Bank of England governor calls for fightback against populism; South East Water restores service to most Kent and Sussex homes – business live

Bank of England governor Andrew Bailey has said policymakers should “challenge” populists who try to discredit them.In a speech published today, Bailey told the Bellagio Group of economists, central bankers and finance officials that populism affects the international system.He said on Tuesday:Part of the purpose of international agencies is that from time to time they have to tell us what we don’t want to hear, let alone act upon.Of course, they have to be accountable for the accuracy and quality of the assessment. But, accepting that, we have to call out messenger shooting

Top two executives at City & Guilds placed on leave

The two most senior executives at City & Guilds have been put on leave shortly after a scandal over millions of pounds of bonuses triggered a Charity Commission investigation into the vocational training body.City & Guilds has told staff that its chief executive, Kirstie Donnelly, and the chief financial officer, Abid Ismail, will be “absent from work for a short period”.Last week, the charity watchdog launched a statutory inquiry into City & Guilds’ sale of its qualification awards business to a private company last year. The investigation will examine a range of problems, including “concerns raised in public reporting relating to the sale and bonuses awarded to its executives”.The inquiry was announced after the Guardian revealed last month that City & Guilds executives received million-pound bonuses after the charity privatised its business arm

TikTok to strengthen age-verification technology across EU

TikTok will begin to roll out new age-verification technology across the EU in the coming weeks, as calls grow for an Australia-style social media ban for under-16s in countries including the UK.ByteDance-owned TikTok, and other major platforms popular with young people such as YouTube, are coming under increasing pressure to better identify and remove accounts belonging to children.The system, which has been quietly piloted in the EU over the past year, analyses profile information, posted videos and behavioural signals to predict whether an account may be belong to a user under the age of 13.As well as analysing information the account holder provides about themselves, the technology looks at behaviour such as the videos a user publishes, and “other on-platform behaviour”.TikTok said accounts flagged by the system would be reviewed by specialist moderators rather than face an automatic ban, and may then be removed

X still allowing users to post sexualised images generated by Grok AI tool

X has continued to allow users to post highly sexualised videos of women in bikinis generated by its AI tool Grok, despite the company’s claim to have cracked down on misuse.The Guardian was able to create short videos of people stripping to bikinis from photographs of fully clothed, real women. It was also possible to post this adult content on to X’s public platform without any sign of it being moderated, meaning the clip could be viewed within seconds by anyone with an account.It appeared to offer a straightforward workaround to restrictions announced by Elon Musk’s social network this week. These had been welcomed by the prime minister, Keir Starmer, who had described the photographs generated by Grok as “disgusting” and “shameful”

Max Verstappen admits new F1 season is step into unknown amid rule changes

Red Bull formally began their tilt at the forthcoming Formula One season, unveiling the livery for their challenger, the RB22, in a showcase event in Detroit on Thursday, with Max Verstappen admitting the sweeping regulation changes for 2026 will be a step into the “unknown”.Before a highly anticipated season, with a swathe of big rule changes presenting a challenge across the grid, Red Bull are the first in what is due to be a hectic period of launches before pre-season testing begins.The four-time champion Verstappen finished second in last year’s championship, two points behind McLaren’s Lando Norris, but the Dutchman had to extract the maximum from a car that was off the pace for the opening half of the season.The team continued development of the car well into the season in order to better understand how it fed into this year’s model and Verstappen was eager to climb behind the wheel.“It’s all still a bit unknown,” said Verstappen in Detroit alongside his new teammate, Isack Hadjar

NFL divisional round predictions: which No 1 seed is set for an unpleasant shock?

The postseason continues with the Broncos and Seahawks entering the fray, but there could be trouble for one of the frontrunnersWhat the Bills need to do to win: Keep winning short-yardage situations. The tush push on fourth down that propelled Josh Allen 10 yards and helped secure Buffalo’s win over Jacksonville last weekend epitomised how the Bills dominated the game’s crucial moments. The Bills converted four of their five third downs with four yards or to go last Sunday, and they finished fifth in third-down rate in the regular season in the same situations. Denver were eighth this season in third-and-short defensive efficiency (50.6%)