It’s time to take politics out of the Small Business Administration

Kelly Loeffler, the new administrator of the Small Business Administration (SBA), announced recently that the agency charged with supporting the businesses that are the backbone of the US economy would no longer be approving loans to small business owners unless they are US citizens. If you’re a legal, tax-paying immigrant with a green card and full residency? No loans for you.This is a big mistake.It’s one thing to go after and deport undocumented immigrants who have committed crimes. But it’s difficult to watch undocumented immigrants who have committed no crime other than trying to make a better life for their families in this country suffer a similar consequence

Starmer adviser urges ministers to look at profits cap for energy and petrol firms

The government’s top cost of living adviser has called on ministers to explore a temporary cap on the profits of energy and petrol companies to prevent them from cashing in excessively on the war in the Middle East.Richard Walker – a Labour peer, the chair of Iceland supermarkets and the prime minister’s “cost of living champion” – said he had asked the government to examine limiting how much businesses were able to benefit from higher energy prices after Iran’s blockade of the strait of Hormuz, a crucial shipping route for Europe’s oil and gas, and the wider conflict in the region.“I have asked the government to consider a temporary profit cap … to stop producers and retailers exploiting the crisis to make windfall profits at the expense of consumers,” Walker wrote in a column in the Sunday Times.“As executive chairman of a retailer, I have no problem with profit. It’s what allows businesses to invest, employ people and pay tax

Campaign groups rail against Palantir, but the UK contracts keep coming

Palantir’s latest UK contract takes the AI and data analytics company into the heart of one of Britain’s biggest industries: financial services, which accounts for 9% of the economy.The Miami-based company embedded its technology in the NHS in 2023, the police in 2024 and the military in 2025. Land and expand, they say in the tech industry. Palantir has followed the script, building contracts worth more than £500m.Now in 2026, its deal with the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) to dive into the terabytes of information it gathers gives it yet another unparalleled view of the inner workings of the British authorities

Palantir extends reach into British state as it gets access to sensitive FCA data

Palantir is to be granted access to a trove of highly sensitive UK financial regulation data, in a deal that has prompted fresh concerns about the US AI company’s deepening reach into the British state, the Guardian can reveal.The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has awarded Palantir a contract to investigate the watchdog’s internal intelligence data in an effort to help it tackle financial crime, which includes investigating fraud, money laundering and insider trading.The Miami-based company, co-founded by the billionaire Donald Trump donor Peter Thiel, has been appointed for a three-month trial, paying more than £30,000 a week to analyse the FCA’s vast “data lake”, which could lead to a full procurement of an AI system.The deal is part of the FCA’s drive to use digital intelligence to better focus resources on rule-breaking among the 42,000 financial services firms it regulates, from major banks to crypto exchanges.There was only one other, unnamed competitor for the contract

GB strike golden treble at world indoors with Hodgkinson, Hunter Bell and Caudery

Shortly before 8pm here in Torun, Georgia Hunter Bell, Molly Caudery and Keely Hodgkinson were jumping in delight and pure delirium after what was undoubtedly the greatest 29 minutes for Britain in world indoor athletics championship history.Not one gold medal. Not two. But three. All in under 30 minutes

Chessum makes Tigers purr on return from England duty as Bristol fall short

Swapping the bright Saturday night lights of the Stade de France for the rusty old Crumbie Stand can be a real mental challenge. There is certainly less demand for foie gras in Aylestone but for certain people nothing beats a constant diet of rugby. England’s Ollie Chessum did occasionally look a tad weary during another selfless 80-minute shift but a vital 33-19 Leicester win made all those hard yards worthwhile.The result not only hoists the Tigers into third place in the Prem table but Gabriel Hamer-Webb’s spectacular last-gasp try earned what could prove a vital extra point when the playoff maths are totted up. Bristol, who had been pressing for a couple of bonus points of their own, were ultimately left empty-handed and down in fifth place after a game that was never less than intense and absorbing