Task for the week: limit the fallout from biggest oil shock in decades | Richard Partington

The world’s finance ministers and central bank governors gather in Washington this week for the half-yearly meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, with the global economy in a perilous spot.Not since the foundation of the Bretton Woods institutions late in the second world war have global conflicts triggered this much economic turbulence. The volatile 1970s come close. But the US-Israeli war on Iran, coming so soon after the Covid pandemic and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, take the prize.Even if a durable peace deal in the Middle East can be reached, there will still be permanent economic scars

Low-tax Texas opens London office to lure jobs and investment

The US state of Texas is putting UK businesses in its crosshairs with the launch this month of a dedicated London office to lure jobs and investment to the low-tax Lone Star State.Texas recently secured approval for the new site, adding to a growing list of international offices from which it can try to draw corporate heavyweights across its borders.It is the latest sign that Texas lobbyists, led by the office of the state’s Republican governor, Greg Abbott, are widening their economic ambitions beyond American borders, having already had success luring jobs and investment from rival US states including California, Delaware and New York.Lobbyists working in the London office are likely to court UK bosses with incentives including new, fast-track business courts and multimillion dollar subsidies. Texas charges neither corporation nor income tax

Record number of homes in Great Britain turn to green energy as fuel prices soar

British households are turning to green home energy upgrades in record numbers to try to keep bills down as the Iran crisis sends global oil and gas prices soaring, data from leading energy suppliers suggests.Figures show demand for solar panels, electric vehicles and heat pumps in Great Britain has leapt since the war began on 28 February, as households brace for a sharp increase in monthly payments when the next energy price cap takes effect in the summer.Energy bills are expected to increase by 18% from July – to the equivalent of £1,929 for the typical annual dual-fuel tariff – after Europe’s benchmark gas price rose by about 50%.Octopus Energy, the biggest GB energy supplier, shared figures with the Guardian showing its heat pump orders had more than doubled in March compared with February, while sales of solar power systems were up almost 80% and new leases of electric vehicles rose by more than 85%.The same trend was noted by the sector’s second biggest player, British Gas, which has recorded a 250% increase in solar panel installation inquiries since 28 February

‘Abhorrent’: the inside story of the Polymarket gamblers betting millions on war

“Horekunden” was rapidly losing patience.His frustration was with the Institute for the Study of War, a US thinktank which produces a daily map of the frontline in Ukraine.For Horekunden, and other anonymous gamblers, the map was a “disjointed, incoherent mess … like the painting of a five-year-old”. Therefore it was no use to them in their aim: to settle a bet on the online prediction market Polymarket.The map they were unhappy with depicted the city of Kostyantynivka, which Ukrainian troops have been holding for five months amid shelling and swarms of drones

Federal workers struggle to find roles a year after Trump cuts: ‘I’ve applied to over 250 jobs’

Maggie was faced with a tough choice in February 2025: quit her job at the US office of personnel management or be unceremoniously fired.Though she was a few months pregnant at the time, Maggie was offered one of the buyouts that were offered to tens of thousands of federal government employees by the office of personnel management.“I couldn’t be without health insurance through the delivering of my baby,” said Maggie, who requested to omit her last name for fear of professional repercussions. “I was going to have six to seven months of paid parental leave, because I’d been on my job for five years and I accrued time.”She took a buyout offer in May 2025 and, like many federal employees who took buyouts, and was placed on administrative leave until September 2025

McDonald’s CEO blames mother’s etiquette training for awkward burger bite in video

The chief executive officer of McDonald’s recently blamed etiquette guidance from his mother for a February on-camera taste test that made him a target for ridicule – and summarily recorded another video of him eating one of the fast-food giant’s offerings in a manner potential consumers found awkward.Chris Kempczinski suggested to the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) earlier in April that he was simply heeding maternal advice to never talk with his mouth full when he took the humorously small bite at the center of a viral video which depicted him discussing and sampling the new Big Arch burger from McDonald’s.“I blame it all on my mom because she told me, ‘Don’t talk with your mouth full,’” Kempczinski remarked to Tim Higgin, a WSJ columnist, in an interview captured on video. “And I think, probably in that case, I should have just said, ‘You know what? To hell with it. I’m gonna go talk with my mouth full