UK music industry hails proposals to crack down on ticket touting

The price at which tickets for live events can be resold is to be capped under “gamechanging” proposals put forward by the government to crack down on touting in the sector.In a move hailed by music industry figures, the culture minister, Lisa Nandy, has launched a consultation that she said would end the “misery” of fans being exploited by touts, some of whom have made huge profits by selling hundreds of tickets a year.Ministers will also look at dynamic pricing, the controversial model used by Oasis last year for their reunion tour, which meant fans who queued online for tickets were shown a much greater price than advertised at checkout, with limited time to decide on the purchase.It follows years of campaigning by politicians, musicians and the theatre industry to stop professional “resellers” hoovering up tickets at the expense of fans and selling them on for huge mark-ups in alliance with platforms such as Viagogo and StubHub, which take a cut of the profits.This “secondary” ticketing market has provoked outrage among music fans and those purchasing tickets for West End shows including Hamilton and Harry Potter and the Cursed Child

Reeves mulls deeper cuts to public services as borrowing costs soar

Rachel Reeves is considering imposing steeper cuts to public services to repair the government’s finances after a bruising week in which investors drove up the cost of UK borrowing and pushed the pound to a 14-month low.Government officials have told the Guardian the chancellor is prepared to reduce departmental spending even more than planned, having ruled out increases to either borrowing or taxes. Any measures to avoid breaking her fiscal rules could be announced at an emergency statement in the spring.The prospect of a fresh spending squeeze comes as Britain’s financial position is being rattled by a dramatic sell-off in the global market for government debt, fuelling a rise in the UK’s long-term borrowing costs to the highest level since 1998.On another day of drama in the markets after a challenging start to the year for Labour, Darren Jones, the chief secretary to the Treasury, sought to soothe investor jitters by insisting the markets for UK government bonds, known as gilts, remained “orderly”, while confirming that the government would stick to its fiscal commitments

Elon Musk heaps praise on AfD’s Alice Weidel during live talk on X

Elon Musk has praised the co-leader of Germany’s far-right Alternative für Deutschland party, as he repeated his claim that “only the AfD can save Germany” during a controversial live talk on his social media platform X.The virtual encounter between Musk and Alice Weidel on Thursday took place amid growing criticism over the US billionaire’s vocal support of far-right, anti-establishment parties across Europe, and accusations he is meddling in the campaign for Germany’s 23 February election.In a conversation that was at times wooden and at times almost flirtatious, Musk heaped praise on the anti-immigrant, pro-Kremlin AfD, which is second in the polls with 21.5%, behind only the conservative CDU/CSU. He mispronounced the party leader’s name as “Weedel” throughout the encounter

Google and Microsoft donate $1m each to Trump’s inaugural fund

Google and Microsoft have donated $1m each to Donald Trump’s inauguration fund, following in the footsteps of other major companies including Amazon, Meta, OpenAI and Uber.“Google is pleased to support the 2025 inauguration, with a livestream on YouTube and a direct link on our homepage. We’re also donating to the inaugural committee,” Karan Bhatia, Google’s global head of government affairs and public policy, confirmed in a statement to the Guardian on Thursday.The tech giant made the donation on Monday, CNBC reported. José Castaneda, a Google spokesperson, told the outlet that the company has donated to previous inauguration funds and previously hosted livestreams of inauguration ceremonies

Bright future for Australian women’s tennis adds colour to Open hopes

One is giving tennis a last shot before a potential pivot to fashion design. Two veterans, desperate to prove they still belong. Then there is a pair of the most promising young female Australian players in recent memory.The local contingent contesting the Australian Open women’s singles are full of colour, rich in stories. The same could be said of the cupboard of qualifier Destanee Aiava, who only booked her place in the main draw with a three-set victory over German Eva Lys on Thursday

RFU rebels vow to fight on after attempt to remove Bill Sweeney is blocked

A grassroots rebellion has accused the Rugby Football Union of ­“postponing the inevitable” after the governing body rejected an attempt to force the removal of the chief executive, Bill Sweeney, amid the pay and bonuses scandal.On another remarkable day at the RFU, a group of 141 members from across the country called for a special general meeting and a vote of no confidence in Sweeney, only for the union to declare the motion invalid on bureaucratic grounds.In a further twist, the rebels then claimed the RFU’s basis for rejecting the motion was incorrect and they expect the union to comply with the call for an SGM in the coming days. The rebels – who later said their support had grown to 152 members – have demanded an SGM no later than 28 February and have said they are calling on the board of directors to “terminate [Sweeney’s] employment … as soon as practicably possible”.The threshold to call for an SGM is 100 clubs, so the rebels were confident they would succeed in forcing a vote