City & Guilds London Institute trustees accused of stalling inquiry into £166m sale

The trustees of City & Guilds London Institute have been accused of attempting to dodge accountability for a “catastrophic failure of governance” by stalling on the launch of an independent inquiry into the £166m sale of the vocational charity’s training and accreditation business last October.Members of the 148-year-old body voted overwhelmingly last month for the trustee board to trigger what would be the third investigation into how the foundation sold its operations to the private operator PeopleCert in October.However, members complained that the process then seemed to have stalled.The poll followed the Charity Commission opening a statutory inquiry in January, which was mirrored a day later by PeopleCert commissioning its own internal investigation into the deal.Neil Bates, an elected member of the City & Guilds council, which appoints and advises the trustees, said: “Why would they not be accountable for decisions made if everything was above board? It is shocking there has been such a catastrophic failure of governance – and subsequently a failure of accountability

Worried Britons ‘prepping’ for major disruption with stash of tins and cash, survey shows

Millions of Britons are “prepping” for a potential “major disruptive event” by keeping a stash of cash at home, stockpiling tinned goods or ensuring they have a battery-powered torch close to hand, new data suggests.With war raging in the Middle East and Ukraine, extreme weather becoming more frequent, and warnings that the UK’s critical infrastructure is at risk from cyber-attacks and power outages, many people feel the world has become a more dangerous and chaotic place.While some are taking steps to make sure they are not left high and dry in the event of a bank IT failure, others are preparing for a possible natural disaster, or even a societal collapse. UK experts recently advised people to have an emergency store of food in their home in case something happens that causes shortages.Link, the UK’s ATM network, tracks how people are using, and thinking about, cash and, for the first time, its researchers have asked the public about what “contingency planning” they are doing to prepare for an event that would cause “major disruption to normal services”

Who is Louis Mosley, the man tasked with defending Palantir against its critics?

The hall was packed with rightwing radicals when Louis Mosley heralded a coming revolution. Just as Oliver Cromwell – that “crusader for Christ and liberty” – routed King Charles I’s royalists, “a similar revolution is brewing today”, said the UK and Europe boss of Palantir. Globalism’s “twilight” was upon us, he said in a speech dotted with admiring mentions of the podcaster Joe Rogan and “Elon’s Doge”.It was not a typical peroration for a big UK government contractor with more than £600m in deals with the NHS, the Ministry of Defence and police. But Palantir, the world’s most controversial tech company, is no typical contractor

AI-powered surveillance company Palantir created a chore coat. Great, now I have no choice but to burn mine | Van Badham

It’s taken me years to find a chore coat with a cut that flatters my big tits but, now that I finally own one, I want to incinerate it.Such is the power of brand contamination; infamous data surveillance megacorp Palantir has decided to bang a logo on a chore coat to sell as corporate merch.Chore coats are the traditional short denim or twill jacket of the 19th-century French working class. Palantir, however, is a company whose public words and commercial-in-confidence activities are inspiring local calls to have its contracts cancelled and its business banned.The gentle French garment is now as cursed as whatever “Marie Amazonette” will ever wear to the Met Gala

Nottinghamshire v Surrey, Worcs v Durham, and more: county cricket – live

In Div 2, Derbyshire bat on and on against Northants, though Conway has three wickets. 431-5.At Canterbury, Mikey Cohen and Sam Northeast are joining Crawley in an early bath, but Ben Dawkins and Tawanda Muyeye are sticking it out. Kent 96-3.And after the failure of the top order, Worcestershire continue to battle at New Road

A 30th season and an $850m franchise: is the WNBA’s rocketing growth sustainable?

Women’s sport is in its high-growth phase. With surging salaries and new – or even revived – teams, the league has plenty to reflect on and to look forward toOpening night typically pulses with anticipation rather than gushes with nostalgia, but the New York Liberty wore a “court origins” uniform that alludes to their history as one of the WNBA’s eight founding members when they hosted the Connecticut Sun on Friday.Protracted and pugnacious negotiations between the players’ union and the league threatened to delay or even wreck the new season. But an accord that hands the players significant pay rises means the league has much to look forward to, as well as plenty to reflect on, as it celebrates 30 years.Commissioner Cathy Engelbert has described the 30th season as a “transformational moment” and the “beginning of a new era”