Bank of England governor calls for fightback against populism; South East Water restores service to most Kent and Sussex homes – as it happened

Time to wrap up…The governor of the Bank of England has urged the world’s leading global institutions to fight back against the rise of populism, warning it represents one of the biggest threats to improvements in living standards.In a thinly veiled response to Donald Trump’s attempts to interfere with the independence of the US Federal Reserve, Andrew Bailey said that he and the heads of other institutions had a duty to “challenge back” populist narratives.“Part of the purpose of international agencies is that from time to time they have to tell us what we don’t want to hear, let alone act upon,” he said. “Of course, they have to be accountable for the accuracy and quality of the assessment. But, accepting that, we have to call out messenger shooting

Top two bosses at City & Guilds placed on leave after bonus scandal

The two most senior executives at City & Guilds have been put on leave shortly after a scandal over millions of pounds of bonuses triggered a Charity Commission investigation into the vocational training body.The chief executive, Kirstie Donnelly, and the chief financial officer, Abid Ismail, will be “absent from work for a short period”, as its new owner, PeopleCert, commissioned an internal investigation into events before and after its acquisition of City & Guilds’ training and qualifications business.Last week, the charity watchdog launched a statutory inquiry into last year’s sale of the qualification awards business to PeopleCert, an international certification company. The investigation will examine a range of problems, including “concerns raised in public reporting relating to the sale and bonuses awarded to its executives”.The inquiry was announced after the Guardian revealed last month that City & Guilds executives received million-pound bonuses after the charity privatised its business arm

Partly AI-generated folk-pop hit barred from Sweden’s official charts

A hit song has been excluded from Sweden’s official chart after it emerged the “artist” behind it was an AI creation.I Know, You’re Not Mine – or Jag Vet, Du Är Inte Min in Swedish – by a singer called Jacub has been a streaming success in Sweden, topping the Spotify rankings.However, the Swedish music trade body has excluded the song from the official chart after learning it was AI-generated.“Jacub’s track has been excluded from Sweden’s official chart, Sverigetopplistan, which is compiled by IFPI Sweden. While the song appears on Spotify’s own charts, it does not qualify for inclusion on the official chart under the current rules,” said an IFPI Sweden spokesperson

Prominent PR firm accused of commissioning favourable changes to Wikipedia pages

A high-profile PR company founded by Keir Starmer’s communications chief has been accused of commissioning changes to Wikipedia pages to make them more favourable towards clients.Portland Communications, founded by Tim Allan, has been linked to the so-called black hat edits, sometimes referred to as “Wikilaundering”. Several changes were made to Wikipedia pages by a network of editors, allegedly controlled by a contractor working on Portland’s behalf.According to an investigation by the Bureau of Investigative Journalism (TBIJ), Portland outsourced Wikipedia editing relating to some of its high-profile clients, including the state of Qatar.TBIJ said it had evidence of alleged Wikipedia edits made on behalf of Portland between 2016 and 2024

Vergil Ortiz Jr sues Golden Boy in dispute tied to stalled Jaron Ennis talks

Vergil Ortiz Jr has filed a federal lawsuit against Golden Boy Promotions, seeking to end his relationship with Oscar De La Hoya’s company amid stalled negotiations for what he views as a career-defining fight against Jaron ‘Boots’ Ennis.Ortiz, the unbeaten World Boxing Council interim junior middleweight champion, filed the complaint on Thursday in US district court in Nevada, asking a judge to confirm that his promotional agreement with Golden Boy has been terminated and alleging that the promoter breached the contract and interfered with his earning potential.Golden Boy has promoted the Texan since his professional debut in 2016 and signed him to a new three-year deal in May 2024. Ortiz’s lawsuit, a copy of which has been obtained by the Guardian, argues that the agreement allowed him to walk away if Golden Boy’s broadcast partnership with Dazn ended – a condition he says was triggered when the promoter’s deal with the streamer expired on 31 December.According to the complaint, Ortiz formally exercised his right to terminate the agreement on 8 January

Lewis Hamilton to get new engineer as Adami replaced in Ferrari shake-up

Ferrari have announced they are to replace Riccardo Adami as Lewis Hamilton’s race engineer for the 2026 Formula One season, after the pair endured what appeared to be a fractious and testing relationship during the seven-time world champion’s first season with the Scuderia.Ferrari issued a statement on Friday stating Adami would be moved to a new role with the team’s driver academy as academy and test previous cars manager, adding that his replacement as Hamilton’s race engineer, the crucial link between team and driver on the pit wall, would be announced in due course.During his first year with Ferrari, a trying season with the car well off the pace of the frontrunners and with Hamilton struggling to adapt to a new team, his relationship with Adami appeared to be far from easy. The pair endured several terse exchanges with Hamilton expressing frustration and confusion, notably in Monaco when he asked his engineer at the end of the race: “Are you upset with me or something?” He appeared to receive no reply.Hamilton dismissed speculation that the pair did not enjoy a good working relationship at the time as “BS” and said Adami had “been amazing to work with, he’s a great guy”