Unemployment, GDP and inflation data will soon show us more about UK economy
Getty Images So far 2023 has seen some false dawns for the UK economy. The next few weeks’ data are critical. Recession has been avoided but growth has bumped along the bottom. And even as inflation falls from the double-digit levels of a year ago, it has proven more stubborn and sticky, and spread to […]
How to divide food sold to the EU
Andrew Walker BBC World Service economics correspondent Getty Images Here’s a Brexit recipe: lamb with grapes and lemon. I haven’t tried it, but the recipe does exist and it looks delicious in the pictures I’ve seen. It also gives us the ingredients for looking at one of the food issues that comes up as the […]
Vloggers rekindling the joys of India train journeys
Cherylann Mollan BBC News, Mumbai Himanshu Yadav / BBC Himanshu Yadav belongs to a growing community of vloggers who are documenting train travel in India The video begins with the chugging sound of a train in motion. A yellow board with Rameswaram written in black lets you know you’re departing the island town in India’s […]
KFC first UK fast food chain to promise better chicken welfare standards
Getty Images Kentucky Fried Chicken is the first fast food chain in the UK to commit to better chicken welfare standards. The idea is to work with suppliers to make sure there are minimum standards across the industry by 2026. It means the birds will have more space, natural light and can perch and flap […]
Sainsbury’s to cut 3,500 jobs and close 420 Argos stores
AFP Sainsbury’s is to cut 3,500 jobs with the closure of 420 Argos outlets and all its meat, fish and deli counters. The 420 standalone Argos stores will close by March 2024, although Sainsbury’s said it would open 150 Argos outlets in its supermarkets. Boss Simon Roberts said Sainsbury’s was responding to changing consumer habits […]
UK forests ‘could do more harm than good’
Roger Harrabin BBC environment analyst JEFF OVERS Mass tree planting in the UK could harm the environment if not planned properly, a report warns. The report comes from the Natural Capital Committee (NCC), which says planting trees into peat bogs would prove a serious mistake. Peat locks up vast quantities of carbon – but trees […]
Bus services in Wales face cliff edge cuts, industry warns
David Deans and Daniel Davies BBC Wales Getty Images Passengers could see reduced services or routes scrapped altogether once pandemic-era funding ends in the summer, the bus industry has said. The Bus Emergency Scheme (BES) is set to end in June. With fewer people now using buses than in 2019, one industry boss warned of […]
Judge blocks Trump plan to put thousands of staff on leave
Getty Images A judge has temporarily blocked President Donald Trump from placing 2,200 workers at the US Agency for International Development (USAID) on paid leave, hours before it was due to happen. Judge Carl Nichols issued a “limited” temporary restraining order, in response to a last-minute lawsuit filed by two unions trying to save the […]
Red diesel rules a ‘Tory cash grab dressed as environmental measure’
Getty Images/skaman306 From April the construction and manufacturing sectors will no longer be able to use cheaper red diesel to operate machinery New rules restricting the use of red diesel are a government “cash grab dressed up as an environmental measure”, an industry representative has said. Gordon Best, from the Mineral Products Association NI, said […]
North Korean TV appears to show early ‘A-bomb photo’
Alistair Coleman BBC Monitoring Korea Central TV Delegates don’t seem aware of the importance of this photograph of former leader Kim Jong-il North Korean TV footage of an arms and munitions industry conference appears to show the country’s former leader Kim Jong-il inspecting one of the country’s first ever atomic bombs. The photograph, never before […]