• Sunday newspaper round-up: IMF, Brexit, UK corporatism, M&S, social housing, EV tariffs, Ukraine, Iran

  Sunday 07 Jun 2026

  (Sharecast News) - Labour risks being forced to seek emergency assistance from the International Monetary Fund as Britain edges toward a debt crisis, leading economists have warned, according to The Telegraph. Former IMF chief economist Ken Rogoff told the paper that repeated shocks - including Covid, Russia's invasion of Ukraine and the Iran war - had left the UK facing a "more than 50:50 chance" of a major debt crisis by 2030. Rogoff said such a scenario could trigger steep tax rises or spending cuts, and warned that if the Bank of England were to lose control of inflation, Britain might require a larger rescue package with IMF "support". The comments were framed as a warning to Labour leadership contender Andy Burnham.

• Friday newspaper round-up: xAI, Goalhanger, Skipton, Trafigura

  Friday 05 Jun 2026

  (Sharecast News) - New claimants have come forward to take legal action against Elon Musk's company xAI after the Labour MP Jess Asato launched a test case against the firm over demeaning sexualised material created by its Grok AI tool. A handful of complainants contacted Asato's lawyer on Thursday in response to coverage of the MP's decision to sue Musk's company for damages over its creation and circulation of fake images of her in a bikini and an AI-created video that she said showed her "being chloroformed and prepared for a sexual assault". - Guardian

• Thursday newspaper round-up: Betfair, Revolut CEO, Charles Tyrwhitt

  Thursday 04 Jun 2026

  (Sharecast News) - The widow of a gambling addict who took his own life after falling £18,000 into debt begins a legal claim on Thursday against Betfair that could have far-reaching consequences for the UK's gambling industry. Luke Ashton, 40, from Leicester, died in April 2021 after suffering from a gambling disorder that led him to place thousands of bets with the company, which sent him promotional "free" bets. - Guardian

• Wednesday newspaper preview: South West Water, Hyve, Royal Exchange

  Wednesday 03 Jun 2026

  (Sharecast News) - A utility company has been fined £1.85m for supplying water unfit for human consumption after a parasite outbreak made hundreds of people sick and forced thousands of households to boil their water. South West Water (SWW) pleaded guilty to the criminal offence relating to a cryptosporidiosis outbreak in Brixham, Devon, in the spring and summer of 2024. - Guardian

• Tuesday newspaper round-up: Anthropic, unemployment, business rates

  Tuesday 02 Jun 2026

  (Sharecast News) - More than a million jobs, higher wages, nearly half a trillion pounds in investment in the pipeline - the UK's green economy is powering ahead, according to research by the country's leading business organisation. The net zero economy, which is worth more than £100bn a year, benefits all of the UK, according to the CBI Economics analysis commissioned by the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit thinktank, despite critics who want to abolish the UK's net zero targets. - Guardian

• Monday newspaper round-up: Arm CEO, Meta, Jes Staley

  Monday 01 Jun 2026

  (Sharecast News) - The UK's financial watchdog is being urged to prove its relationship with the US tech company Palantir will not provide the Trump administration with backdoor access to troves of sensitive citizen and commercial data. A US law that can oblige tech companies to disclose information to American authorities may apply to Palantir's deal to help the Financial Conduct Authority detect crime, Martin Wrigley MP, a member of the House of Commons science and technology select committee, has warned. - Guardian

• Sunday newspaper round-up: Easyjet, dark trading, Tempest fighter jet, Keir Starmer, Premier Group Recruitment, Lebanon

  Sunday 31 May 2026

  (Sharecast News) - Easyjet could become the latest company to exit London's struggling stock market after US investment fund Castlelake said it was considering a takeover approach, according to The Times. The disclosure triggered a formal "put up or shut up" deadline under City rules. A successful bid would add the airline to the growing list of London‑listed firms snapped up by overseas buyers taking advantage of depressed UK valuations.

• Friday newspaper round-up: Nationwide, Anthropic, Marks & Spencer

  Friday 29 May 2026

  (Sharecast News) - Labour is poised for a fresh attempt at changing the welfare system after a major government-backed report said youth unemployment was costing Britain more than £125bn a year. As official figures revealed the number of young people not working or studying had surpassed a million for the first time in more than a decade, Alan Milburn said the government had a responsibility to the next generation to take action. - Guardian

• Thursday newspaper round-up: Food crisis, Universal Music, Samsung

  Thursday 28 May 2026

  (Sharecast News) - Britain is "sleepwalking into a food crisis" caused by extreme weather, inflation and the impacts of the Iran war - and the government is failing to take the threat seriously, food experts have said. Farmers are facing severe strain from the current heatwave following a dry spring, with many crops likely to yield less as temperatures rise beyond their tolerance. Livestock are also suffering heat stress and there is a rising risk of wildfires. Economic losses are likely to be measured in the hundreds of millions of pounds. - Guardian

• Wednesday newspaper round-up: Energy price cap, Post Office Horizon, Radley

  Wednesday 27 May 2026

  (Sharecast News) - Households will face the steepest summer rise in energy charges in four years after months of soaring market prices caused the government's energy price cap for Great Britain to climb by 13%. Under the cap the average gas and electricity bill will increase to the equivalent of £1,862 a year from July until the end of September to take account of the rise in global energy market prices caused by the war on Iran. - Guardian

• Tuesday newspaper round-up: Meta, British businesses, Eurowag

  Tuesday 26 May 2026

  (Sharecast News) - Rachel Reeves has instructed cabinet colleagues to award government contracts in four critical industries directly to British companies, making clear her irritation that ministers have been sending too much government business abroad. In a letter seen by the Guardian, the chancellor tells every cabinet minister in charge of a spending department to "buy British" wherever possible, adding that she is disappointed they are not already doing so. - Guardian

• Sunday newspaper round-up: Food prices, Modella Capital, Iran peace deal, Nigel Farage, White House shooting, Rachel Reeves, EU

  Sunday 24 May 2026

  (Sharecast News) - Food prices were expected to climb after ministers decided not to scrap the £2bn Extended Producer Responsibility packaging levy, The Times reported. Defra officials told industry leaders the scheme, which charges producers and online retailers for every item of packaging used, will remain in place, despite Bank of England estimates that it would add around 0.5% to food inflation. The paper said the decision comes as households already face higher supermarket bills linked to the US and Israel's conflict with Iran, with the cenntral bank warning inflation could reach 6.2% by early 2027 and food inflation as high as 7%.

• Friday newspaper round-up: Cancelled govt projects, oil and gas tax raid, recession risk

  Friday 22 May 2026

  (Sharecast News) - Cancelled government projects such as the Rwanda deportation scheme and the road tunnel under Stonehenge are wasting billions of pounds of taxpayer money a year, parliament's spending watchdog has found. About £6.6bn was written off by government departments last year alone - state spending that did not achieve its intended objectives or create any value for the taxpayer, the public accounts committee said. - Guardian

• Thursday newspaper round-up: Jeff Bezos, JLR, OpenAI

  Thursday 21 May 2026

  (Sharecast News) - Rachel Reeves is to promise free summer bus rides for children and cut tariffs on some food imports, as part of a package of measures aimed at easing the costs of the Iran conflict. The chancellor will give a statement in the House of Commons on Thursday, outlining her latest plans for cushioning the blow to consumers from an expected rise in inflation later this year. - Guardian

• Wednesday newspaper round-up: Shell, Berkeley, Deutsche Bank

  Wednesday 20 May 2026

  (Sharecast News) - The cost of the government's £38bn nuclear plant in Suffolk is subject to "significant uncertainty" and may outweigh the benefits for UK households until at least 2064, according to the government's spending watchdog. The National Audit Office (NAO) has warned that although the potential benefits of the Sizewell C nuclear plant are considerable, they remain uncertain. The risks, however, are "immediate, substantial and borne by the public". - Guardian

• Tuesday newspaper round-up: Thames Water, Elon Musk, youth unemployment

  Tuesday 19 May 2026

  (Sharecast News) - A rescue deal for Thames Water is under threat because of a potential change in prime minister, government insiders have said. Ministers are negotiating a takeover deal for the stricken water company with a consortium of creditors led by American investment firm Elliott Management. But government sources said that deal, which some expected to be concluded this month, has run into problems in part because of the uncertainty surrounding Keir Starmer's position as prime minister. - Guardian

• Monday newspaper round-up: Thames Water, NCP, EY, property taxes

  Monday 18 May 2026

  (Sharecast News) - The worsening fallout from the Iran war is forcing businesses to halt their UK investment and hiring plans, bosses have warned, as Britain enters a renewed period of political and economic instability. More than two months into the US-Israeli war on Iran, leading surveys of UK employers showed companies were increasingly prioritising cost management over growth as rising costs and global uncertainty weigh on confidence. - Guardian

• Friday newspaper round-up: Postal deserts, Philip Morris, Applied Materials, Elon Musk

  Friday 15 May 2026

  (Sharecast News) - The owner of WH Smith's former high street business is aiming to change contracts with the Post Office to make it easier to close outlets within its stores, increasing fears that communities will become "postal deserts". TG Jones operates 180 post offices and it is understood that as many as 60 could be closed under a restructuring plan by Modella, the private equity group that renamed the WH Smith high street chain as TG Jones after buying it last year. - Guardian

• Thursday newspaper round-up: Farage, Crispin Odey, Sam Altman

  Thursday 14 May 2026

  (Sharecast News) - Nigel Farage is facing a formal investigation by the parliamentary standards watchdog over a £5m gift from the crypto billionaire Christopher Harborne. The Reform UK leader received the money weeks before announcing he would stand as a candidate in the 2024 general election. - Guardian

• Wednesday newspaper round-up: Elon Musk, JPMorgan CEO, Carillion

  Wednesday 13 May 2026

  (Sharecast News) - Donald Trump is due to arrive in Beijing on Wednesday evening, the first visit to China by a US president in nearly a decade, as he seeks to mend power and prestige weakened by the war in Iran. Trump will bring tech leaders, including Elon Musk of Tesla and Tim Cook of Apple, and plans for headline-grabbing deals. He has said he expects China's leader, Xi Jinping, would "give me a big, fat hug when I get there". - Guardian

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