NatWest is chasing the mass affluent wallet. So is everyone else | Nils Pratley

Announce a £2.7bn acquisition and watch your stock market value fall by £3.1bn.NatWest picked a bad day to announce its big move in the fashionable field of “wealth management” – the noise from Westminster created a poor backdrop for UK assets such as gilts and domestic banks. But the main problem with its Evelyn Partners deal is that it is very much of the “one for the long term” variety

Rise in UK borrowing costs reverses after cabinet backs Starmer

UK borrowing costs dipped back on Monday after rising earlier in the day, as cabinet ministers voiced support for the embattled Keir Starmer.The yield, or interest rate, on UK benchmark bonds initially increased on Monday as traders reacted to Sunday’s resignation of the prime minister’s chief of staff, Morgan McSweeney, over the decision to appoint Peter Mandelson as ambassador to Washington.Yields rose further after the Downing Street communications director, Tim Allan, resigned on Monday morning, with long-term borrowing costs then hitting their highest level since November, as the Scottish Labour leader, Anas Sarwar, called on Starmer to stand down as prime minister.With the Conservative leader, Kemi Badenoch, saying Starmer’s position was “untenable” after the departure of McSweeney, and the Green party leader, Zack Polanski, agreeing he should resign, the City of London was weighing up the prime minister’s survival chances, and assessing the impact of likely replacements on the public finances and the economy.At one stage, the yield on 10-year UK government debt rose by as much as 7 basis points (0

EU threatens to act over Meta blocking rival AI chatbots from WhatsApp

The EU has threatened to take action against the social media company Meta, arguing it has blocked rival chatbots from using its WhatsApp messaging platform.The European Commission said on Monday that WhatsApp Business – which is designed to be used by businesses to interact with customers – appears to be in breach of EU antitrust rules.An upgrade to the messaging platform last October means the only AI assistant available to use on WhatsApp is Meta AI, the agent developed by the US tech group, which also owns Facebook and Instagram.The European Commission said Meta was the dominant player for messaging in the EU market and was “abusing” this position by “refusing access to WhatsApp to other businesses”.That position may cause “serious and irreparable harm on the market”, the commission added

Logitech MX Master 4 review: the best work mouse you can buy

Logitech’s latest productivity power-house updates one of the greatest mice of all time with smoother materials, a repair-friendly design and a haptic motor for phone-like vibrations on your desktop.The Guardian’s journalism is independent. We will earn a commission if you buy something through an affiliate link. Learn more.The MX Master 4 is the latest evolution in a line of pioneering mice that dates back more than 20 years and has long been the mouse to beat for everything but hardcore PC gaming

‘Put the blinders on’: how Jakara Anthony can make Winter Olympics history | Kate Allman

In less than 30 seconds on a field of icy bumps pitched steeper than most recreational ski runs, Australian freestyle skier Jakara Anthony will try to do what no woman ever has. She will attempt to defend her title from Beijing 2022 and win back-to-back Olympic gold in moguls.At 27, Anthony is Australia’s greatest gold medal hope at the Milano-Cortina Winter Olympics. She is the most successful Australian World Cup skier ever, she carried the flag at the opening ceremony last week and featured on the cover of Vogue in January. The latter a rare crossover moment that underlines how Olympic gold can propel an athlete into the national consciousness

Lindsey Vonn has ‘no regrets’ over crash as fellow skiers defend her decision to race

Lindsey Vonn says she suffered a complex tibia fracture “that will require multiple surgeries to fix properly” when her Olympic hopes ended in a heavy crash.The American crashed out early in her run during the women’s downhill competition on Sunday. Her cries of pain could be heard clearly on the television broadcast and spectators and her fellow athletes were visibly shaken as she was airlifted to hospital.She was competing on Sunday while dealing with a ruptured ACL she had suffered a week earlier.This article includes content provided by Instagram