The Guardian Articles

Premium food, clothing and technology purchases are expected to drive a 5% jump in festive spending to £22.7bn this year, according to figures that suggest UK consumers will outstrip the first post-pandemic Christmas in 2021.

The average spending on gifts and celebrations is expected to rise from £416 to £433 …

Tesla lobbied the UK government to strengthen rules on carbon emissions from cars and lorries, according to documents that also show the electric carmaker continued to push for increased taxes on fossil fuel cars.

The US carmaker, which is run by Elon Musk, pushed for the British government to strengthen …

In July 2022, the prevailing political mood in Germany was grim. The economic powerhouse was on the brink of a recession, with Russia threatening to cut off its gas supplies. There were widespread fears of a decline in prosperity. The gloss was beginning to wear off Olaf Scholz’s coalition government.

Rugby Australia has declared it wants to be the sport’s No 1 nation by 2029 in a strategic plan launched on Tuesday that flags job cuts at head office if an anticipated revenue windfall led by broadcast negotiations currently underway is not forthcoming.

RA and Channel Nine – the code’s …

Rachel Reeves has ordered Whitehall departments to submit their spending plans to “challenge panels” of private sector experts, including bankers, as part of her forthcoming spending review.

Formally kicking off the next phase of the spending review process, the chancellor said she was determined to wield an “iron fist against …

Not that the foreign secretary was trying to take any of the credit for the collapse of the Assad regime, but without the UK standing firm then the dictator would have been around a lot longer. Just saying. Only maybe things weren’t entirely that simple. Because David Lammy had given …

Keir Starmer has defended his trip to Saudi Arabia, saying it was needed to fulfil his “number one mission” of growing the UK economy.

Speaking during a visit to Riyadh, where he met the Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman, the prime minister said his “sole intention” there was to …

The increasingly frenzied cycle of claim and counter-claim over the impact of “affordability checks” on punters on the sport’s revenue stream from betting moved through several gears at once last week, with “out of control”, “unaccountable” and “thorough misunderstanding” among the accusations being thrown in one direction or the other.

Brian Lockwood, a member of the last Great Britain team to win the Rugby League World Cup and a four-time Challenge Cup winner, has died aged 78. Once described as “tough as teak and polished as mahogany”, he combined the resilience of a stereotypical rugby league forward with the mercurial …

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George Osborne is a walking ad for a wealth tax. Labour should target the inheritocracy, 3 December