Nationwide chair first major British lender boss to publicly engage with Reform UK

Nationwide building society has defended its chair, Kevin Parry, after he became the first boss of a major British lender to publicly engage with Nigel Farage’s Reform UK party.It emerged on Wednesday that Parry, who has been chair of the member-owned building society since 2016, attended a breakfast event earlier this week meant to help companies understand Reform’s approach to business.The breakfast event was hosted by Sanctuary Counsel, a consultancy focused on “building, enhancing and protecting” the reputation of clients, with Parry seated next to Reform’s deputy leader, Richard Tice.It makes Parry the first senior boss from a UK bank or lender to be publicly seen with the party, which has outlined controversial policies including the mass deportation of asylum seekers, ripping up green energy contracts and stripping the City watchdog of its power to regulate the banking industry.The building society, which is owned by its 17 million members, defended Parry’s attendance – which was first reported by the Financial Times – saying it was part of “routine” engagement with parties across the political spectrum

Labor statistics chief fired by Trump sounds alarm over White House’s ‘dangerous’ interference

The former chief US economics data statistics who Donald Trump fired last month called her sudden removal “dangerous” and said Americans should be concerned about the independence of key economic institutions.“Markets have to trust the data are not manipulated,” said Erika McEntarfer, former head of the Bureau Labor of Statistics, on Tuesday in her first remarks since her firing. “Firing your chief statisticians for releasing data you do not like, it has serious economic consequences.”The bureau collects and releases key economic data on the labor market and prices. In August, the bureau revised down initial figures that showed steady job growth in May and June by 258,000

UK is going to be ‘AI superpower’, says Nvidia boss as he invests £500m

Jensen Huang, the co-founder and chief executive of the US AI chipmaker Nvidia, has predicted “the UK is going to be an AI superpower” as he announced a new £500m investment in a British firm.Huang, who is due to join Donald Trump at Wednesday night’s state banquet with the king, said he was taking an equity stake in NScale, a UK cloud computing company, and predicted it would earn revenues of up to £50bn over the next six years.“We’re here to announce that the UK is going to be an AI superpower,” he told a press conference in London.Huang cited as evidence of Britain’s potential its universities and several companies founded in the UK, ranging from the AI giant DeepMind to the driverless car startup Wayve. “You just don’t appreciate it

Temu’s UK operation doubles revenues and pre-tax profits

The UK operation of the Chinese online marketplace Temu doubled revenues and pre-tax profits last year, as British consumers snapped up products offered by the super-budget retailer.Temu UK reported revenues of $63.3m (£46.4m) last year, almost double the $32m in 2023, while pre-tax profits similarly surged from $2m to $3.9m, accounts show

Salt thrashes England past Ireland in first T20 as Bethell’s big day goes to plan

Jacob Bethell’s big day began awkwardly and ended with England dominant. After Ireland put up 196, some serious work was required as the 21-year-old became his country’s youngest men’s captain.Enter Phil Salt, ready to make headlines once again. The opener followed his 141 not out against South Africa last Friday with 89 off 46 balls as England secured victory in the first of three Twenty20 internationals with 14 balls to spare.Ireland’s bowling effort could not live up to their strong display in the first half, when Harry Tector and Lorcan Tucker combined for a third-wicket partnership of 123 off 11

Gout Gout channels Bolt, horses and butterflies ahead of semi-final test

An unenviable draw and his struggle to get out of the blocks will almost certainly end the debut of Gout Gout at the world championships in his semi-final on Thursday, but the teenager remains upbeat about his prospects having survived his first major international test.The Australian overcame a ponderous first 30m to finish third in his heat in 20.23sec, the 12th fastest time across all qualifiers for the semis.Given eight athletes will progress to the final, Gout might be considered a chance, especially given he cruised through the final 50m of his heat.He has stated his ambition for the meet is to break the 20-second barrier