Monday 14 November

HUNT: TAX RISES ARE ON THE WAY

STEFAN BOSCIA

JEREMY HUNT yesterday warned that taxes would rise for everyone in his autumn statement as he laid the ground for “bad news” this week.

The chancellor said the government “will be asking everyone for sacrifices”, but that there is “only so much we can ask” from low income workers.

Hunt is expected to raise between £55bn and £60bn on Thursday through a mixture of spending cuts and tax hikes as he tries to manage government borrowing.

There has been speculation this will include further freezes on income tax thresholds, a lowering of the top income tax bracket from £150,000

to £125,000 and a hike in capital gains tax.

The UK’s debt pile has ballooned following a series of costly support packages to help the country through the Covid-19 pandemic and reduce the pain caused by the steep rise in energy bills.

Hunt yesterday said “sound money has to come first” because of the “mistakes” made by former Prime Minister Liz Truss and ex-Chancellor Kwasi

It comes as the Bank of England recently predicted that the UK will be in a recession for two years from early 2023.

“I want people to understand that

although these are difficult decisions, we will be doing it in a way that means that we get through to the other side,” Hunt told the BBC.

He also said he would outline how the UK can “make a success” out of Brexit, while admitting that leaving the EU has dented the UK economy.

“I don’t deny there are costs to a decision like Brexit, but there are also opportunities and you have to see it in the round,” Hunt said.

Labour shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves said the government had to make some difficult decisions, but that public services should be protected.

“The decisions and choices that Labour would be making would make our tax system fairer and grow the economy so we’ve got the money for those essential public services,” she told the BBC.

THE CITY must provide “financial resilience” to help the UK get through the incoming recession, according to the new Lord Mayor of London.

Writing in City A.M. today, Nicholas Lyons, who is the 694th holder of the post, said that the “financial services industry must find ways to help people bridge this crisis by providing insurance premium waivers, affordable credit, and debt repayment deferrals.”

“I know that the economy is facing

hard times, but it is imperative on us to act now,” he said.

Lyons was elected in September and had his first official engagement on Saturday at the Lord Mayor’s Show –one of London’s longest-standing and most colourful traditions.

The three-mile procession, consisting of 133 floats and 6,500 people, began near the Royal Exchange in Bank, and finished in Aldwych.

The new Elizabeth line now allows you to take one train all the way from Ealing Broadway to Canary Wharf in 34 minutes

Bringing more of London together

Faster than previous Elizabeth line journeys. Based on average off-peak journey times.

STEFAN BOSCIA

STANDING UP FOR THE CITY

Leaders that wish to avoid costly collapses should learn to listen

ONE of the stars of England’s win in the T20 World Cup was a man who, at the start of the year, was as likely to be playing in the final as any of our journalists. Alex Hales has had a checkered career –a fantastic batsman, he has been all to close to front-page controversy (Hales was with Ben Stokes on the infamous night in Bristol that somehow or other ended up in a late night scrap) and back-page

THE CITY VIEW

ignominy (failed drug tests saw him banned from the England side for years). Earlier this year, the new boss of English cricket Rob Key, having watched Hales triumph over all-comers in various far-flung corners of the cricketing world, wanted to bring

Hales –who had served his time –back into the fold. The captain, Jos Buttler, had no objection, but a variety of other senior players were asked before Hales was recalled. Bringing him back in some ways went against much of the last few years of English cricket’s direction of travel –but it was a risk well-managed, with open eyes and clear minds. He was superb in the tournament, with two match-winning knocks. What has this got to do with the

business world, you might be entitled to ask. Simply putleadership. Because the important story is not Hales, but Key and Buttler.

It is a welcome reminder that even in the largest corporates, it is CEOs that set the tone, and the path, of a business.

Which brings us, circuitously, to the story of crypto hero-to-zero Sam Bankman-Fried.

“SBF” defined FTX; he viewed his mission, seemingly, in almost

messianic terms. That, as much as crypto’s volatility, did it for FTX. Like much of the industry. He refused to listen to the voices that said: slower, smarter, sustainable. The other tech bosses who are becoming bigger than their teams, or their companies, may wish to remember that. Former prime ministers may too have done well to heed such advice.

We wonder if Elon Musk was watching the cricket.

FT

TELEGRAPH

RISING COST OF LIVING FORCING RETIREES TO WORK

Reed has said it has seen a surge in job applications from people coming out of retirement ahead of a feared recession and a potential fall in the number of jobs. There was an eight per cent in overall job applications in October.

THE TIMES

THE HEDGE FUND THAT PAYS STAFF £3M EACH

The Times reports on Quadrature capital, a little-known algorithmic trading hedge fund that paid out £356.7m to staff in 2021-22, an average pay packet of £3.6m. The fund is said to be worth more than £3bn.

UK needs a more organised approach to combat fraud, argues Baroness Morgan

THE UK needs a more streamlined way to combat fraud instead of relying on the “alphabet soup” of agencies that currently operate, Baroness Nicky Morgan has said.

Morgan, a former digital and culture secretary, said the UK is a “world leader” in digital fraud and that there are “far too many agencies and regulators and bodies” involved in monitoring it.

The House of Lords’ Fraud Act 2006 and Digital Fraud Committee, which Morgan chairs, released a 190-page report into fraud on Saturday.

It found that the UK justice system was

ill-equipped to fight fraud, making the country a “lucrative market” for scammers from overseas.

The report said law enforcement agencies are “chronically underfunded for the fight” and that “only a paltry one per cent of law enforcement is focused on tackling economic crime”.

Fraud is the most commonly experienced crime in Britain, with scammers taking more than £1bn each year.

Morgan told Times Radio yesterday: “We know that if there are lots of different bodies, that ultimately, you know, responsibility can be transferred or deflected to somebody else.

“You’ve got to have a mechanism whereby all those different bodies cannot, they’ve got to come together, they’ve got to be tasked by the Prime Minister, the home secretary downwards, this is a problem, you have got to work together to solve.”

She also called for a “cabinet subcommittee on the topic of fraud” that would be chaired by security minister Tom Tugendhat. Tugendhat said in the Fraud Act 2006 and Digital Fraud Committee report that the UK was “one of the very few jurisdictions in the world that allows for pretty much instantaneous transfers” of money.

STEFAN BOSCIA

REMEMBRANCE OF OUR FALLEN Leaders from across the political spectrum yesterday attended a ceremony at the Cenotaph led by King Charles as his first service as monarch

AI GIVING GODLIKE POWERS TO INSURERS, WARNS CHIEF

Mikio Okomura, the boss of one of Japan’s biggest insurers, has warned that artificial intelligence is giving insurers the ability to make predictions on the weather , senile dementia and natural disasters that “only God knew”.

THE NATIONAL Cyber Security Centre has launched a national Cyber Aware campaign to provide shoppers with advice ahead of Black Friday and the Christmas period. Consumers are to be warned to be cautious in regards to who they purchase from.

BLACK FRIDAY WARNING Shoppers are warned of scams ahead of Black Friday

Calls for crypto regulation after collapse of FTX

JAMES SILVER

THE DRAMATIC collapse of crypto exchange FTX has shown the “weaknesses” of the entire industry, the US’ Treasury Secretary has said.

Janet Yellen told reporters over the weekend that the digital assets industry needs “very careful” regulation after the latest high-profile bankruptcy.

The demise of FTX — an exchange which last week suffered the equivalent of a bank run that it found impossible to meet — is the latest in a recent run of failures in the crypto market.

Over the weekend more questions were asked about the exchange which had been regarded as a darling of the industry. Viewers of England’s victory in the T20 cricket World Cup at the weekend would still have seen FTX adverts on the pitch.

Last week FTX, which had frozen withdrawals, said it would allow cus-

tomers in its Bahamian HQ to withdraw assets to comply with regulation in the Caribbean island. Authorities there however said it has issued no instructions to that regard and did not favour preferential withdrawals for any customers.

Regulation of the crypto market, which was designed from the off to be difficult for traditional watchdogs and central banks to oversee, now seems inevitable due to the increasing number of ordinary members of the public with significant sums invested in crypto coins and digital assets.

A pandemic-era boom propelled by growing savings accounts and celebrity promotion saw crypto’s most famous product, Bitcoin, rise to record highs.

However a barrage of negative publicity, interest rate hikes and now regulatory attention has seen the price of a single Bitcoin collapse by almost $50,000 in just a year, to below $17,000.

Ashley’s Frasers Group set to take control of Gieves & Hawkes

BENJAMIN JAGLOM

BRITISH billionaire Mike Ashley’s Frasers Group is set to take over Gieves & Hawkes, the Savile Row-based tailor that traces its history to 1771.

The retail empire is in advanced talks to buy the renowned brand, Sky News reported last night.

Since the pandemic there has been

a reduction in demand for tailored suits as workers in its core market in the City have increasingly opted to work from home.

Gieves & Hawkes holds a number of Royal Warrants and has close ties to the British armed forces. The firm’s previous Hong Kong-based owners Wing Tai Properties fell into liquidation earlier this year.

UK business confidence falls to record low

CITY AM REPORTER

BUSINESS confidence has fallen in the UK to its lowest level since 2009 but remains positive and ahead of other European countries.

The net balance of firms expecting business activity to increase over the next 12 months fell to 18 per cent in the latest UK Business Outlook quarterly survey by Accenture and S&P Global, a figure that has not been seen since the global financial crisis 13 years ago.

This compares with 28 per cent at the end of June and 56 per cent in February. However, despite the drop, the outlook maintained a positive trajectory with 12 out 14 sectors anticipating growth.

Companies in Germany and Spain gave negative projections for the next year while the global average was 17 per cent, also behind the UK.

Accenture’s Simon Eaves said business confidence has understandably shaken firms but British companies were showing resilience. “Hiring plans remain positive and overall optimism, whilst muted, is higher than many of our European counterparts,” he said.

Gieves & Hawkes has been effected by a reduction in demand for tailored suits

Ofgem told last resort process in need of reform

NICHOLAS EARL

OFGEM has to review the administration process for suppliers, with households set to foot a £2.7bn bill to clean up the energy market, a leading Westminster body of MPs has warned.

In its report into energy regulations, the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) argued the supplier of last resort process, which has ferried millions of customers from fallen firms to surviving suppliers, and the special administration regime which housed Bulb Energy for 11 months, had to be reassessed.

It has called on BEIS and Ofgem to come up with an action plan to reform the process.

PAC argued that while both systems “ensured that customers did not experience a discontinuation of their supply”, the schemes came at a “considerable financial cost” with the risk of further exits from the energy market still high.

The cost of compensating suppliers for taking on new loss-making customers amid soaring wholesale costs climbed to £2.7bn for the nearly 30 suppliers that exited the market over the past 15 months.

This equates to around £94 per customer, with these costs being clawed back from customers through a charge on their record energy bills.

While soaring gas prices and the constraints of the price cap were key factors in the market crisis, PAC argued that Ofgem’s approach to licensing new energy suppliers was too lenient and failed to take sufficient scrutiny of licence applicants’ financial situations.

Meanwhile, the government has spent £900m on Bulb Energy since it fell into administration, and budgeted an additional £1bn for 2023-23.

However, the final cost to customers of government support for Bulb Energy could climb to £4bn before it is offloaded to Octopus.

ECIU: Cut gas imports by insulating homes

INSULATING the UK’s entire housing stock to a basic level of loft and wall insulation could reduce gas demand by 20 per cent, according to new research from the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit (ECIU).

It has calculated that ramping up insulation in line with energy performance certificate grades of C or

UK told to focus on domestic energy production as import bill soars to £39bn

CITY A.M. REPORTER

OFFSHORE Energies (OEUK) has said the UK should make the most of its domestic resources after ONS figures revealed its bill for imported oil, gas and electricity so far this year stands at a staggering £39bn.

The figure represents the net import bill between January and September 2022 and a five-fold

increase compared to the same period last year.

OEUK, the trade association for the UK offshore energies industry, said further hikes could be on the way, especially when uncertainty over the future of the North Sea with regards to new taxes and regulations means production is falling.

Deirdre Michie, CEO of OEUK, said: “While the UK will always import and

export energy it makes sense that we make the most of the resources in our own backyard [and] all the benefits that brings such as generating UK taxes, jobs and energy security.

“Shortfalls in domestic gas production must be met by imports to help heat homes, power businesses and support UK manufacturing.”

Around 24m UK homes rely on gas for heating.

higher this decade could save up to 384 terawatt hours (TWh) of gas between 2030 and 2035.

This is equivalent to a fifth (20 per cent) of current total annual household gas demand and 11 per cent of overall gas imports. It is also vastly above Rystad’s forecasts of 118TWh of gas which could be produced by new ‘already approved’ North Sea fields over the same period.

This could save households vast sums of money, with ECIU forecasting that lowering the average household from band D to C could lower gas bills by £1,944 by the start of 2030.

However, the group warned the government is set to fall short of its target of all homes reaching band C by 2035. It expects just 150,000 homes will benefit from energy efficiency installations this year.

The OEUK said that the UK should make the most of its domestic resources

The ECIU said that improving insulation had the potential to save some households £1,944 a year by 2030

NICHOLAS EARL

Badenoch bids to boost trade ahead of US trip

STEFAN BOSCIA

THE UK and US must show the world that “muscular liberalism and free trade are a force for good”, trade secretary Kemi Badenoch has said before her trip to Washington.

The Department for International Trade said Badenoch, who is leaving today, would “promote UK-US trade” during her trip while speaking out against protectionism.

Badenoch will meet with US Treasury deputy secretary Wally Adeyemo and members of Congress during her first trip to the US as trade secretary.

It comes after exPrime Minister Liz Truss said in September that the UK would not be striking a post-Brexit

trade deal with the US any time soon and that negotiations were not due to begin again.

Badenoch said last night that she was in Washington “to boost our trading relationship further and work with allies on critically important issues like strengthening supply chains”.

“We need to make the global economy resilient to future shocks,” she said. “Now is the time to roll up our sleeves and show how muscular liberalism and free trade are a force for good in the world.”

The White House has previously told UK officials there will be no trade deal unless the UK can sort out a solution to the Northern Ireland Protocol with the EU.

Badenoch said she would push ‘muscular liberalism’

says is a ‘crisis’ in NHS funding

Sunak has ‘last chance’ to save crisis-ridden NHS, warns union

ALAN JONES

A LEADING trade union will today give a message to the Prime Minister that strikes may be the only option to save the NHS.

As growing numbers of health workers vote on industrial action, Unite will launch an advertising campaign across the country calling on Chancellor Jeremy Hunt and Prime

Minister Rishi Sunak to use this week’s autumn statement to avert a funding crisis “engulfing” the NHS.

Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said: “Services are at breaking point while workers are struggling to make ends meet. The blame for this lies squarely with the government.

“That’s why Unite’s ad campaign is warning the PM that it’s his last chance to save the NHS.”

SMEs fear ‘cliff edge’ energy bills in April

NICHOLAS EARL

NEARLY half of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) fear they will not be able to pay their energy bills once the government’s support package ends next March, according to a new survey from the British Chambers of Commerce.

A further four per cent believe they will not be able to pay their energy bills at all, while 37 per cent predict they will find it difficult to pay even when they are in receipt of government support.

Over four in ten (41 per cent) SMEs disagreed that tariffs available the last time they renewed their contract were affordable. A further 29 per cent revealed a range of tariff options was not available, while almost a quarter did not feel it was easy to change providers.

PA

The Energy Bills Relief Scheme aims to protect businesses on fixed term contracts with a cap on unit rate pricing from October to April next year. This has been set at £211 per megawatt hour (MWh) for electricity and £75 per MWh for gas, substantially below the rates of current wholesale prices.

Unite is to launch an advertising campaign on what it

Some train services will be affected as we work to improve the railway. So, check before you travel.

Businesses call on Hunt to boost tourism to unlock regional growth

ILARIA GRASSO MACOLA

BUSINESSES today called on Chancellor Jeremy Hunt to boost regional growth by investing in travel and tourism.

Advocacy group BusinessLDN has called for the reintroduction of VAT-free shopping for international arrivals, as well as ramping up Border Force personnel to speed up

queues at airports and easing visa processes for low-risk visitors.

The campaigners say the measures should be included in this week’s Budget. They argue they will be at no extra cost to the taxpayer and, by having tourists visit the wider country and not just London, will unlock regional growth of £1.3bn.

“We must bang the drum for London and the South East as the

UK’s main front door and then better distribute the incoming visitors,” said chief executive John Dickie.

Dickie’s comments echoed those of Mark Tanzer, boss of tourism trade body ABTA, who lobbied with the government to ensure this week’s budget allows the travel sector to “recover and thrive”. The Treasury and the Department for Levelling Up were approached for comment.

Sadiq Khan says London renters facing a ‘crisis’

EMILY HAWKINS

SADIQ Khan has reiterated calls for an immediate rent freeze in the capital, as average London rental prices hit more than double that in other UK areas.

The Mayor of London said he would host an emergency summit over the challenges facing renters in the city, echoing previous calls for a two-year rent freeze.

Tenants have been whacked with “a triple whammy” of surging rents, bills and costs of household essentials, Khan said.

Data from Rightmove shows that London’s average advertised rent is £2,343 a month, £1,000 more than that in the South West and £1,564 more than in the North East.

Four in 10 renters in London were likely to struggle to make their rent payments in the next six months, according to polling by YouGov.

Ministers must act fast to introduce their planned renters reform legislation, as well as freezing rents,

Khan said, dubbing the situation a “crisis”.

A rent freeze would save renters an average of £2,988 over two years, which would be integral for families battling inflation, City Hall said.

However, the National Residential Landlords Association (NRLA) called news of the summit “disappointing in the extreme”.

The NRLA’s CEO, Ben Beadle, said the Mayor should “focus on boosting the number of homes available” and argued renters’ woes were down to a discrepancy in demand and supply for private rented homes.

Rent controls would “discourage investment and lead to declining property standards,” according to “evidence”, a department for levelling up, housing and communities spokesperson told City A.M.

The spokesperson said the government would bring forward its renters reform bill –which will ban section-21 ‘no-fault’ evictions –in this Parliament.

Average house price down over £4,000 this month as market slows

VICKY SHAW

THE AVERAGE price tag on a home fell by more than £4,000 in November compared with the previous month, according to a property website.

Across Britain, the average price of a newly marketed home in November is £366,999, Rightmove said.

The £4,159 drop in the average asking price compared with October equates to a 1.1 per cent month-on-month fall.

This is in line with the typical 1.1 per

cent drop recorded in the month of November during the pre-pandemic years of 2015 to 2019, Rightmove said, with sellers often pricing properties more competitively at this time of year.

Rightmove’s director of property science Tim Bannister said: “The firsttime buyer sector saw the biggest increase in activity during the market frenzy of the past two years, but is now facing the biggest challenges after the sudden jump in mortgage interest rates.”

Rightmove said the first-time buyer market was facing the biggest challenges

The Mayor of London is calling for a two year rent freeze

Burberry back in fashion this half, reckon analysts

AUGUST GRAHAM

EVEN the least optimistic analysts think Burberry will beat its pre-pandemic results for the first time since Covid-19 started, despite ongoing restrictions in China.

The business is expected to show a nearly one-fifth hike in its operating profit, reaching £230m in the six months to the end of September, when it reports its half-year results on Thursday. For Burberry it will be the first opening half to a year where it has made above £200m since 2019, before the pandemic started.

Even the least optimistic analysts think that the business will make £210m, according to a consensus forecast it compiles.

But it has not been a period without challenge for the retailer. Burberry has long relied heavily on selling to Chinese customers – both in the country itself and Chinese tourists abroad.

China’s zero-Covid policy

has weighed on the country’s shopping habits this year, although it loosened the rules on Friday as shops slashed prices for Singles Day – one of the biggest shopping days on the global calendar.

“Burberry has had a seat at the table at China’s shopping feast, Singles Day, and investors will be hoping that a sense of vitality returns to sales across this vast market given how sluggish they have been,” said Susannah Streeter, senior investment and markets analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown.

“It’s not just domestic demand which has been slow, hampered by ongoing lockdowns but as Burberry is highly reliant on China’s international tourists for sales, ongoing restrictions have also hurt revenues elsewhere.”

Analysts expect that Burberry will report a little over £1.3bn in revenue for the six months, up around nine per cent year-on-year.

Streeter said Burberry customers will not be feeling the pinch of the cost of living crisis as much as those that shop at cheaper brands.

Employers focusing on job quality as they grapple with hiring issues

CITY A.M. REPORTER

EMPLOYERS are focusing more on improving job quality as they grapple with hiring issues and retention amid a cost of living crisis.

While the expected median basic pay increase stands at four per cent, an inflation rate of 10.1 per cent will feel more like a pay cut to most workers, the Chartered Institute of

Personnel and Development (CIPD) said in its latest Labour Market Outlook report.

While more than a third of employers have increased wages in over the past year, the report also found nearly 30 per cent have offered more flexible working in a bid to support staff through the crisis.

It also said firms have strong hiring intentions, but 46 per cent of

employers are struggling to fill certain vacancies, and almost a quarter expected the number of hard-to-fill vacancies to rise.

CIPD labour market economist, Jon Boys, said: “Securing talent remains a pressing concern for organisations but it’s positive to see that many employers are looking at nonfinancial measures... to attract, retain and support employees.”

Clipper Ventures owners rock the boat as firm put on the market

ILARIA GRASSO MACOLA

THE OWNERS of Clipper Ventures will step back from running day-to-day operations as they look to put the company up for sale.

Founded in 1995, Clipper Ventures is the organisation behind the Clipper Round the World Yacht Race, one of the most famous amateur sailing competitions in the world.

“We are immensely proud of what the organisation has achieved to

support the growth of participation in sailing, whether that’s through our 12 editions of Clipper Round the World Yacht Race, sailing events, sailing school or expedition teams,” said co-founder William Ward.

Ward will become executive chairman while co-founder Sir Robin Knox-Johnston will take over as nonexecutive director and president as they look to exit their shareholdings. The pair approached FRP Corporate Finance to help find their business a new home.

The British fashion firm will post results on Thursday

The regatta restarted in March this year after a two-year hiatus due to the pandemic

Number of UK ‘B Corps’ pips 1,000 as data shows ethical firms do better

CITY A.M. REPORTER

THERE are now over 1,000 businesses in the UK that have been certified as meeting the highest standards for social and environmental performance.

The number of so-called B Corps in the UK has almost doubled from 564 at the end of 2021, with more than half based in London.

Meanwhile, certifier B Lab revealed data showing that British B Corps have a faster growth in turnover of 27 per cent, compared to five per cent for non-certified firms, and are also more successful in securing equity finance.

The data also found that B Corps have greater levels of employee retention, engagement and diversity as well as higher levels of

innovation.

Chris Turner, executive director at B Lab UK, said that while surpassing 1,000 was a huge milestone, there was still a long way to go.

“We urgently need business to step up and respond to the challenges of this moment, from acting on the climate emergency to tackling the cost of living,” he said.

Klarna amps up super-app aims with price tool

The feature is available from today, just in time for Black Friday amid retail’s lucrative ‘golden quarter’ ahead of Christmas.

KLARNA wants to become a super-app, “being your assistant for each and every step of your shopping journey,” one of the fintech firm’s top bosses told City A.M.

The buy-now pay-later (BNPL) firm has launched a search and compare tool in its Klarna App to enable shoppers to compare prices between retailers.

The new price comparison tool is set to act as a rival to Google or Amazon, while unlocking another revenue stream for Klarna.

It “could not come at a better time”, given shoppers were “feeling the pinch of rising costs of living” amid historic levels of inflation, David Sandstrom, Klarna chief marketing officer, said this morning.

“The long-term vision is for Klarna to become the world’s biggest affiliate network in the world,” he added.

It comes after Klarna last year clinched its largest acquisition to date when it swooped up Swedish price comparison website Pricerunner.

Klarna launched a similar tool in the US last month, but has now made it available to app users in the UK, Sweden and Denmark.

The feature will also boost the fintech’s affiliate revenue, a key pillar “as we steer towards profitability,” Sandstorm said.

Earlier this year, the BNPL giant revealed that losses more than tripled in the first six months of the year as it was hit by soaring employee costs and rising credit losses as it ramped up its expansion in the US.

The firm chalked the losses up to the costs of the integration of Pricerunner, an increase in “employee costs” and rising credit losses across the group on the back of a major growth push in the US and UK.

The mounting losses were published amid a turbulent period for the fintech giant after it was forced to slash its headcount by ten per cent in May as fintech and tech firms globally were hit by a major downturn.

Carbon ratings agency Bezero secures $50m in funding round

CITY A.M. REPORTER

BEZERO Carbon, a ratings agency for the voluntary carbon market, has received $50m in a Series B funding round — the largest raise in UK climate tech this year.

Investors included US firm Quantum Energy Partners as well as EDF Group, Hitachi Ventures and Intercontinental Exchange. These funds bring the total raised to $70m over the past 12 months and will be used to invest in new technology, staff and to expand into the

US and Singapore.

Bezero Carbon helps to interrogate a credit’s carbon efficacy, giving more confidence to investors and end-buyers in achieving their climate claim.

It has a global client base including major institutions from the energy, commodities and financial sectors as well as leading climate platforms. CEO, Tommy Ricketts, said: “We have a once in a generation opportunity to build environmental and ecological restoration into the heart of the economic model.”

EXCLUSIVE EMILY HAWKINS AND CHARLIE CONCHIE

The buy-now pay-later giant said it wanted to become the ‘world’s biggest affiliate network’

US prosecutors seeks 15 years for Elizabeth Holmes over Theranos fraud

THERANOS founder Elizabeth Holmes should spend 15 years in prison and pay $800m in restitution to investors defrauded in the blood testing startup, US prosecutors recommended late on Friday. The Department of Justice recommendation, made in a court filing, came as Holmes prepares to be sentenced next week.

“Considering the extensiveness of Holmes’ fraud... the sentencing of 180 months’ imprisonment would reflect

the seriousness of the offenses, provide for just punishment for the offenses, and deter Holmes and others,” the prosecutors said.

Holmes earlier urged US District Judge Edward Davila in San Jose, California not to send her to prison.

A jury convicted the 38-year-old on four counts of wire fraud and conspiracy in January. Each count carries a maximum 20-year prison term. Any sentence would likely be served concurrently. Prosecutors said she lied to investors from 2010 to

2015 by promising Theranos Inc’s technology could run many tests on one drop of blood from a finger prick.

Holmes had pleaded not guilty to charges that she lied about Theranos, including that its tech could detect diseases with a few drops of blood, and said the firm’s lab directors were in charge of test quality. On Monday, Davila rejected her requests for a new trial, including over a claim that a key prosecution witness visited her at home and made statements that undermined his testimony.

Twitter: Blue tick ‘probably’ back late next week

TWITTER’s $8 (£6.99) blue tick feature will “probably” come back at the end of next week, according to chief executive Elon Musk.

The serial entrepreneur announced the decision yesterday after being asked about it by Paul Jamil, chief executive of SEO platform Whatsmyserp. Twitter – which announced the paid feature’s introduction days after Musk’s $44bn takeover – paused it for the second time on Friday following a boom in fake accounts.

Used to verify the likes of politicians, newspapers and celebrities, the blue tick’s paid roll-out was introduced to help the platform increase revenue amidst a period of massive layoffs. Its roll-out was initially paused until after the US midterm elections to avoid the spread of fake news.

Twitter’s support account said on Friday it had added an “official” label to combat impersonation, as accounts pretending to be well-known companies and individuals flourished.

The stocks of pharmaceutical companies went down Friday after a fake account impersonating Eli Lilly tweeted that insulin was now free.

The company, whose shares slumped 4.37 per cent, was forced to apologise for the misunderstanding.

The weekend spelled additional trouble for the social media powerhouse as marketing conglomerate Omnicom advised its clients to pause their ad spending on Twitter for the time being.

In a memo seen by Reuters, Omnicom said Twitter’s ability “to maintain their previous level of brand safety measures and effectiveness seem impeded in the immediate term.”

Omnicom – whose clients include McDonald’s, Apple and Pepsi – is not the first one to pull out of Twitter following the takeover. Audi, General Motors and, more recently, Chipotle all took a step back to get a better understanding of where Twitter is headed.

Twitter and Omnicom were approached for comment.

Democrats retain control of the US Senate

STEFAN BOSCIA

THE DEMOCRATS have kept control of the US Senate, after Catherine Cortez Masto won her Nevada senatorial race in a nailbiting finish.

Senator Cortez Masto beat her Republican opponent Adam Laxalt by just 6,600 votes to give the Democrats 50 of 100 seats in the upper house, which gives the party a working majority as Vice President Kamala Harris can cast tie breaking votes as Senate speaker.

The Republicans are on track to narrowly win control of the House of Representatives from the Democrats, which will likely lead to two years of gridlock in Congress.

The Democrats’ efforts in keeping control of the Senate will mean they have the power to approve Joe Biden’s judicial appointments and set the legislative agenda.

The President said last night that he was “incredibly pleased”, after the Democrats performed better than expected in the midterm elections.

“I feel good, and I’m looking forward to the next couple of years,” Biden said.

New York senator Chuck Schumer said: “The American people rejected the anti-democratic extremist Maga Republicans.” The failure of a so-called “red wave” to materialise has been blamed by many senior Republicans on Donald Trump, who is expected to

announce his candidacy for the 2024 Presidential election tomorrow.

Many of Trump’s handpicked Senate candidates lost what were considered to be very winnable Senate seats in the election, after Democratic candidates and Biden framed the race as a fight for democracy.

All of Trump’s endorsed candidates for governor, state-level leaders who oversee the verification of Presidential election results, also lost in their contests.

Some senior Republicans are now urging the party to move away from the ex-President amid fears that his false claims about election fraud in 2020 are turning people away from the party.

Home working with bad broadband connection costs UK £60bn per year

ILARIA GRASSO MACOLA

WORKING from home with a poor broadband connection is costing the UK’s economy £60bn per year, according to recent research.

Figures from software company Actual Experience showed that technical issues with broadband have led to a loss of £1,000 per average

worker. IT issues created problems especially in the City, as it led to pricing errors when moving assets worth millions, the Sunday Telegraph first reported.

“Many people suffer from flawed access to the digital world,” Actual Experience’s chief executive Dave Page told the outlet.

“This digital friction is costing UK

businesses and the economy vast sums of money every year.”

The firm called on the government to guarantee tax breaks to companies that install fast and secure connections in their employees’ homes as the problem is set to increase as more workers maintain their hybrid or remote working habits.

BEIS was approached for comment.

ILARIA GRASSO MACOLA

Senator Cortez Masto beat her Republican opponent

ONS data found the number of people working from home has doubled since 2019

AKRITI SHARMA AND KANISHKA SINGH

Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes is facing 15 years in prison

Reuters

Dollars to doughnuts: Harry Kane invests in low-calorie confectionery

EXCLUSIVE EMILY HAWKINS

ENGLAND football captain Harry Kane has invested an undisclosed sum of cash in a low-calorie doughnut firm.

Urban Legend, which offers healthconscious shoppers a range of non-high fat, sugar and salt baked goods, has added the sports star to its list of investors.

The brand has inked £10m of investment in its first year of trading. Last year, it launched its doughnut

range, with 180-calorie products that on average have 50 per cent less fat and 30 per cent less sugar than market rivals.

An investment in the company “connects with my keen interest to encourage others to look after their health and for retailers to have healthier options more widely available,” Kane said.

The Tottenham Hotspur striker said he was excited to join the team as it pursues an “ambitious growth plan”.

Urban Legend founder Anthony

Fletcher said Kane’s backing was “a massive compliment to the brand”.

Kane has long been a public health advocate and recently founded his own foundation to change preconceptions about mental health and champion healthy living.

Urban Legend has a partnership with the country’s largest supermarket Tesco as well as its own stores in London’s Clapham Junction and Brighton. Its distribution portfolio also includes Sainsbury’s and Selfridges.

Nightcap takes stock amid cocktail of costs

EMILY HAWKINS

COCKTAIL bar operator Nightcap is slowing down its expansion programme as the sector faces “uncharted territory” this winter, CEO Sarah Willingham told City A.M.

In its annual report last week, the owner of The Adventure Bar Group, Barrio Familia and Cocktail Club brands cited increasing build costs as one reason to slow down plans for new site openings.

Nightcap also said trading in the first quarter of its new financial year had been “adversely impacted by record warm weather, train strikes and the cost of living crisis”.

While the London-listed business would not halt openings entirely, it would “be more cautious” with new sites, Willingham told City A.M. Willingham said her approach will be to focus on Nightcap’s core business, conserve cash and be cautious with growth. “In a bull market, it’s ‘grow, grow,’ in a bear [market], you have to keep an eye on every aspect of the business,” she said.

The group’s rapid expansion has seen it hit 36 sites, including a new Cocktail Club at Canary Wharf. A new Barrio site, billed as the world’s largest tequila bar, is also set to open in Covent

Garden soon.

Nightcap was in a “great position, with lots of cash in the bank”, yet the economic tumult meant it was sensible for the company to “take stock,” in the months to come, Willingham said.

Revenue at the group, which only launched in early 2021, has surged from £6m to £36m over the past year.

Adjusted earnings have also shot up from £0.2m to £3.3m.

Although Nightcap’s Gen Z and millennial clientele were “more resilient” than other groups, due to not being as affected by interest rates and energy prices, Willingham said consumer confidence was still “a lot lower than we have seen it before”.

She noted that punters had started somewhat shying away from bars at the start of the week, something “compounded” by multiple days of strike action this year.

Even with a base of younger punters still eager to splash their cash, there is “just no place for mediocrity” at the moment, Willingham said.

The business has been adapting to the current climate by amping up its number of bottomless brunches on offer this winter, to boost trade in traditionally quieter times such as weekend afternoons.

Byron burger chain scouts for new owners after pandemic wounding

EMILY HAWKINS

BURGER giant Byron may be poached by new owners, it was reported over the weekend.

The 20-site-strong restaurant brand was maimed during the pandemic, narrowly dodging insolvency.

Now, Sky News has reported that it is working with advisers on a

potential transaction, with sources claiming Byron’s owners had recruited Interpath Advisory.

Investment vehicle Calveton, which took control of Byron in 2020, is thought to be heading the launch for new investors.

Sky News reported that one option on the cards for the company could be another pre-pack administration.

This would see a buyer ready to acquire Byron’s assets without its liabilities.

Sources told the news organisation late last week that speculation about such an outcome was premature.

The report comes as the casual dining and hospitality sector struggles with historically low levels of consumer confidence.

The burger chain narrowly dodged insolvency during the pandemic

Harry Kane said the company aligned with his values of promoting a healthy lifestyle

Biden says US seeks no conflict with China ahead of G20 in Indonesia

NANGOY

UNITED STATES President Joe Biden will make clear in his bilateral meeting with Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping in Indonesia that his country seeks no conflict, a White House official said yesterday.

The two leaders are set to meet on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Bali this week for their first face-toface meeting since Biden took office in Jan. 2021. Jake Sullivan, a national security adviser to Biden, said the

meeting could last “a couple of hours”.

“The president sees the Unites States and China as being engaged in a stiff competition, but that competition should not tip over into conflict or confrontation,” Sullivan told reporters. “It needs to be managed responsibly... and there are also areas where we can work together.”

Sullivan said Biden would be “totally straightforward and direct” in his conversation with Xi,

continuing an approach he has pursued from the beginning of his presidency.

He said the administration was not seeking to “reset” the relationship, despite various issues and flashpoints that had emerged, but saw the meeting as a continuation of Biden’s approach.

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Biden would speak with reporters after his meeting with Xi, but declined to say if he would hold a full news conference.

Kherson success to keep going, vows Kyiv

UKRAINE’s president has vowed to keep pushing Russian forces out of his country after they withdrew from Kherson, leaving behind devastation, hunger and booby traps.

The Russian retreat from the city marked a triumphant milestone in Ukraine’s pushback against Moscow’s invasion almost nine months ago.

scenes. In his nightly video address on Saturday, President Volodymyr Zelensky vowed there will be “many more such greetings” of Ukrainian soldiers liberating Russian-held territory.

He pledged to the people in Ukrainian cities and villages that are still under occupation: “We don’t forget anyone; we won’t leave anyone.”

embarrassments.

It came some six weeks after

The US embassy in Kyiv tweeted

extraordinary victory” for Ukraine and “quite a remarkable thing”.

The reversal came despite Putin’s recent partial mobilisation of reservists, raising available troop numbers by some 300,000.

“Russian military leadership is trying and largely failing to integrate combat

and levels of skill and equipment into a more cohesive fighting force in Ukraine,” the Washington-based Institute for the Study of War, a think tank that tracks the conflict, commented.

British Defence Secretary Ben Wallace said the Kremlin would be “worried” by the loss of Kherson but warned against underestimating Moscow. PA

Ethiopia combatants sign deal to start laying out roadmap for peace

AYENAT MERSIE

THE ETHIOPIAN government and Tigrayan forces on Saturday signed an agreement laying out the roadmap for implementation of a peace deal that both sides reached in South Africa this month.

Liberation Front have been meeting in Nairobi since Monday to reach agreement on various aspects related to the implementation of the peace pact signed in Pretoria.

The war has to date killed almost 6000,000 people according to some estimates

Representatives from the Ethiopian government and the Tigray People’s

Saturday’s declaration is expected to boost efforts by the African Union mediators to resolve a two-year conflict that has killed thousands and displaced millions in the Horn of

Africa country. It will facilitate unhindered humanitarian access, provide security guarantees to aid workers, ensure the protection of civilians and establish a joint committee to oversee implementation, mediators said.

The deal will be put into effect “immediately”, mediator Olusegun Obasanjo told a news conference. Reuters

NANDITA BOSE AND FRANSISKA

Biden warned that ‘competition should not tip over into conflict or confrontation’

Russian President Vladimir Putin annexed the Kherson region and three other provinces in southern and eastern Ukraine in breach of international law and declared them Russian territory.

Reuters

CATEGORY

DAVID CARLISLE, ELLIPTIC

David Carlisle is Vice President of Policy and Regulatory Affairs at Elliptic, the global leader in cryptoassest risk management and regulatory compliance solutions. At Elliptic, David leads engagements with senior regulators and policymakers on topics related to cryptoassets, and advises enterprise clients on establishing regulatory compliance frameworks for crypto. His commentary on crypto-related policy developments has featured in City A.M., as well as the FT, Bloomberg, CNBC, CoinDesk, CoinTelegraph, and other media outlets. Before joining Elliptic, David worked for the US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Terrorism and Financial Intelligence, where he shaped US policies aimed at disrupting illicit finance. He is an associate fellow at the Royal United Services Institute, a UK think tank, where he has authored reports on regulatory issues impacting cryptoassets.

NICOLE SANDLER, BARCLAYS

Nicole is the Head of Digital Policy at Barclays. She focuses on the impact of FinTech and RegTech related regulation and initiatives including AI and DLT use cases (such as digital assets including cryptoassets and CBDCs) and also focuses on data policy matters. She regularly engages with policymakers globally including the FCA, BoE, ICO, EC, ECB, EBA, US Fed, CFTC, SEC, BIS, MAS and Japanese FCA. Further, she represents Barclays in various regulatory and policy forums and industry groups. For example, Nicole is on the EC’s Expert Group on Regulatory Obstacles to Financial Innovation, GFMA’s CBDC Taskforce, the EBF’s Crypto Expert Group and chairs the UK Finance New Forms of Digital Money SteerCo. In addition, she represented Barclays at both the Crypto-asset and Blockchain roundtable and Digital Identity roundtable at the European Parliament.

HELEN DISNEY, THE REALISATION GROUP

Helen Disney is a Director and Board Member of The Realization Group, a PR and Marketing agency leading at the intersection of traditional and decentralized finance. She is also the host of its Financial Markets Insights podcast. She is a serial entrepreneur who has founded three businesses including the creation and growth of a start-up with a turnover >£1m and 15+ employees. In 2017, she founded Unblocked, a well-known and respected hub for Blockchain insights, education, and events. She is now regarded as one of the best-known voices on Blockchain and cryptocurrency in the UK and is in demand as a speaker internationally. Helen has spoken at hundreds of major events globally alongside senior decision-makers including Presidents, Prime Ministers, MPs, and CEOs. She also curated and chaired the UK’s first major Blockchain Alternative Investment Conference.

ANISEED

Aniseed is the world’s first benefit driven conservation crowdfunding platform supporting all biodiversity projects, with a focus on rewilding, peatland restoration and replanting of seagrass. In addition, it aims to support local communities with a focus on rangers and their families. Aniseed will also fund the protection of individual endangered animals either at existing parks or those that have been licensed for hunting. It will use the platform to buy or licence these animals and then rewild them somewhere else. Once connected to the platform each project will also be able to launch their own unique NFT collections that depict real life flora, fauna, and biodiversity. The Aniseed platform is free for anyone to join and free for all NGOs to list their project. All NFT’s are carbon offset via its partners Wildlife Works. Aniseed aims to make supporting conservation transparent, engaging and fun.

REBALANCE EARTH

According to the IMF, a forest elephant is worth $40,000 dead for its ivory but $1.75m alive for the ecosystem services it performs within a forest, which includes carbon offsets. Our global economy’s failure to valuing a living nature and these ecosystem services fuels climate change, biodiversity loss and its consequential impact on global poverty. Rebalance Earth “rebalances” these market failures by offering households, companies and capital markets the opportunity to purchase ecosystem services credits from keystone species, such as forest elephants, to fight climate change, protect nature and lift communities out of poverty. The proceeds from these credits funds keystone species protection through wildlife justice initiatives and poverty-reducing investments in local communities, thus tying the welfare of the forest elephants to the local communities’ economic growth.

ZUMO

Zumo is a decentralised finance platform with the mission of bringing the benefits of blockchain technology and digital currencies to people and businesses everywhere. Zumo Enterprise, its B2B Crypto-as-a-Service platform, is an intelligent, embedded crypto solution fully regulated in the UK. Zumo App, its direct-toconsumer mobile application, allows individuals to exchange, store, send and spend cryptocurrency alongside their ordinary money.Founded in Edinburgh in 2017 by entrepreneurs Nick Jones and Paul Roach, Zumo is a purpose-driven fintech business with transparency, accessibility and financial inclusion at its core. Its staff are based in locations across Scotland, London and Slovenia. It is partner to WasteAid; member of CryptoUK; signatory of the Crypto Climate Accord; and supporter of the UN Global Compact.

CITY

YOUR ONE-STOP SHOP FOR BROKER VIEWS AND MARKET REPORTS

LONDON REPORT BEST OF THE BROKERS

All eyes on Hunt ahead of politically charged Autumn Statement

THE CITY — and global markets more generally — will be preparing for what looks set to be one of the most politically charged Autumn Statements on Thursday as investors await to see if the UK is ready to balance the books.

It comes after the disastrous fallout from the mini-budget in September that eventually led to the departure of former Prime Minister Liz Truss together with former Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng. Current Chancellor Jeremy Hunt is said to be planning a mix of spending cuts and tax rises.

The consensus forecasts are that there is a black hole in public finances estimated to stand at approximately £55bn. It is expected that this will be filled with circa £35bn in cuts and £20bn in tax rises.

Given the spike in gilt yields that took place after the earlier mini-budget, the

City is hoping that investors will see a clear plan for the UK to restore its battered fiscal credibility.

The Bank of England said earlier this month at its Monetary Policy Committee meeting that the UK economy was facing a “very challenging” outlook and the potential to have the longest recession since records began.

Factors cited by the government to explain the dismal outlook include the war in Ukraine and the global spike in global commodity prices that have hit businesses in the retail and hospitality sector particularly hard. Figures for retail sales for the year to date are also out this month, with consensus forecasts of a fall of 6.5 per cent.

This week will also see the release of inflation reports on an annual and monthby-month basis, with forecasts of 10.6 per cent for consumer price index inflation for the year to October.

Last week, net zero UK gas and infrastructure operator IOG said its stimulation of the Southwark A2 well was going to commence on Friday. There would be first gas at the end of the year. Production at its Southwark field is also to be connected this week, with production restarting by the end of November. Peel Hunt analysts said its target price and buy/sell stock recommendation was under review.

Housebuilder Redrow’s AGM update last week included some gloomy notes about the hit to the housing market from recent mortgage market instability. Private sales rates have dropped from 0.68 per site per week last year to 0.49. Peel Hunt analysts stuck with their overall profit expectations - recommending the stock as a Buy, with a target price of 658p.

NO PAIN NO GAIN

“Slowdowns would normally trigger a slew of measures aimed at boosting spend like VAT reductions and interest rate cuts. But those measures are not on the table, instead decision makers are faced with the unpalatable task of making things worse in a bid to finally make things better.”

DANNI HEWSON, AJ BELL

EDITED BY SASCHA O’SULLIVAN

A call to arms: where will we find tomorrow’s bright Whitehall leaders?

Eliot Wilson

IT IS one of the most common, and pointed, criticisms of government in this country now that we are not finding leaders properly equipped to take the United Kingdom into the middle of the 21st century. For all his sociopathic behaviour and sheer oddness, it was the mission of Dominic Cummings to solve that problem, and his voluminous blog takes the challenge head on. Last week, however, a new project was launched to try to find a solution.

You may not have heard of Dr Munira Mirza. From 2019 until earlier this year, she was head of the Downing Street Policy Unit, until Boris Johnson became too much for her and she resigned. She had previously been his deputy mayor for education and culture. Mirza is an unusual character in Conservative politics. The state-educated child of Pakistani immigrants, she was educated at Oxford and Kent before joining the Revolutionary Communist Party; after its implosion, she drifted to the right-wing think tank Policy Exchange and focused on the politics of culture, writing a book with that title in 2012. She also embraced Brexit.

Last week she launched an organisation called Civic Future. Its stated mission is to “open up public life by

identifying and educating talented young people in early or mid-career, as well as established leaders in the public, private and social sectors.” Specifically, it aims to provide “intellectual insight and practical training” to allow those with imagination and vision to negotiate the UK political system, in order to draw in future leaders from backgrounds and cultures which might previously have seen that as a closed door. It declares itself a non-partisan organisation, and includes among its advisory council Lord Glasman, father of “Blue Labour”, Andy Haldane, chief executive of the Royal

Society of Arts, and David Laws, the former Liberal Democrat minister and “Orange Book” champion.

Mirza’s criticisms of Whitehall are those of a battle-scarred veteran. Officials are not incompetent, she argues: rather, it is a matter of the lack of specific, sometimes technical skills. In essence, she endorses a long-held belief that the government machine relies on talented generalists who have to spend valuable time engaged in the on-the-job training to master the complexities of modern administration. Moreover, she worries that “clever and hard-working people with good val-

ues” do not choose careers in public service. “Westminster leaves them cold.”

Her prescription is ambitious but attractive. Civic Future will offer fellowships, training in skills and the opportunity to think deeply about values and philosophy. It points specifically to economic and scientific literacy and crisis management, but we can all think of competences in which our leaders have been found lacking as we have faced the financial crisis, then Brexit, then the pandemic. Surely, if we could not only promote these kinds of skills, but also open up

the government—both political and official—to broader participation, it would equip the nation better to move forward.

In this regard, she is undoubtedly correct. We rely on too narrow a base of skills: three of our last five prime ministers have been PPE graduates, another a classicist, and all five have attended Oxford, the only diversity being that each chose a different college. We have not been led by a scientist since the fall of Thatcher. Changing this, however, requires a change in culture to attract those deterred in the first place. It must also remain rigorously non-partisan, for fear of seeming like little more than an attempt to pack one front bench or the other. It will not be quick, easy or cheap.

Nevertheless we should wish Mirza our best. She is trying to do a noble thing. It is to be hoped that Civic Future will be an idea that encourages others to do the same, in whatever ways they can. Let us recruit from the best and brightest, irrespective of their socio-economic and cultural circumstances, and let us try also to bring in those with talents and qualifications from across the academic and practical spheres.

We know our national leadership is not working as well as it could. We can see the effects. Good people are putting their shoulders to the wheel, but they need to be joined by other, different cohorts. That is the challenge which faces Civic Future, and the UK. This is a chance to prove that Britain can do it.

Financial resilience will be the backbone to withstand a tough winter recession

THE SQUARE Mile has been transformed in the forty years that I have worked in the City. Everything from our skyline to the demographic of our workforce has been radically reshaped.

One role that has provided continuity for over 800 years, however, is the Lord Mayor of the City of London. I am deeply honoured to take office as the 694th Lord Mayor and will work to promote the UK’s financial and professional services sector at a critical time for London, the UK and the world.

My experience – from investment banking to life insurance, from asset management to regulation – has given me a great appreciation of not only the City of London, but all our financial and professional service centres throughout the UK.

Our creativity and resourcefulness have placed us at the forefront of every major financial development that the world has seen: stock markets, the insurance industry, the Eurobond

Nicholas Lyons

market, bullion and commodity exchanges, FX and so much more.

But if recent history – indeed, the last twelve months – is anything to go by, it is obvious the one thing we must expect is the unexpected; the impact of a global pandemic followed by the unlawful invasion of Ukraine by Russia has caused widespread unrest in the global energy and financial markets, pushing up worldwide inflation.

As we await the Autumn Statement from the chancellor later this week, it is time for all of us to focus on what we can all do to ensure that the UK economy withstands the twin challenges of inflation and recession.

I will be focusing on building resilience from the ground up.

A priority for me will be addressing financial inclusion, something I have been passionate about for a long time. The financial intermediary Finance4All estimates that 17 million people in this country have savings of less than £100 and that fewer than 1.5 million of those are unemployed. Over 15 million of these are people in work but not able to budget beyond the next week – that’s more people than the entire populations of Greater London, Greater Manchester and the West Midlands combined.

The financial services industry must find ways to help people bridge this crisis by providing insurance premium wavers, affordable credit, and debt repayment deferrals.

As part of my mayoral theme “Financing Our Future”, I will convene a summit of those organisations involved in looking at financial inclusion to develop a coordinated plan to see how the City can play its part in tack-

ling this huge societal problem.

I will be building on the great work of my predecessor in highlighting the value of impact investing as well as the need for all finance to become green finance, co-hosting a second net zero delivery summit next year.

As the prime minister made clear at last week’s Cop27, in spite of the challenges, now is the time to redouble our efforts on climate change and to bring pressure to bear on the biggest polluting companies and nations to transition away from fossil-fuel dependency.

I know that the economy is facing hard times, but it is imperative on us to act now. The private sector must take a lead in driving growth and investment so that the UK can bounce back strongly when these inflationary times are past. The City has the skills and the ambition to finance a brighter future for all.

£ Nicholas Lyons is the Lord Mayor of the City of London Corporation

HUNTING FOR THE PENNIES

£ Eliot Wilson is a co-founder of Pivot Point and columnist at City AM

Munira Mirza has set up Civic Future to bring more people into politics

All eyes will be on Jeremy Hunt this week, as he prepares for his Autumn Statement on Thursday. It will be the first major financial test of the new prime minister, Rishi Sunak, in his bid to balance the books without inflicting too much pain on the poorest

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Boycott vs public good

[Re: If every mistake resu lts in a boycott, firms will stop publishing green promises, Nov 10]

It’s an interesting idea, that cancel culture has had an impact on companies now hesitant to say when they are actually doing a good thing. But I do think boycotts can have a powerful effect, because if people stop using a company or a firm it has a real impact on their bottom line, it makes companies take their reputation seriously.

Jhanvi Gudka used the example of HSBC, who had their claims of taking net zero seriously rebuffed as a result of their investments into polluters.

But have people really stopped using HSBC? It remains one of the largest high street banks in the UK, if not the world. And long before that, they faced questions of their ties to the Communist Party in China.

If companies are truly so afraid of publishing their initiatives for fear of falling foul of the public mood, then they will also not be able to capitalise on the goodwill of “doing good”. For many, this is the underlying driver in many of initiatives.

Much ink has been spilled about Gen Z’s desire for “purpose” in their lives and work, so if they don’t make public their plans, they won’t draw a new pool of customers.

I don’t think the risk of boycott outweighs the potential good.

Nick Tycorth

MOVING ON China finally looks

In search of a plug for the blackhole, Hunt must not cull investment in our future

Burnett

JEREMY Hunt faces hard choices as he prepares for Thursday’s Autumn Statement. The government’s fiscal position is dire, but as it looks for £50bn to balance the books it must not forget that, as we face the longest recession in living memory, we need to grow the economy too.

Making British businesses more innovative is one surefire way to get the UK economy back on its feet. But despite successive governments’ efforts in doing this, the UK still lags far behind its peers. Businesses here spend just 1.8 per cent of GDP on R&D compared to 2.1 per cent in Germany, 2.2 per cent in the USA and 3.6 per cent in South Korea.

In last year’s Mais Lecture, Rishi Sunak, the then Chancellor, noted this himself, citing the UK’s lack of R&D investment as a significant drag on our competitiveness.

While much of the world has moved on from a policy of lockdowns and quarantine, China has remained firmly stuck. But last week isolation requirements were relaxed for close contacts of cases and international visitors.

EXPLAINER-IN-BRIEF: AMAZON CHASES THE ROBOTIC REVOLUTION IN THE RETAIL SPACE

Amazon wants 100 per cent of its packaging to be managed by robots in the next five years. The retail giant is not far from this target, given three quarters of the packages it delivers have been - at least partiallywrapped up by a robot.

Employees have been reassured that “the need for humans will always be there” by Amazon Robotics chief technologist Tye Brady, but it’s clear the company is looking to cut costs by employing more automation.

Amazon is only following trends in the retail space. In the UK, Ocado has been at the forefront of innovation, employing robots and automation in packaging and grocery picking. This has reduced costs and increased efficiency, and the process has been smooth - aside from a warehouse burning down for a robotic glitch. In the meantime, supermarket giant Walmart is using drones to complete deliveries. The future of retail increasingly looks automated.

ElenaSiniscalco

And in fairness, the government has for the last two decades offered firms an increasingly generous package of R&D tax incentives to encourage them to invest more. But these schemes have come under fire. The former Cabinet Secretary Lord Turnbull recently labelled them a “major financial scandal” and woefully open to abuse and fraud.

They are also becoming increasingly expensive. The number of SMEs applying for the government’s R&D tax credit scheme alone has increased fivefold in recent years and the combined cost of R&D tax incentives has ballooned to over £8bn per year.

Some businesses have almost certainly taken advantage of the generosity of the schemes by claiming tax credits for investments that stretch the definition of R&D to the very limit. But, despite the limitations of the schemes, they have been instrumental in making many British firms - and the economy more broadly - more innovative and more productive.

In fact, new estimates from the ONS suggest that, at long last, we have actually reached the government’s target to spend 2.4 per cent of GDP on R&D spending. This is good news. But there is a worry that the government will, in search of that £50bn and mindful of the recent criticisms of the R&D schemes, pull future funding. Doing this would be a colossal mis-

take. We are still spending comparatively little compared to other science superpowers such as Israel and South Korea. And the real benefits from investing in R&D aren’t typically felt for about ten years. So we should soon begin seeing the benefits of the last decade of investment filtering out into the wider economy at exactly the time that we need it most.

So rather than cutting the scheme right when it’s beginning to pay divi-

dends, the Treasury should instead focus on making it work better, as I argue in a new paper for Onward today. Making the scheme more transparent, cracking down on fraud and tightening up the definitions of R&D would all help build a system that is fit for purpose.

The best way to restore Britain from its economic malaise is through innovative businesses investing in cuttingedge R&D. Business confidence has taken a battering with Brexit, Covid19 and political instability. Through it all they have relied on R&D tax incentives to help them invest in the future. The chancellor can increase business confidence with wise reforms to the scheme that send the clear signal that Britain is an Innovation Nation. Cutting support for R&D would send the opposite message, and doom us to an inevitable economic decline.

£ Matthew Burnett is Head of Science & Technology at Onward

St Magnus House, 3 Lower Thames Street, London, EC3R 6HD Tel: 020 3201 8900

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Matthew

The best way to restore Britain from its economic malaise is through innovative business

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Rishi Sunak acknowledged the need for R&D spending as chancellor

TRAVEL

As season two airs on Sky Atlantic, Adam Hay-Nicholls becomes a guest of The White Lotus

Season two of The White Lotus has traded Hawaii for Sicily. There weren’t any hints in season one of the hugely popular show that The White Lotus hotel is a chain, but it turns out it might be a fictional Four Seasons – one where its inhabitants have an unlucky habit of winding up dead or, at the very least, with an unwelcome surprise in their suitcase.

A biting satire on luxury, The White Lotus is a show about life behind the scenes for the top one percent who visit an eye-wateringly expensive hotel. The show is told both from the point of view of the staff and the guests and has been critically acclaimed for how it dismantles the notion of luxury. Staff are taught to just smile and say yes whatever happens, but in the end, the guests with all their excessive demands seem more like blubbering babies than esteemed adults.

I checked into the Sicilian filming location to see whether life imitates art. The 111-bedroom San Domenico Palace is in the charming medieval town of Taormina in Sicily. Turned into a hotel in 1896, it was originally a 14th century convent and is now a Four Seasons Hotels & Resorts property, benefiting from a complete refurbishment that finished barely a year ago. Remnants of its ecclesiastical history abound, but the plush rooms are flawless and contemporary. The property spills onto the Ionian Sea with the actively-smoking Mt Etna rising behind it, panoramic views from the private terraces taking in both. We stayed in a room identical to that of The White Lotus’ Di Grasso family with our own plunge pool.

On the show, the three generations of Di Grasso men have arrived from Hollywood to seek out their Sicilian roots, joining other dysfunctional guests which include wealthy airheads the Sullivans and snobby nerds the Spillers. Staying at the hotel in real life, one can people-watch and storyboard your own comedy drama.

The staff at the San Domenico Palace are peerless. I suspect the General Manager and Four Seasons’ PR people are watching The White Lotus thinking ‘who said this was a good idea?’ A show about the hotel being full with self-absorbed, sex-obsessed idle rich people making spoilt demands of the long-suffering and occasionally feckless employees doesn’t seem like great image management - but perhaps they’re in on the joke?

The stand-out star of the series is Valentina (Sabrina Impacciatore), the fiery and demanding GM whose English is lacking in diplomacy and tact. Flatulent, geriatric womanizer Bert Di Grasso’s (F. Murray Abraham) arrival is greeted with amazement. “I’m impressed that you’re even here. It’s a long trip from Los Angeles, and you’re quite old, no?”

The pastel pink San Domenico Palace perches on one rocky arm of the town, with an ancient Greek theatre, which also features in the TV show, on the other. If you look closely, you’ll see the name ‘San Domenico’ still written over the hotel’s entrance. They didn’t edit it out.

One can get lost in the maze-like layout and long corridors which, in The White Lotus, makes it difficult to keep tabs on visiting ‘local friends’. Working girls are the bane of Valentina’s life, though I failed to spot any at the San Domenico’s chic bar. In a scene in the first episode, one of the girls, Lucia (Simona Tabasco – hot name), makes

CHECKING INTO THE WHITE LOTUS HOTEL IN SICILY

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her disappearing act in my favourite room in the hotel. It features nothing but a centuries-old writing desk, a couple of gargoyles and an epic sea view. “She’s disappeared,” laments Valentina. “She’s one fast slut.”

The San Domenico Palace is no stranger to celluloid. The cloistered palm-fringed internal piazza, which features a well at its centre, had a prominent scene in Luc Besson’s freediving flick The Big Blue, with Jean Reno and Patricia Arquette. Back in the black and white days, the director Federico Fellini was a regular and entertained the likes of Ingrid Bergmann, Marlene Dietrich, Elizabeth Taylor, Sophia

Loren and Audrey Hepburn here, in the lush herb and citrus-nurturing gardens. Great Anglo writers were drawn to its flame, too, Oscar Wilde, D.H. Lawrence, Truman Capote and John Steinbeck among them. Francis Ford Coppola stayed here ahead of shooting The Godfather in 1972, and it was the concierge who suggested he film Michael Corleone’s (Al Pacino) Sicilian scenes in Forza d’Agrò and Savoca, half an hour’s drive north of Taormina.

“I was told that the cheese here is made by a blind nun in a basement,” relishes Tanya McQuiod, played by Jennifer Coolidge, the self-confessed “insane alcoholic” who’s come to Sicily with her new

sport fisherman husband (which is already going awry) determined to ride on a Vespa and live out her Monica Vitti fantasies. I don’t doubt the cheese was made by a blind nun in a basement. The food at San Domenico is spectacular. You could say that of anywhere in Sicily, but it’s especially true here.

The breakfast spread of cheeses and cold cuts is magnificent, and no one looked accusingly when I helped myself to a complimentary bottle of Bollinger. The dining room, the Principe Cerami, is named after the Sicilian nobleman who converted the convent into a hotel. It’s held onto its local roots through chef Massimo Mantarro,

BOOK THIS

who has earned two Michelin stars. The lunch and dinner menus boast contemporary reinterpretations of classic Sicilian dishes and there are meat, seafood and truffle tasting menus. The wine is extremely notable too, with much of it coming from the slopes of Etna. I visited the nearby Pietradolce winery, a brutalist lair sticking out of the volcanic soil which looks like it was designed by Sir Ken Adam of 007 fame. These smoky, vivid and perfectly-balanced wines, which are available in every shade, are worth the trip to Sicily’s east coast in itself.

After fine wines overlooking the Ionian, you may wish to sample one of the hotel’s

freshly-made sugary cassata cakes or cannoli the size of a toddler’s arm. It’s enough to make one die of pleasure, which perhaps explains the shock opening beach scene of The White Lotus. “Rocco, how many dead guests are there?” barks Valentina. “I don’t know,” he shrugs, “a few?”

NEED TO KNOW

Room rates at the San Domenico Palace, Taormina, a Four Seasons Hotel, start from £960 per night with breakfast. For more visit fourseasons.com/taormina. The White Lotus season 2 is now available on Sky Atlantic

THE FOX AT ODDINGTON, GLOUCESTERSHIRE THE LONG WEEKEND

THE WEEKEND: In the heart of the Cotswolds, close to the picturesque town of Stow-on-theWold, Daylesford Organic Farm is perhaps the country’s poshest farm shop. Owner Carole Bamford, founder of the Bamford wellness brand and Daylesford, has now launched The Fox at Oddington, a ‘pub with rooms’ in a renovated 16th-century pub. It’s made up of a series of downstairs rooms, located around a central bar, and six elegantlydesigned bedrooms. With countryside walks on the doorstep, The Fox welcomes you back after a blustery day with roaring fires and hearty fare.

Like Bamford’s other countryside inn – the Wild Rabbit, which is found a short walk away in Kingham – The Fox champions the revival of the traditional countryside inn.

The pub’s renovation used specialist craftsmen who used centuries-old techniques to restore the Cotswold stone walls and to insulate the roofs with sheep’s wool from Daylesford’s organic farm. The building’s origins as an ancient watering-hole have been celebrated with flagstone floors underfoot, wonky beams overhead and antique furniture in the form of beautifully-worn farmhouse chairs.

“Our aim is to leave the lightest imprint on our planet while creating unique spaces filled with warmth and character,” says the Bamford family and it feels true.

THE STAY Away from the bedrooms there are a warren of rooms to while away the hours. To the right of the main bar is the cosy Tack Room and The Parlour.

Wood-panelled walls are painted a dark forest green, while vintage horse paintings and colourful rosettes, tacked up on the overhead beam, give a nod to equestrian pursuits. Barescrubbed tables and a mismatch of antique benches and chairs keep things simple.

The ‘For Fox’s Sake’ bar is stocked with local

TOP TIP

Daylesford Organic is a 20-minute walk away. The manicured farm, shop, deli and spa has a cult following, especially with the A-List, and offers produce from the market garden as well as organic Bamford treatments at the spa. There are also cookery schools here, from a spice class to a ‘nose-totail’ butchery masterclass.

ales and house cocktails made with seasonal ingredients. You can also try one of the wines crafted at Daylesford’s sister estate Château Léoube in the South of France.

The six bedrooms have a rustic-chic aesthetic with interiors inspired by countryside life. They are also all ‘suite’ in style, meaning that they come with separate living areas, which is pretty special considering this is a pub. The Wild Meadow is one of the most spacious.

The bedroom is dominated by a pretty fourposter bed, adorned with curtains made in a traditional Indian handloom fabric. Framed floral prints by Hugo Guinness and views over a living roof planted with British wildflowers and herbs give a further nod to the nature beyond the window. In the bathroom, there’s a pleasing line-up of Bamford products including Geranium body wash and Marjoram and Lavender pillow spray.

THE FOOD The main restaurant is found in the Saddle Room, which has exposed stone walls, reclaimed stable doors to divide booths and leather saddles used as decoration.

Overseeing the open kitchen – which is emblazoned with the word ‘Foxylicious’ – is head chef, Alan Gleeson, who has created a seasonal menu with the freshest ingredients from Daylesford Organic and Wootton Estate. Highlights include the smoked lardo flatbread with anchovy and salsa verde and the whole Cornish Plaice, with Ratte potatoes, fine beans and seaweed butter.

Sourdough pizzas, baked in a wood-fired oven, are elevated with Fior di Latte, aubergine caponata and mushrooms a la Greque. Make sure you leave room for desserts which are all riffs on classics: from the vanilla cheesecake, with Daylesford Organic damsons, to the sticky date pudding with toffee sauce

NEED TO KNOW Rooms start from £225 per night with breakfast; thefoxatoddington.com

The Beckhams and Jeremy Clarkson are fans of Daylesford Organic Farm, as is Angelina Villa-Clarke, who checks into the owner’s new pub with rooms

The hotel from White Lotus season one is also welcoming guests. The Four Season Resort Maui at Wailea in Hawaii has rates

which start from around £1,300 per night and there is direct beach access. Pull up a sunlounger and do your best Jennifer Coolidge impression: you're off to The White Lotus.

SPORT

Jos Buttler’s side beat Pakistan in T20 Cricket World Cup final, writes Matt Hardy

ENGLAND became the first men’s team to hold both the one-day Cricket World Cup and the ICC Twenty20 World Cup yesterday when they beat Pakistan by five weeks in front of 82,000 fans at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.

It was the final that nearly never was given England’s poor Super12 stage and the threat of a rain-hit final in Victoria, Australia.

But the tournament victory, completed with Ben Stokes’s first ever T20 international half-century, is the first for England under new limited overs coach Matthew Mott and is the biggest achievement under a dramatically restructured England set-up. Here are some conclusions from a sensational four weeks Down Under.

REDEMPTION DUTY

When people speak of Ben Stokes at World Cups, they’re likely to bring up one of two moments.

The first is his super over heroics in the final of the 2019 one-day Cricket World Cup, and the other would be the final of the T20 World Cup in 2016 when his bowling at the death lost England the trophy.

Well, now he’s vindicated.

The Test captain had never scored a half-century in a T20 international until yesterday, when his 52 not out provided the winning runs against Pakistan’s otherwise lethal bowling attack.

The all-rounder’s initial contributions came with the ball; Stokes often bowls the opening over and the first one after the power play – the sev-

THE ROUTE TO WORLD CUP GLORY

SUPER12S

AFGHANISTAN (W) England won by five wickets in Perth.

IRELAND (L) Ireland won by five runs through the DLS method in Melbourne.

AUSTRALIA (D) Match abandoned without a ball bowled in Melbourne.

NEW ZEALAND (W) England won by 20 runs in Brisbane.

SRI LANKA (W) England won by four wickets in Sydney.

SEMI-FINAL INDIA (W) England won by 10 wickets in Adelaide.

FINAL PAKISTAN (W) England won by five wickets in Melbourne.

ENGLAND DO THE DOUBLE

WHAT THEY SAID AFTER THE VICTORY

STOKES

BUTTLER

all-rounders in Melbourne and allowed the specialists to go after the other wickets in the opening innings.

But with the bat Stokes was sublime. His 52 from 49 balls included five fours and one six, and steadied the ship when he entered the crease with England at 32-2.

The 31-year-old has been talismanic for England across all formats this year but his performance yesterday was one of personal redemption for the man who wears his heart on his sleeve.

COUNT ON CURRAN

At the beginning of the calendar year, Sam Curran would have been seen by many as a fringe player for the T20 squad. But now, after his three wickets for 12 runs in the final, he’s almost as undroppable as both Stokes and captain Jos Buttler.

He began the tournament with England’s first ever international five-for and concluded with sensational figures, too. His entire tournament saw him bowl 22.4 overs for 148 runs and 13 wickets.

The Surrey man has been a constant in this England side and has been paramount in their ability to tick over the wickets. Without his consis-

Mott’s men have historically been a side of stunning fielding – it’s a part of the game some sides neglect – and Liam Livingstone has been the personification of sturdy on the boundary across this tournament.

As if the 29-year-old had his own gravitational pull, his talked-about powerful arm seemed to magnetically attract any ball that found itself lofted into the air over the last few weeks.

In the final he made three key catches from deep in the field while being an ever-present throughout the other matches, too.

Smart bowling and clumsy batting cause the mistakes in T20 cricket, but you still need fielders to make the most of those.

Livingstone has done that and deserves credit for it.

ONWARDS

Some would say this World Cup isn’t worth as much as an Ashes win in Australia but England winning consistently Down Under cannot be underesti-

“I am very proud,” said Stokes. “You don’t get to win World Cups too often so to win two of them is pretty special. It just shows where we are as a team. We all know the talent that we possess. We all have clarity from Jos and the management about what

“A lot has been made of the changes in white-ball cricket in England and the journey the teams have been on,” Buttler said. “To have won in 2019 and now win this T20 World Cup, as well, it just shows the vision at the start that people had where we could get to, and there’s no reason why we shouldn’t go on from strength to strength.”

MOTT

“It is very special for me,” head coach Matthew Mott said. “We wanted to turn up, put on a show and enjoy it. I would like to say it was easy but we did it the hard way. Pakistan played exceptionally well and put us under a bit of pressure but he boys held their nerve and got a great result. We always knew we were one over away from the game.”

It has long been a place England have gone to and failed, and to have something to show for a prolonged period in

Stokes hit the winning runs

the country will be reassuring to this new England project.

The game in England is changing rapidly; the Test team has evolved and the limited overs teams are looking for new life. Every piece of psychological advantage the players and staff can bank will be key to growing and developing in the future.

England are world champions, and hold two World Cups. It’s a golden period for English cricket on the pitch at the moment, and it should be relished while it lasts.

Red Roses loss is a failure but hope remains

SPORT is cut-throat, and England’s Red Roses rugby team learned that on Saturday in a 34-31 World Cup final loss to New Zealand in Auckland.

Down a player for 60 minutes, after winger Lydia Thompson was red carded for making contact with the head of Portia Woodman, Simon Middleton’s England were put on the back foot.

And, ironically, it was their strongest asset on their route to the final, the line-out maul, that let them down in the final seconds at Eden Park.

A record crowd of over 42,000 watched as England hooker Lark Davies threw a line out with the clock in the red. It had worked all game and the Black Ferns hadn’t competed for much of the opening 79 minutes.

But when it mattered, Black Fern Joanah Ngan-Woo got up in front of Red Rose Abbie Ward, won the host nation the ball and seconds later, the World Cup.

“This game doesn’t define us,” England captain Sarah Hunter said follow-

ing the agonising defeat. But it does, doesn’t it?

Big finals, marginal moments and cruel losses do define players – those moments make and break them.

This match will live long into the memory of every Red Rose and Black Fern on that pitch – it’ll be what some use to motivate them at the next World Cup and, fortunately or unfortunately, it will be what some of the players take with them into retirement.

“I can honestly say how much it hurts to lose a World Cup final,” Kat Marchant, who has previously won and lost World Cup finals, said.

“It broke me and I thought about it every day for four years.”

And England will be broken. They should have won it. They needed to win it – if nothing else to prove to naysayers that the monumental in-

German schoolgirl wins her first LET title at Aramco Team Series, writes Frank Dalleres

WOMEN’S golf has a new star after 16-year-old Chiara Noja beat her idol, England’s Charley Hull, to win her first Ladies European Tour title at the Aramco Team Series Jeddah.

The German schoolgirl shot a brilliant final round of 65 to finish tied with Hull on 13 under par and then made back-to-back birdies to win the play-off on Saturday at Royal Greens Golf and Country Club.

“I don’t think it has sunk in quite yet,” said Noja, who was playing on an invitation from organisers of the $1m tournament.

“Before we went out, my dad showed Charley a picture of me with her as a 10-year-old. It’s like a full circle, it’s a blessing.

“I’ve worked hard over a lot of years now to be able to not back out of shots and commit to everything that I do and not be afraid to fail.”

Noja’s 65 was the equal lowest round of the week and featured seven birdies and an eagle at the par-five fourth hole.

Hull birdied four of her last six holes to sign for a 68 but it was her opponent, 10 years her junior, who took her chances in the play-off.

The teenager, who was born in Berlin, moved to England when she was seven years old and now lives in Dubai, turned professional at 15 and is in her rookie year on the Ladies European Tour.

England’s Bronte Law was fifth while defending champion Pia Babnik, who was only 17 when she won last year, finished in a tie for eighth.

“I have no clue what the plan is next. I can’t even begin to fathom it,” added Noja, who banked $75,000 in prize money.

“I’m just going to try and relax, maybe have a burger and sleep – probably the best night sleep I’m ever going to get – and see how I feel.”

South Africa’s Nicole Garcia capped a fine week by making an eagle at the

last to take outright third place on 12 under par.

On Friday, Garcia became the first player to achieve multiple wins as captain in the team competition of Aramco Team Series events.

Her quartet, which also included compatriot Casandra Alexander, Tereza Melecka, and amateur Sonia Bayahya, claimed the title after a play-

vestment from the Rugby Football Union was worthwhile.

QUESTIONS TO COME

Will head coach Middleton and his staff still be in their posts? Will the RFU pump more money into the game, given what others have achieved with less?

Was this year’s World Cup, where England were so far ahead of anybody else, the Red Roses’ optimal opportunity before more sides get competitive? These are questions that will warrant answers in the coming weeks and months.

But what provides certainty for women’s rugby union in the hours and days that have followed New Zealand’s triumph is the bumper support for the sport.

Prior to this tournament many were already looking at England 2025,

where there will be hopes of a sell-out, 80,000 capacity crowd for Twickenham final and healthy attendances in the lead-up.

England is the country with the most advanced domestic game, where internationals the world over want to come and play.

It’s set up to be an event that capitalises on the shattering of a glass ceiling in the last six weeks. And it’s an event that will leave many of the Red Roses desperate to succeed.

So New Zealand are world champions, and become the first hosts to win a home World Cup.

But already eyes are looking to what’s expected to be England rugby’s Lionesses moment in 2025, and the Red Roses – in whatever shape they head into it in and with whomever is in charge in three years – will be desperate to capitalise.

SPORT DIGEST

RUSSELL WINS FIRST GRAND PRIX AS MERCEDES END RUT

£ Mercedes Formula 1 driver George Russell won his first ever Grand Prix last night as the Brit held off teammate Lewis Hamilton in Brazil to end his team’s rut of Grands Prix without a win. The Silver Arrows had not won a race this season going into the weekend but managed to finish with a one-two. Russell becomes the 20th Brit to win a Formula 1 race.

TEENAGER GARNACHO SCORES AS UNITED OVERCOME FULHAM

£ Teenager Alejandro Garnacho scored his first Premier League goal last night as Manchester United beat Fulham 2-1 at Craven Cottage. Christian Eriksen netted his first goal for United before Fulham substitute Daniel James equalised just 135 seconds after he came on the pitch.

Garnacho secured the win for United in the 93rd minute, however, in the final Premier League match until Boxing Day.

INGS NETS TWICE AS VILLA BEAT BRIGHTON AT AMEX

£ Danny Ings netted in each half as Aston Villa recovered from a poor start to beat Brighton 2-1 and remain unbeaten under new manager Unai Emery in the Premier League. Alexis Mac Allister put the Seagulls ahead in the first minute but forward Ings equalised for Villa from the penalty spot in the 20th minute before hitting the winner in the 54th minute.

SCOTLAND MISS CHANCE TO FINALLY TOPPLE ALL BLACKS

off with Christine Wolf’s team.

Alexander sealed the win with a birdie at the first extra hole and Garcia said: “Cassandra and I have known each other for a long time and we’d spoken before we even knew we were in the play-off that she was in, so it was already decided.”

Alexander added: “It was a bit nerve-wracking but I knew what I was going to have from previous rounds so I went to the range and hit a couple of that shot beforehand. I hit a 7-iron, and it was enough to get the job done.”

£ Scotland scored 23 unanswered points at Murrayfield yesterday but fell to a 23-31 defeat to New Zealand in the Autumn Nations Series. Having trailed 14-0 early on, Scotland went on a run which saw the All Blacks unable to register a point for 50 minutes. It unfolded in the final stages, however, with the southern hemisphere side pulling away. Scotland conclude their autumn next week against Argentina.

SAINTS BLOW LEAD AS SARRIES

REMAIN UNBEATEN IN LEAGUE

£ Northampton Saints blew a 39-17 lead to lose 39-45 to Saracens in rugby’s Premiership yesterday. Northampton’s Fraser Dingwall scored a hat-trick for the away side but a brace from Sean Maitland plus tries for Gareth Simpson, Josh Hallett, Ben Earl and Elliot Daly earned the runaway leaders a ninth win of the season. They remain the only unbeaten team.

England should have won to tackle naysayers but World Cup showed promising future for women’s game, says Matt Hardy

Lydia Thompson was given a red card

Noja beat England’s Charley Hull in a playoff in Jeddah

Chiara Noja’s prize

winning the Aramco Team Series Jeddah

Garcia captained the winning side in the team competition for a second time in the series

The new Elizabeth line is now even better, connecting you to more people, places and opportunities than ever before, every day of the week.

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