Business
CSBN News business coverage tracks public markets, mergers and acquisitions, fintech, and the companies behind the headlines. We focus on the decisions executives make and the consequences for workers, investors, and customers. Our reporting is fact-based, attribution-led, and resists the temptation to dress up market moves as narrative.
May 24, 2026More in Business
In Cambridge, a paycheck no longer keeps workers out of the food bank
The UK's most unequal city is now feeding employed residents through subsidised food clubs, raising questions about whether wages or housing will ever catch up.
UK spends £25 on youth benefits for every £1 on jobs help, Milburn finds
The former Labour health secretary's interim NEET review lands on a government still bruised by last summer's welfare rebellion, and questions whether spending more on job schemes can fix a crisis now driven by mental…
Why your ice cream costs $6.49: a coconut, cocoa and corporate crisis
A record-hot summer pushed American ice cream prices to all-time highs. The deeper story runs through Philippine biodiesel mandates, West African droughts, and the breakup of the world's biggest ice cream company.
Frasers rebrands Castleford outlet 'Leeds'. The real story is a credit product.
Mike Ashley's retail group has slapped a city name and a buy-now-pay-later brand on a 26-year-old shopping centre built on a former Yorkshire colliery. Locals aren't impressed. The strategy underneath is bigger than the…
Trump tells new Fed chair Warsh to be 'totally independent' after year-long Powell feud
At a White House ceremony, the president urged Kevin Warsh to ignore him on rates. The bigger question is whether Warsh can ignore his own divided board.
Swatch shuts UK stores as £335 Audemars Piguet pocket watch sparks global crowd chaos
The Royal Pop, Swatch's first collaboration with a luxury watchmaker outside its own group, drew overnight queues and police callouts from Manchester to Miami.
Reeves's summer VAT cut: the rare Treasury plan that didn't leak
The Chancellor's £300m holiday giveaway landed without a pre-briefing trail. The bigger tell, BBC's Chris Mason argues, is what she left out.
VAT cut on theme parks and kids' meals: who actually pockets the £300m?
Chancellor Rachel Reeves has slashed VAT to 5% on UK family attractions and children's meals for ten weeks this summer. The catch: operators decide whether to pass it on.
EasyJet's 'don't panic' summer rests on a 72% hedge and a Russian fuel workaround
CEO Kenton Jarvis says there are no jet fuel shortages at any EasyJet airport. The same week, the UK quietly reopened the door to Russian-refined fuel.
UK signs £3.7bn Gulf trade deal, drops the rights clause Labour once demanded
Britain becomes the first G7 nation to strike a free trade agreement with the six-state GCC bloc, but the pact lands without the human rights protections Labour championed in opposition.
York sixth-formers built a prom-dress shop. Their school's business class tripled.
Dress2Impress at Huntington School is opening a permanent on-site store next to a curriculum experiment: social enterprise as graded coursework. Applied Business enrolment has jumped from 7 to 26.
UK pledges £120m for ceramics, but gas-price gap remains
Chancellor Rachel Reeves unveiled a rescue package for Stoke-on-Trent's battered potteries, yet structural questions over industrial gas pricing are unresolved and the money arrives too late for Denby.
Streeting's £12bn 'wealth tax that works' is really a CGT fix
The former Health Secretary's leadership pitch revives a reform economists have urged for years. The maths, and the entrepreneur carve-out, are shakier than the headline.
UK borrows £24.3bn in April as gilt premium and Iran war bite
Record debt-interest costs of £10.3 billion drove the worst April deficit since the pandemic, as bond markets price in a Starmer leadership crisis.
BBC's Laura Pomfret tackles CCJs as UK court judgments hit post-pandemic high
The Morning Live finance expert's explainer on County Court Judgments lands as Registry Trust data shows small consumer debts, not big defaults, are driving a record surge.
UK food tariff cut works out to 10p off the weekly shop
Chancellor Rachel Reeves billed the £150m suspension as cost-of-living relief. The Food and Drink Federation's own maths put the household benefit at about £5.20 a year.
UK county court judgments hit post-pandemic high, driven by sub-£500 debts
Registry Trust logged nearly 1.2 million new CCJs across the UK and Ireland in 2025. The median value is falling, and only one in twenty is ever paid in full.
Vietnam's $530K Birkin auction is a sideshow to a $9 billion debt
Two Hermès bags seized from convicted tycoon Truong My Lan drew 119 bids and global headlines. They barely dent what Hanoi still needs to recover.
Meta Layoffs, a Divided Fed, and Quiet Prison Reforms: Wednesday Briefing
Mark Zuckerberg's AI restructuring claims its first 8,000 jobs, the FOMC splits over rates as Powell exits, and state lawmakers move on criminal justice while Washington stays silent.
Drug Companies Are Focusing on the Poor After Decades of Ignoring Them
After years of chasing wealthy markets, big drugmakers are courting low-income patients with tiered prices and access programs. The question is whether the shift is conscience, strategy, or both.
Silicon Valley CEO Steps Down Amid College Bribery Scandal
A prominent technology executive has resigned after being named in the federal college admissions case dubbed Operation Varsity Blues, putting boardroom governance and reputational risk back in the spotlight.