling out of a plane above Los Angeles, the executive director of the Olympics is mulling over the lasting impact of the Games. Albeit with the help of a rather different cinematic icon.“I was making a presentation to Deloitte executives recently,” says Christophe Dubi, the man responsible for planning and delivering the Olympics. “And I started by paraphrasing the Stranger in The Big Lebowski: ‘Sometimes, there is a man, he’s the man for his time and place, he was The Dude.’ Because Paris really was the right Games, at the right time and place