ACCC v Woolworths may have exposed the ‘magic’ of supermarket discounts – but will it change how we shop?

Picture this: you’re at Woolworths, weighing up which laundry powder offers the best value for money.A 2kg box of Fab is on sale with a “Prices Dropped” promotional ticket showing it “Is” $8. The label also says the laundry powder has been reduced, and “Was” $14.What Woolworths didn’t tell you is that the Fab cost $14 for only 19 days, and that it had been just $7 for 425 days before that. Were you enchanted by the “subtle magic” of the “Prices Dropped” ticket – as the consumer regulator’s lawyer suggested in its court action against Woolworths over the promotional scheme – into thinking the laundry powder was nearly 50% off?The central legal question is whether Australia’s largest supermarket chain intended to deceive you

Renault says ‘seismic shift’ in electric car interest after Iran war oil price shock – as it happened

Manufacturers around the world have reined back their electric car production in the last two years after fearing demand could fall. In the US Donald Trump further undermined the sector by tearing up several pro-electric vehicle policies.Yet Trump may have – ironically – ended up boosting global electric car sales, by making petrol prohibitively expensive. The US-Israeli war on Iran has entered its third month, with no sign that the blockade of the strait of Hormuz will end.Renault’s UK boss on Friday said the Iran war oil price surge has started a “seismic shift upwards” in interest in electric vehicles

‘Temu Range Rover’: what the bestselling Jaecoo 7 says about China’s electric car ascendancy

Loaded with extras and produced at a cut price, the crossover SUV has overtaken rival cars from US, Japanese and Korean firmsThe UK is no stranger to foreign cars. The bestseller lists in recent years have been dominated by the US’s Ford Puma, Japan’s Nissan Qashqai, Korea’s Kia Sportage and occasionally even Tesla’s Model Y.But in March the top 10 provided a shock: a Chinese car leapt into the lead.Little more than a year after launching in the UK, China’s Chery sold 10,064 of its Jaecoo 7 crossover SUVs during the month, beating all the usual suspects.It was not the first Chinese-made car to make it to UK number one (it follows Tesla’s Shanghai-made Model 3 and the HS made by MG, a formerly British brand owned by China’s SAIC)

Czech energy group hints at combined bid for British Steel and Speciality Steel UK

The owner of the UK’s largest electric steelworks has said the government should find a single buyer for British Steel and Speciality Steel UK (SSUK), a move that would create the country’s biggest steelmaker.Sev.en Global Investments, owned by the Czech billionaire Pavel Tykač, said it not only plans to invest £100m in the UK – mainly in the electric arc steelworks in Cardiff it bought last year – but also has the ability to invest “hundreds of millions of pounds” more in Britain under its 7 Steel brand.Alan Svoboda, Sev.en’s chief executive, told the Guardian the government should look for a large company with a track record of steel production to take on British Steel’s plant in Scunthorpe, Lincolnshire, and the SSUK electric arc furnace operation in South Yorkshire, in a thinly veiled pitch for the government to consider 7 Steel as a potential buyer

FCA faces four lawsuits over £9.1bn compensation scheme for car loan victims

The UK financial watchdog is facing four legal challenges against its £9.1bn compensation scheme for victims of the motor finance scandal.The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) said that it will defend the scheme “robustly” as the “fastest, simplest route for consumers and the most efficient way for firms to put things right”.The FCA confirmed the Guardian’s report of a legal challenge from the consumer group Consumer Voice, which claims that the scheme massively short-changes victims. It is represented by Courmacs Legal

CEO pay soared in 2025, 20 times faster than workers’ pay

CEO pay increased 20 times faster than worker pay around the world in 2025, according to a new analysis from Oxfam and the International Trade Union Confederation, the world’s largest trade union federation.When adjusted for inflation, global worker pay declined 12% between 2019 and 2025, the equivalent of 108 days of free work during that time period. In comparison, CEO compensation increased by 54% between 2019 and 2025.The average CEO received $8.4m in total compensation in 2025 compared to $7