UK government refuses to rule out redundancies at Scunthorpe steelworks

The business secretary has refused to rule out redundancies at the Scunthorpe steelworks, despite calls from trade unions to end the programme of job losses started by its former owners.Jonathan Reynolds said on Tuesday the plant might need to have a “different employment footprint” after the government’s takeover, even as he promised to try to save the plant’s two blast furnaces.Reynolds was speaking during a visit to Immingham docks to oversee coal and iron ore being unloaded on its way to the Scunthorpe plant. The government took control of the plant after finding out its Chinese owner, Jingye, was attempting to sell the supplies and hasten the closure of the furnaces.“What we need for the long-term future of British Steel is that private sector partner to work with us as a government on a transformation programme,” Reynolds said

Starbucks’s UK retail business paid no corporation tax last year

Starbucks’s UK retail business paid no corporation tax for last year as it dived to a £35m loss after paying £40m in royalty and licence fees to its parent company.The US-owned coffee chain said it made the payments despite sales declining 4% to £525.6m in the year to 29 September 2024, amid what it called a “challenging economic climate” and a consumer boycott linked to the Gaza conflict.Sales fell even though it opened 100 new British stores during the period. The previous year it had made a £16

X’s UK profits collapsed the year after Elon Musk’s takeover

X’s revenues and profits collapsed in the UK in the year after Elon Musk took over the social media platform, the company has admitted.A decline in advertising spending amid concerns about “brand safety and/or content moderation” were cited as the reason for the fall, according to accounts filed this week to Companies House.Twitter UK Ltd also narrowly averted being struck off last month for failing to file the accounts on time, according to other recent filings to Companies House. It only filed full accounts on Monday for 2023, the year in which it was rebranded as X after Musk’s takeover.“The business continues to take corrective measures to build brand safety tools, invest in platform safety and content moderation and then educate advertisers about these initiatives,” the company said

Revealed: Chinese researchers can access half a million UK GP records

Researchers from China are to be allowed access to half a million UK GP records despite western intelligence agencies’ fears about the authoritarian regime amassing health data, the Guardian can reveal.Preparations are under way to transfer the records to UK Biobank, a research hub that holds detailed medical information donated by 500,000 volunteers. One of the world’s largest troves of health data, the facility makes its information available to universities, scientific institutes and private companies. A Guardian analysis shows one in five successful applications for access come from China.For the past year, health officials had been assessing whether extra safeguards were needed for patient records when added to the genomes, tissue samples and questionnaire responses held by UK Biobank

Flat season returns to HQ in pursuit of racing immortality – with a few swallows

After weeks of unseasonably warm temperatures, the only hint of spring as Newmarket opened its doors for a new season here on Tuesday was a small flight of ­swallows over the Rowley Mile – back from Africa in time for a wet and chilly first day at the Craven meeting. Weather-wise, it felt more like Plumpton in January than the home of Flat racing on the first afternoon of a new campaign.But the conditions could not dampen the sense of opening-day anticipation as the first of 2025’s Guineas hopefuls went to post for their Classic trials on the Rowley Mile, before a potential tilt at racing immortality back here in less than three weeks.The Craven meeting is all about the future, from the unraced juveniles breezing alongside the track in the morning before going under the hammer at Tattersalls a few hours later to the potential Group One winners blowing away the winter cobwebs on a course that staged the first race run under an official set of rules all the way back in 1666.On Tuesday, it was the turn of the three-year-old fillies with Classic aspirations as 10 runners lined up for the Nell Gwyn, including six with an entry in the 1,000 Guineas on 4 May

Handmade balls and no two courts the same: Tudor-era ‘real tennis’ is making a racket in Sydney

With cumbersome equipment and a labyrinthine scoring system, real tennis takes a long time to master – but fans say the results feel ‘phenomenal’“It’s a bit like three-dimensional chess, and it’s much more intellectual than an average sport because it’s so complicated,” Maggie Henderson-Tew says through a wide grin after walking off the court.Amid an explosion of interest in newfangled racket sports such as pickleball and padel, which have found popularity due to their dynamic, speedy and easy to learn styles of play, one Sydney sports club is instead leaning into the past – specifically, the Tudor period.This week, Sydney became home to Australia’s fourth court for “real tennis” – also known as royal tennis – the precursor sport to what would evolve to be modern-day tennis (or “lawn tennis”) and squash.Unlike the low barriers to entry that have seen pickleball and padel gain broad appeal, real tennis’s attraction is in its quirks of tradition, cumbersome equipment and labyrinthine scoring system.“People get absolutely fanatically into it, but it’s incredibly frustrating when you start out until you hit your first good shot, then it feels phenomenal,” says Henderson-Tew