‘Squeezed from every direction’: pubs voice fury at Reeves’s business rates changes

Chancellor’s claim to be helping trade met with disbelief in England and Wales amid soaring staff costs, energy bills and other overheadsEmma Harrison has begun to wonder how her business will survive in recent weeks. The managing director of the Three Hills pub in Bartlow, Cambridgeshire, is struggling to see how she will make a profit after examining the impact of her rising tax bill.“I’m really terrified about this coming year,” Harrison says. “We’re a well-run pub, we’ve won lots of awards, but this is going to be really hard.”Harrison is not alone

Nissan begins production of new electric car in Sunderland

Nissan has started the production of its latest electric car in Sunderland, a crucial step in the UK automotive industry’s transition away from petrol and diesel.The Japanese manufacturer will launch the third generation of the Leaf on Tuesday, which was the first mass-market battery electric car to be built in the UK. Nissan has made 282,704 Leaf models at the north-east England plant so far.Nissan said it has invested more than £450m into manufacturing the new Leaf, including more than £300m directly into the company’s UK operations. Chris McDonald, the industry minister, will visit the factory on Tuesday

UK Treasury drawing up new rules to police cryptocurrency markets

Cryptocurrencies will be regulated in a similar way to other financial products under legislation coming into force in 2027.The Treasury is drawing up rules that will require crypto companies to meet a set of standards overseen by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).Ministers have sought to overhaul the crypto market, which has ballooned in popularity as a way of investing money and making payments.Cryptocurrencies have not been subject to the same regulation as traditional financial products such as stocks and shares, which means that in many cases consumers do not enjoy the same level of protection.The government said the new rules would make the crypto industry more transparent, boost consumer confidence and make it easier to detect suspicious activity, impose sanctions and hold companies accountable

YouTube channels spreading fake, anti-Labour videos viewed 1.2bn times in 2025

YouTube channels spreading fake, anti-Labour videos have amassed more than a billion views this year, as opportunists attempt to use AI-generated content to profit from political division in the UK.More than 150 channels have been detected in the last year that promote anti-Labour narratives, as well as outright fake and inflammatory accusations about Keir Starmer.A study seen by the Guardian has found the channels have accumulated 5.3m subscribers and have created more than 56,000 videos, with a total of almost 1.2bn views in 2025

Laying waste to Bazball just offers Australians an extra dollop of Ashes relish | Geoff Lemon

Adelaide comes across as a genteel city, but for a long time there was a contrasting degree of brutality to the Adelaide Test. At peak summer late in January it was a saucepan: hot, flat, home to impossibly long days. The mood changed in recent decades when it shifted to milder weeks in late spring, then further to nighttime contests. But with the third Test being a day match, and with forecasts this week as high as 39C, there’s anticipation of the old flavour returning. And if England’s 2-0 deficit becomes an Ashes-losing 3-0, we will see awaken in the Australian sporting public a concomitant lust for total destruction

Cameron Menzies cracks in the cauldron as darts faces an uncomfortable truth

By the time Cameron Menzies finally leaves the arena, the blood gushing from the gash on his right hand has trickled its way down the whole hand, down his wrist, part of his forearm and – somehow – up to his face. Smeared in crimson and regret, and already mouthing sheepish apologies to the crowd, he disappears down the steps, pursued by a stern-looking Matt Porter, the chief executive of the Professional Darts Corporation.The physical scars from Menzies’s encounter with the Alexandra Palace drinks table after his 3-2 defeat against Charlie Manby will be gone within a few weeks. Most probably there will be a fine of some sort. What about the rest? Man loses game of darts, punches table three times in fury, goes to hospital, repents at leisure: simple cause and effect