Wednesday 8 February 2023

LONDON’S BUSINESS NEWSPAPER

SUPER BOWL FEVER HOW TO GET TO NFL’S BIGGEST GAME AND WHERE TO WATCH IT IN THE CAPITAL P16 &P19

B UMPER P ROFITS

L&G: Get Solvency II reforms done

LOUIS GOSS

INSURANCE giant Legal & General (L&G) would like to see the UK “move more quickly” in reforming the EU rules that govern Britain’s insurance sector, one of the firm’s top execs told City A.M. Andrew Kail, chief executive of L&G’s institutional retirement business, said the firm was “very supportive” of the UK’s plans to reshape the EU’s Solvency II rules, which determine the amounts of capital insurers must hold to protect themselves from bankruptcy.

The UK government set out its final plans for a postBrexit overhaul of the EU rules in November, with a view to unlocking billions from insurance firms’ balance sheets.

BP SCALES BACK CLIMATE PLEDGES AS IT REPORTS RECORD £23BN PROFITS

NICHOLAS EARL

ENERGY giant BP is at the centre of a swirling political storm after unveiling record £23bn profits yesterday while scaling back its climate pledges –intensifying Labour’s demand for a toughened windfall tax.

The oil and gas producer more than doubled last year’s profits, capping off the year with a three-month earnings window of just under £9bn – with its

bumper profits fuelled by soaring oil and gas prices following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

BP also pared back its climate ambitions –easing plans to slash emissions from a 35-40 per cent reduction to a 20-30 per cent range by the end of the decade –and planned to produce more oil and gas over the next seven years compared with previous targets.

The energy titan also hiked dividends

10 per cent –offering £11.7bn to shareholders over 2022. BP’s robust performance seemingly cheered investors, with shares up seven per cent at close of play yesterday, making it the top performer on the FTSE 100.

The huge profits renewed Labour’s calls to strengthen the Energy Profits Levy. Shell also reported record annual profits of £32.2bn last week.

Ed Miliband, shadow climate change

UK to avoid recession but cost of living crisis

THE UK is poised to narrowly avoid a recession but the cost of living crisis will still leave average Brits £4,000 worse off this year, fresh forecasts out today reveal.

Britain’s economy is set to squeeze out 0.2 per cent of GDP growth in

2023, meaning it will just about swerve a technical reversal, two consecutive quarters of contraction, according to the National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR).

The projections run counter to several others published by the UK and world’s top economic

and net zero secretary, described the profits as “the windfalls of war”. He called for investment relief to be scrapped from the tax and for the levy to be backdated, which he said would bring in £13bn.

But industry trade group Offshore Energies UK said these calls were “deliberately misleading”.

BP said it will pay £1.82bn in UK taxes this year, including £580m in domestic windfall taxes.

will leave families

institutions.

Just last week, the Bank of England said Britain is on course to suffer a 15 month long recession that will leave the economy around one per cent smaller.

Its forecasts were revised up from a previous estimate of an 18 month slump knocking nearly three per

“There’s a lot of capital sitting on insurance company balance sheets, that, were the regulatory treatment favourable, could be deployed and invested in things that do real societal good,” Kail said.

“We’d like to see things move more quickly.”

However, Kail said that getting greater clarity around the changes was just as important as getting them done quickly.

“Clarity is always a good thing,” Kail said, as he argued regulatory certainty “just makes our planning process easier.”

£4,000 worse

cent off GDP, published in November.

Earlier this month the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said the UK would be the only rich economy to shrink this year, slimming down by 0.6 per cent.

The NIESR’s brighter projections were driven by the organisation expecting household spending to

off

hold up reasonably well, leaving unemployment in the UK lower than what the IMF and Bank think. However, the organisation said this year will “certainly feel like a recession” for many poorer households.

£ CONTINUED ON PAGE 2

BREXIT

JACK BARNETT

STANDING UP FOR THE CITY

The UK could become a world leader with new tech department

LAST month, BioNTech announced it would conduct the trial for its new cancer trials in Britain. The pharma company which developed the mRNA technology behind the Covid-19 vaccines said it would open a research and development centre in Cambridge with 75 staff and an office in London. At a later date, it might even consider manufacturing in Britain. But this good news of last month was marred by a pharmaceutical

THE CITY VIEW

industry consistently losing opportunities as a result of underinvestment.

In the so-called Oxford-Cambridge arc, the beating scientific heart of the UK, demand for lab space sat at around 860,000 sq ft in Oxford and 1.2m sq ft in Cambridge.

In Oxford, available space totalled around 18,000 sq ft, while there was zero space available in Cambridge.

And that’s just the question of space. In summer last year, the billionaire James Dyson cast doubt over our “science superpower” ambitions, saying we needed an extra 60,000 engineers a year.

The news that Rishi Sunak has carved out a stand-alone government department for science, innovation and

technology is welcome. But there is a long way to go to ensure we have the capital, the talent and crucially the space to build a science and pharma industry worth bragging about. Much of it will start with making up for the losses.

According to the Bioindustry Association, the UK biotech industry raised £4.5bn in 2021. In 2022, it raised £1.8bn. Undeniably, the pandemic years provided a boost, but we failed to hold onto

THE RETURN OF THE SMOG Fog returns to envelope London’s landmark bridge on a winter’s morning offering a brief flavour of what the city used to encounter every day

UK will dodge a recession but long term growth outlook is poor, think tank warns

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1

Although the country is expected by the NIESR to just about dodge a recession, its long-run economic performance will be very sluggish, with growth not nudging much higher than one per cent.

A series of shocks, including Russia’s invasion of Ukraine jolting international energy markets, the pandemic, Brexit and the global financial crisis has resulted in a “permanent reduction in our standard of living,” Jagjit Chadha, the NIESR’s director, said. Inflation has raced to its highest level

in four decades over the last year, now running at 10.5 per cent after peaking above 11 per cent in October, wreaking family finances.

The rate of price increases is expected to fall rapidly this year, however, the NIESR cautioned it could remain elevated for some time if businesses pass on scorching wage increases.

The Bank of England has hiked interest rates 10 times in a row to a 15 year high of four per cent to tame price pressures, including a 50 basis point increase last week, but that has amplified the cost of living crunch’s squeeze on families and businesses.

The NIESR attributed the UK’s economic stagnation since the financial crisis to a reduction in private and public sector investment holding back productivity growth.

“A lack of public investment has deepened, and will continue to deepen, the low growth and low productivity traps countrywide as well as exacerbate[d] regional inequalities,” the NIESR said.

A Treasury spokesperson said: “The government has a plan to halve inflation this year, reduce debt and grow the economy – which is the best way to improve opportunities and living standards for everyone.”

that progress.

The firms who invested during the pandemic saw the limitations Britain was facing and turned elsewhere. We have some of the top universities in the world for science, but a lack of a decent strategy for R&D has left us falling behind. Sunak can start with rearranging Whitehall, but if he wants to deliver a world-leading industry, his new science secretary needs to get up to speed quickly.

WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING

TREASURY BANS CAPITAL SPENDING BY GOVE’S WHITEHALL DEPARTMENT

Michael Gove’s Whitehall department has been banned from making spending decisions on new capital projects without specific permission from the Treasury.

THE TIMES CYBERATTACK HITS PROFITS AT MORGAN ADVANCED MATERIALS

Morgan Advanced Materials yesterday revealed that a cyberattack will weaken profits and increase its costs, with the FTSE 250 engineering group being one of many hit in recent months.

THE GUARDIAN FIRST FIVE-YEAR FIXED MORTGAGE UNDER FOUR PER CENT SINCE MINI-BUDGET LAUNCHED BY HSBC

Five-year fixed-rate mortgages priced at below four per cent are back on sale for the first time since just after the disastrous autumn mini-budget.

100,000 civil servants

will walk out on Budget Day

JESS JONES

AROUND 100,000 civil servants are set to strike on Budget Day, their union announced yesterday, amid a campaign of walkouts over pay disputes.

The Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS) said it was escalating action after a “lack of movement” from the government over its concerns over pay, pensions and job security.

Walkouts will take place on 15 March, when Chancellor Jeremy Hunt announces spending plans for the

next year, in a targeted move to “exert significant pressure”, the PCS said.

It comes after months of industrial action and a wave of strikes involving train and Tube drivers, NHS staff, postal workers, barristers and teachers. Action by civil servants so far has included the Border Force, DVLA, DVSA and DWP. Workers at HMRC, the Care Quality Commission, Companies House, the Office of Rail and Road, UK Export Finance and the Welsh government are being balloted. The Cabinet Office was approached for comment.

THE FINANCIAL TIMES

Big bank chiefs deny accusations of profiteering

CHRIS DORRELL

CHIEF executives from the UK’s four largest lenders yesterday hit back at accusations from MPs that they were too quick to charge customers more interest on their mortgages without offering higher rates on savings accounts.

The bank chiefs were asked why interest rates on instant savings accounts remain around one per cent while the Bank of England’s base rate has increased to over four per cent, although chair Harriet Baldwin noted “you’ve raised those rates faster since we invited you in”.

The bankers, however, retaliated that focusing on instant savings accounts was the wrong approach.

Matt Hammerstein from Barclays said he understood why they attracted attention, but instant savings accounts were an “inappropriate point to focus on”. Barclays has “definitively passed on a base rate increase at five per cent” to its ‘rainy day’ savings account, he said.

HSBC’s Ian Stuart agreed, suggesting that instant access accounts are “gateway products into getting our customers into good savings products”.

“Our digital regular saver, which is paying five per cent, is encouraging people to build that savings habit,” said

Dame Alison Rose, Natwest’s chief executive.

Charlie Nunn from Lloyds also said saving accounts were not necessarily the most important thing for offering support. “Its about targeting the customers that need support, [who] typically don’t have savings.”

The bankers clarified that increasing mortgage costs were mostly out of banks’ control.

“We don’t manage the rates relative to base rates. 81 per cent are fixed rates, that’s not driven by base rates, its driven by expectations of future base rates,” Hammerstein said. The remaining 19 per cent explicitly track base rates, he noted.

The banks also defended their decisions to make large scale bank branch closures, citing the need to follow customer preferences.

The UK’s major lenders, particularly the more domestic banks, are expected to announce bumper profits when they release results over the next couple of weeks.

The FTSE 100’s five banks – including Standard Chartered – are forecast to report pre-tax income of £37.4bn for 2022, up four per cent on 2021 and higher than the pre-financial crisis high of £35.7bn generated in 2007.

said he would cut investments in the fund

Softbank’s Vision Fund loses £4.6bn as tech rout continues

CHARLIE CONCHIE AND CITY A.M. REPORTER

JAPANESE investment giant Softbank swung into the red between October and December, driven down by heavy losses at its flagship Vision Fund, the firm revealed yesterday.

Softbank’s Vision Fund suffered the brunt of a global tech rout that has shaved billions from the value of the world’s largest tech firms.

Vision Fund booked a loss on its investments of 730.4bn yen (£4.6bn)

Arm’s revenues shoot up ahead of market float

CHARLIE CONCHIE

BRITISH chipmaker Arm yesterday said revenues had surged 28 per cent in the past quarter as its parent company Softbank gears up for a much-anticipated float at the end of this year.

In a trading update on its third quarter trading, the Cambridgeheadquartered firm said revenues had topped $746m (£620m) after its partner firms shipped a record 8bn Arm-based chips.

Licensing revenues at the chipmaker jumped 65 per cent to $300m on the back of “strategic long-term agreements with four key customers”, Arm chiefs said, while royalty revenues jumped 12 per cent after a boost in demand for its server technology.

The revenue growth provides a boost to the firm as it prepares to shift on to the public markets this year in a much anticipated IPO.

‘Britcoin’ needed to ‘anchor’ monetary system

CHRIS DORRELL

JOHN CUNLIFFE, deputy governor of the Bank of England, said a ‘digital pound’ would be needed to maintain trust in the UK’s monetary system while he set out limits for its use to preserve financial stability.

Speaking at UK Finance, Cunliffe said the Bank could not ignore the possibility that the use of cash would become increasingly irrelevant while “new forms of money” would become more and

more prominent, threatening trust in the monetary system.

These developments made it likely the UK would need a digital pound to perform the “anchor function” that cash has performed in the past.

Cunliffe also outlined the Bank’s response to concerns that the introduction of the ‘digital pound’ could affect financial stability.

The Bank is likely to propose a temporary limit on ‘digital pound’ holdings of between £10,000 and £20,000, he confirmed.

“A limit of £10,000 would mean that three quarters of people could receive their pay in digital pounds, while a £20,000 limit would allow almost everyone to receive their pay in digital pounds”.

Admitting that the Bank could be wrong, Cunliffe stressed that it was taking a forward-looking approach.

“We don’t always want to be five years away from this” given how quickly things have changed in other spheres, he said.

between October and December while losses across the firm came in at 783.42bn yen, compared with a 29.05bn yen profit a year earlier.

The investor said its Vision Fund unit, which built a name for splashy bets on high growth tech firms, reined in its investments as tech firms were buffeted by inflation.

Softbank has been forced onto a defensive footing in the past 12 months and said it was continuing to shed some of its stakes as part of “defensive financial management”.

Arm’s parent company, the Japanese investment giant Softbank, has been angling to float the firm since early last year after a blockbuster merger deal with rival Nvidia fell apart after intense scrutiny from regulators.

Softbank has been smarting from a huge loss as part of the ongoing instability in the tech industry.

Softbank’s billionaire boss Masayoshi Son called in chief Rene Haas to oversee the firm’s shift on to the public markets last year after the breakdown of the deal. Haas said yesterday the results showed the firm was now poised to make an “even greater impact”.

Softbank CEO Masayoshi Son last year

Cunliffe said the Bank was taking a forward-looking approach

BEIS break-up could help improve decision-making, experts reckon

NICHOLAS EARL

THE BREAK-UP of BEIS and the emergence of a new department focused on energy and the transition to net zero carbon could improve government decision-making and enable more decisions to be made, suggested industry experts. Reflecting a positive industry response to Downing Street’s latest reshuffle, trade body Energy UK argued a dedicated energy department was vital because of the

scale of the challenge in reducing energy bills and transitioning to a low carbon economy.

Chief exec Emma Pinchbeck felt the move reflected the “pivotal importance of energy for every home and every business in the country.

Adam Bell, head of policy at Stonehaven and former head of energy at BEIS, suggested that a specific department for energy security and net zero should lead to improved decision-making.

Bell believed the former department was too big and required a secretary of state with an unrealistically wide knowledge base. He explained: “The result has not necessarily been less good decisions but fewer decisions overall. Splitting up the portfolio reduces bottlenecks.”

Joe Tetlow, senior political advisor at environmental think tank Green Alliance, was pleased the UK’s net zero ambitions were being represented on the government’s front bench.

Sweeping changes at Whitehall in Cabinet reshuffle

JESSICA FRANK-KEYES

PRIME MINISTER Rishi Sunak has tied Britain’s energy security to its climate goals in the biggest Whitehall shake-up in over 15 years.

The reshuffle saw the former Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) broken into three fresh organisations –including a dedicated energy unit.

Opponents branded the move a “costly vanity project” and a “rearranging of deckchairs on the sinking Titanic of failed

Conservative energy policy”. But Sunak’s spokesman said it was right to “focus on that linkage” between net zero and longer-term energy security.

Former business secretary Grant Shapps will take the reins at the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ), while Kemi Badenoch, previously international trade secretary, will head up the Department for Business and International Trade (DBIT).

Culture secretary Michelle Donelan will now lead the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT), and

Greg Hands has been appointed Conservative party chairman, replacing Nadhim Zahawi.

Lucy Frazer will replace Donelan at the helm of the renamed Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS), with the digital remit –including the Online Harms Bill –now under DSIT.

The ‘Red Wall’ Ashfield MP Lee Anderson, who previously compared the government to the “band on the Titanic”, has been appointed deputy chairman of the Conservative Party.

Yesterday’s restructure amounted to

New UK tech department could be a real ‘gear change’, industry says

CHARLIE CONCHIE

THE CREATION of a new government department for technology and innovation could be a “gear change” for growth in the UK’s tech sector, industry chiefs said yesterday.

Ministers said the newly spun out department for science, innovating and technology will hone in on

turning “scientific and technical innovations into practical, applicable solutions to the challenges we face”.

The move was praised by tech chiefs.

“Clearer focus on technology from the top down can only be good for the UK’s thriving tech sector, and it’s important this departmental focus is complimented with other aspects to grow the industry,” Russ Shaw, chief of

Tech London Advocates, told City A.M. Digital lobby group Coadec said it was good news for British start-ups.

“There’s long been the need for a real innovation voice in Whitehall,” Coadec chief Dom Hallas wrote on Twitter. “Bringing research and funding from BEIS with the digital policymaking from DCMS makes real sense.”

the “biggest change to the landscape of Whitehall since at least 2007”, according to the Institute for Government (IfG).

Ed Miliband, Labour’s shadow climate and net zero secretary, said: “Seven years after the disastrous decision to abolish the Department of Energy, the Conservatives now admit they got it wrong, but a rearranging of deckchairs on the sinking Titanic of failed Conservative energy policy will not rescue the country.” But a No10 spokesman said: “Seeking to achieve net zero is, in part, obviously about the importance of keeping 1.5C

alive, but equally, it’s about making sure we have energy security, whether that’s offshore wind or nuclear.”

Tim Durrant, associate IfG director, said Sunak was “setting out his priorities” but that major changes just 18 months out from an election risk increasing friction.

He told City A.M.: “BEIS has business and energy together so a minister in that department had to make sure energy and climate policy worked for business.

“Whereas now net zero and energy security are separate, so you’re not going to have that.”

BEIS splitting and the creation of a new energy department could streamline decisions

GREG HANDS: NEW CONSERVATIVE PARTY CHAIRMAN

LUCY FRAZER: NOW AT THE HELM OF THE DCMS

GRANT SHAPPS: BACK IN THE CABINET AS ENERGY SECRETARY

MICHELLE DONELAN: MOVES FROM CULTURE TO HEAD UP NEW SCIENCE DEPT

KEMI BADENOCH: NOW IN CHARGE OF THE NEWLY CREATED DBIT

Guilt-free flying within reach as UK ups funding

ILARIA GRASSO MACOLA

GUILT-FREE net-zero flying is within our reach according to the government, as ministers invest £113m in new net-zero technology.

The DfT and BEIS have announced funding for aerospace companies such as Rolls-Royce and Bristol-based Vertical Aerospace to develop cutting-edge technologies, such as flying taxis and hydrogen-fuelled planes.

Rolls-Royce will receive almost £83m to develop liquid hydrogen gas turbines, while Vertical Aerospace will get £30.8m to continue working on flying taxis.

“As the whole world moves to greener forms of aviation, there is a massive opportunity for the UK’s aerospace industry to secure clean, green jobs and growth for decades to come,” said Grant Shapps, who yesterday became energy security and net zero secretary

in a cabinet reshuffle.

Matt Finch, UK policy manager at environmental NGO Transport & Environment, told City A.M. the government was still years away from net-zero flying.

“This is another step in the right direction towards decarbonising aviation, but ‘guilt-free flying’ is still years, if not decades off,” he said.

Shapps’ words were nevertheless echoed by transport secretary Mark Harper, who said it was crucial to also make “the sector greener”.

The funding announcement coincides with the DfT launching a call for evidence, seeking views on how to get airports to reach their net-zero targets by 2040.

Through the consultation, which will run until 2 May, ministers seek to understand which hubs the target should apply to, as well as the challenges that could hinder the goal.

The gaming giant has amended its yearly forecast to reflect a downturn in sales

Nintendo cuts full-year forecast as Switch console fails to engage

JESS JONES

NINTENDO has cut its full-year forecast blaming a drop off in demand for its Switch console.

The Japanese company has dimmed its full-year forecasts to a net profit of 370bn yen (£2.3bn) for the year ending 31 March, down from 400bn yen (£2.5bn) predicted last November.

In the trading update, the video

Jumbo cuts coming to Boeing in 2023

DAVID SHEPARDSON

BOEING expects to cut about 2,000 white-collar jobs this year in finance and human resources through a combination of attrition and layoffs.

Last month, the Arlington, Virginia-based plane maker announced plans to hire 10,000 workers in 2023 – having hired 15,000 staff the previous year – but this week said some support positions would be cut.

The company confirmed a Seattle Times report Monday it expected “about 2,000 reductions this year primarily in finance and HR through attrition and layoffs”. It also confirmed it was outsourcing about one third of those jobs to Tata Consulting Services in India.

games manufacturer also reported a 13 per cent decline in operating profit from the same period in 2021.

Nintendo said the global semiconductor chip shortage that affected it last year caused Switch consoles to drop 21 per cent in yearon-year sales.

For software, Pokemon proved a firm favourite, shifting over 20m units.

Boeing said it would “continue to simplify our corporate structure”. Last month, Boeing said it would “lower staffing within some support functions” – a move meant to enable it to better align resources to support current products.

Last year, Boeing said it planned to cut about 150 finance jobs in the United States to simplify its corporate structure.

Logo-loco: Lidl takes on Tesco over yellow circle

SAMANTHA DOWNES

AND CITY A.M. REPORTER

SUPERMARKETS Tesco and Lidl have begun a High Court fight over the use of a yellow circle logo.

German discount chain Lidl says a trademark, and copyright, has been infringed, while Tesco has made a counterclaim.

Lidl uses a yellow circle in its main logo and Tesco uses one to highlight offers available to members of its Clubcard scheme.

A judge began overseeing a trial at the High Court in London yesterday.

Justice Joanna Smith was shown images of logos, including a yellow circle, surrounded by a red ring, containing the word “Lidl”; a yellow circle, surrounded by a red ring, with no words; and a yellow circle without a red surround and “Clubcard Prices” in the middle.

Barrister Benet Brandreth KC, who is leading Lidl’s legal team, said the “protection available to Lidl’s core brand” is “at the heart of this claim”.

The hearing is due to end next week.

Justice Smith is due to hear evidence from senior supermarket staff and from consumers.

Lidl enjoys sales growth of £10m as food shoppers trade down

LAURA MCGUIRE

LIDL yesterday reported a £10m growth in sales in January this year, with the boss of the budget supermarket crediting the boost to shoppers gradually pivoting away from expensive rivals such as M&S, Waitrose and Sainsbury’s.

The value retailer praised its fruit and veg range for the year on year increase – with its market share for vegetable shopping reaching a high of 10.2 per cent.

Hugo Cuddigan KC, who is leading Tesco’s legal team, said that to establish infringement, Lidl would need to satisfy the judge that “creating a yellow circle involves sufficient artistic skill and labour to comprise the author’s own intellectual creation”. He argued that Lidl had not established that.

Brandreth told the judge in a written case outline: “At the heart of this claim is the protection available to Lidl’s core brand.

Over 2022, Lidl saw £120m come in as a result of this trend.

“We know they switch to us to make savings, but then they stay with us when they realise that they’re not having to compromise on quality,” Ryan McDonnell, CEO at Lidl GB, said.

“It’s clear that a lot of shoppers are now refusing to pay a premium for their groceries. As we progress into 2023, we are seeing more customers coming through our doors, switching spend to Lidl from premium supermarkets.”

It comes as research shows that supermarkets on the whole, however, experienced a continued decline in volume sales in January.

“Lidl have registered trademarks for the mark with text and for the wordless marks.

“As is apparent, the wordless mark is the device across which the name Lidl appears.

“Lidl say that device is distinctive of its services and goods quite apart from the name Lidl.”

He added: “Lidl have generated a huge reputation and goodwill in both the mark with text and the wordless mark.”

Tesco said it was behaving fairly.

Iceland says it is ‘well-positioned’ despite insurance cover reduction

LAURA MCGUIRE

ICELAND has said it is “incredibly well positioned” despite having its cover pulled from credit insurer Coface.

According to reports first published in The Sunday Times, the French insurer slashed cover for the discount grocer in December – following a similar move by Allianz and Atradidus.

“All credit insurers have reduced cover across UK food retail, not just Iceland, over the past 6 months, a

spokesperson for Iceland said.

They continued: “There are many credit insurers in the market, and we know of over £150m of Iceland credit cover still available in the market.”

Iceland also told City A.M., that Coface had confirmed it is already “looking to reinstate this cover”.

It comes as Iceland is set to post its third quarter results to its bondholders today and the group has said it possesses “£200m of available liquidity”.

Iceland has lost some of its insurance cover but it feels confident in its market position

Lidl has accused Tesco of infringing their copyright

Caffeine strength in high street coffee: Mocha do about nothing?

ARECENT survey from Which? Magazine found that a cappuccino from Costa contained nearly five times as much caffeine (325mg) as an equivalent cup of coffee from Starbucks (66mg). But if it has a stronger kick than other chains, is it necessarily the UK’s favourite coffee brand?

Let’s java look at what the nation’s coffee drinkers think.

Data from YouGov BrandIndex UK shows that, with an Index score of 15, Costa is a strong performer among the five brands (Costa, Caffe Nero, Starbucks, Pret a Manger, and Greggs) featured in Which? Magazine’s study. But these scores – which measure overall brand health – are handily beaten by Greggs, which has 197mg of caf-

Stephan Shakespeare

feine per cappuccino but an Index score of 23.2.

This also puts the budget bakery chain nearly 12 points ahead of Pret a Manger (Index score 11.3; caffeine level 180mg per cappuccino), almost 13 points ahead of Caffe Nero (Index score 10.4; caffeine 110-115mg); and 21.7 points in front of Starbucks (Index score 1.5; caffeine level 66mg).

So there’s a correlation between a

stronger cappuccino and general brand health – not, of course, to be confused with a brand being healthy in the nutritional sense – but only up to a point. Greggs may not have the highest caffeine content, but at 28.6 it does have a higher Impression score (which measures overall sentiment towards a brand) than the other chains, and a 9.4-point lead in terms of customer Satisfaction scores.

The brand falters a little when it comes to Quality scores. Here, Pret a Manger (20.9) and Costa (20.6) lead the pack, with Greggs trailing behind (16.7), while beating Caffé Nero (15.9) and Starbucks (9.8). But its Value for Money scores more than compensate: at 34.7, they’re 52.2 points in front of Starbucks (-17.5). This may give the

A new vision for JD Sports keeps them on top

departure as CEO of JD Sports last May, the reputation for the high street brand looked uncertain. The longstanding boss was exiting the brand he had served for over two decades, months after JD and Footasylum were fined £4.7m for breaching CMA orders.

Around this time, JD was also navigating the retail space in a postCovid-19 landscape, which had spurred consumers to lean towards online shopping as opposed to the traditional physical store.

However, last summer the brand hired former B&Q executive Regis Schultz as its new head and has since emerged as one of the strongest retail contenders –expecting to post pre-tax profits of more than £1bn for the year ending 3 February 2024.

On Thursday, JD Sports revealed

it would invest up to £3bn to open as many as 1,750 stores over the next five years. The move will also see JD Sports spending between £500m£600m a year, with up to 60 per cent going towards launching between 250 and 350 new stores each year across its key regions –notably in North America and Europe.

In a statement made to the London Stock Exchange, Schultz said that the brand’s “track record” of disciplined investment and strong retail execution means that JD is “extremely well positioned” to capitalise on its material headroom for growth globally and “continue delivering value for shareholders”.

The announcement of its expansion plan shot shares in the brand up by eight per cent, the highest for JD in about a year.

other high street brands?

“JD Sports works as a retailer because of its positioning as a lifestyle rather than pure sports brand,” says Charles Allen, retail analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence.

According to Allen, its winning approach is a combination of well-designed and highly specified stores, with “excellent” merchandising and a data intensive model to understand what “motivates its core consumers to purchase particular items”.

The analyst explained: “JD ensures it has a position in the most fashion-forward part of the market and is on top of trends while also being a valued partner to supplier brands, such as Nike and Adidas, to ensure it secures supply of the most desired items.”

COSTA MAY HAVE THE MOST CAFFEINE PER CAPPUCCINO - BUT UK COFFEE DRINKERS ARE MORE LIKELY TO PREFER GREGGS YouGov Brandindex: Index, Impression, Satisfaction and Value for Money scores among UK coffee drinkers (4 week moving average)

brand greater resilience at a time when customers are counting literal and metaphorical beans, and a cheaper (and more potent) cup of cof-

fee could be an easier sell.

Stephan Shakespeare is the co-founder and CEO of YouGov

Google takes on Microsoft-backed ChatGPT to launch own AI chatbot

TIM SIGSWORTH

GOOGLE is launching its own artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot following the success of Microsoft-backed ChatGPT. The company said the product, named Bard, will be released to the public in the coming weeks and will provide written answers to questions in split seconds.

AI will also “soon” be integrated into Google’s search engine to provide written answers to search queries in addition to links to relevant webpages.

Chief executive Sundar Pichai said the tool would allow Google to answer questions in a more intelligent way that went beyond just providing basic factual information.

Microsoft has invested billions of

dollars in OpenAI, the parent company of ChatGPT, and speculation of an incoming integration with its search engine Bing has been widespread.

Microsoft announced a press conference for 6pm (GMT) on Tuesday just minutes after Google revealed Bard. It is being held the day before Google’s own launch event for Bard.

CATEGORY INVESTOR OF THE YEAR

THE NOMINEES

ELLIOT ADVISERS

The attentions of Elliott, the $60bn multi-strategy investment fund, are not always courted by corporates but the firm’s track record of consistently delivering returns for its investor base suggests they know what they’re doing –and more boardrooms are starting to welcome Elliott’s input. Last year, Elliott was invited onto the boards of Toshiba and Pinterest, demonstrating the constructive role that Elliott can play when companies are willing to listen.

LIGHTROCK

London-headquartered Lightrock continues to be one of the most prolific tech investors on the market, regularly investing in everything from new energy technology to exciting healthcaretech. Last year also saw it launch a Climate Impact Fund which closed at a punchy £800mplus, giving it size and scale to invest in some of the answers to the globe’s climate problems.

MARK HUME AND ALASTAIR BISHOP, BLACKROCK

Stock markets were rarely tame this year so navigating the equity market all the way to a more than 66 per cent return was no mean feat. The £2.9bn Blackrock Global World Energy fund, led by Mark Hume (pictured) and Alastair Bishop, left investors happy thanks to solid fundamental picks.

TIM LEVENE, AUGMENTUM

As CEO of the UK’s only publicly-listed fintechfocused investment fund, Tim Levene is a man to know across this growing industry. Augmentum is invested in some of the sector’s best-known names –from Tide to Interactive Investor to Zopa. Despite market uncertainty hitting initial returns, Augmentum provides muchneeded access to capital for some of the sector’s growing players.

WILLIAM LAM, INVESCO

William Lam’s emerging markets funds outperformed their benchmarks last year, not least the Emerging Markets (excluding China) fund which popped by some 28 per cent on the year. A big call on Taiwan’s chip industry did much of the heavy lifting but impressive, consistent picks were the story of the year.

favours the brave Some of the City’s most reliable stockpickers got caught out by a hostile global market in 2022 –so this year we’ve expanded our selection beyond fund managers to those investors shaking up FTSE-100 boardrooms and others powering the most exciting businesses in the capital.

THE NOTE BOOK

With love from Brussels: European pity and Gen Z nous

ISPENT two days in Brussels last week speaking at a series of events that included a focus group with Gen Z’ers and a speech to the European Commission employees.

As a Brit in Brussels, I can safely say that all the anger directed at the UK in the wake of the Brexit vote has now turned to pity for our *supposed* plight. Group together the Queen’s passing, continual Brexit wrangling and the fact that the UK has the lowest growth of any country in the G7 and it is little wonder that most of the world thinks we are going through some kind of existential crisis. My response to their pity? To go on the defensive. I didn’t dispute their diagnosis, but I tried my best to paint a picture of an optimistic upside, in the hope that things can only get better (I hope I’m right).

Some may think that the future of work is merely an HR issue (in some companies it’s no more than a debate about which days to come to the office) but others are asking

bigger questions about how work fits around changing lives and demographics. This was notable in Brussels where the discussion ranged from preferential treatment for parents in the workplace to how companies and families deal with elder care in an ageing society. Most middle-aged people in the UK live approximately 50 miles from their older relatives, but for the permanent Brussels class, they are often whole countries apart.

At the other end of the spectrum was a focus group with 14–17-yearolds all living in Brussels. One boy took delight in telling me how he had already used ChatGPT for his Spanish homework and got an A grade. He didn’t seem to think he was cheating or undermining his education. “We get so much homework,” he complained, “sometimes it makes sense to use it.” I can’t help but think that by relying on AI for his homework this 14-year-old was better preparing himself for the workforce of tomorrow.

NOT TO MISS AT THE ROYAL ACADEMY

On display at the Royal Academy, Spain and the Hispanic World is an exhaustive and impressive cross-cultural mash-up consisting of artefacts, books, Old Masters, Latin American painters and Islamic influences. It’s all been shipped over from the Hispanic Society in New York and is on display at the Royal Academy until 10 April.

£ It is said that 1 in 4 young people want to be an influencer when they grow up… So, what are we to make of the deinfluencer trend all over Tiktok where influencers are now posting videos advising viewers what to avoid and not to buy? Are we seeing the demise of influencer culture? Not really. The ‘de-influencing’ trend itself is just another form of marketing and yet another turning of the wheel in search of that modern day must-have: authenticity.

£ Off to the Bank of England this week to give a talk about age diversity in the workplace. We associate the Bank with many things, but perhaps winning HR awards isn’t one of them. And yet The Old Lady is one of the few within the Square Mile to offer six months paternity leave and last year won an award for its Parents Support Network, helping employees manage the work/life balance. Bringing a whole new meaning to ‘Sic Vos Non Vobis’. Hey, if you know, you know.

THE BARRISTER ON A MISSION TO DO AI JUSTICE

Louis Goss talks to the lawyer bringing AI to the courtroom

THE FIRST barrister to use an artificial intelligence (AI) tool in an Old Bailey murder trial has called on the UK’s Ministry of Justice (MoJ) to invest in the cutting edge technology.

Sally Hobson, a criminal defence barrister at London chambers The 36 Group, told City A.M. AI tech has the potential to “save huge amounts of time and money” inside the criminal bar.

Hobson explained barristers are currently forced to “spend hours and hours trawling through page after page of useless information” while working on cases.

She noted barristers face dealing with “thousands of pages of material” including emails, Whatsapp messages, police interview transcripts and telephone records when preparing their cases.

Currently, this work is for the most part carried out manually, without the use of search tools that let lawyers quickly find specific terms.

“It’s a complete waste of our time doing that,” Hobson said, as she explained AI tools, such as the Luminance software used in the Old Bailey trial, allows barristers to automate this work.

AI-driven programmes let lawyers upload all case material – including handwritten records – onto a single platform that is then entirely searchable.

The Old Bailey trial in which the AI tech made its debut saw 41-year-old James Watson given a life sentence for the murder of a six-year-old boy in 1994. Watson had evaded justice for decades for the murder he committed when he was 13 years old, before DNA evidence revealed he had been in contact with the victim on the day he was killed.

Hobson said using the AI tech in the murder trial came as a “revelation” as she claimed she had “never used anything like it before”.

Hobson is now calling on the UK government to invest in AI technology to boost efficiency at the criminal bar, as it continues to deal with one of the largest crises it has faced in decades.

“We need a platform that will allow us to work more easily and work more efficiently,” Hobson told City A.M.

The lawyer’s call comes just months after criminal defence barristers launched a months-long strike last year, before securing a 15 per cent

increase in legal aid fees.

Hobson said AI tech has the potential to ease the ongoing legal aid crisis by cutting barristers’ workloads and improving their efficiency.

“If they put investment into using software like this it would in the long term save huge amounts of money and time,” Hobson said. “It would be incredibly useful”.

“It has to be the way forward, because we know that it’s there and we know we can use it,” she continued. “The problem is it’s not being used.”

All in all, Hobson was clear that, if she was on trial, she would without doubt pick AI-backed lawyers over those carrying out their work the “old-fashioned way”.

“I definitely would because I’ve used it,” Hobson said. “I know how advantageous it is.”

An MoJ spokesperson said: “We are already investing millions in digital technology for the legal sector, including our recent £4m funding boost to LawtechUK which is driving forward modernisation and innovation in our courts system.”

CAN I QUOTE YOU ON THAT?

MADOFF’S DEMISE GETS THE NETFLIX TREATMENT

Timothy Armoo criticises Steven Bartlett for making out his Social Chain company was worth £300m rather than the actual £7m it was just sold for.

The Bernie Madoff docu-series on Netflix, if you haven’t already seen it, should be on your list. Although 2008 may feel like history, the real story here is not how the Crash triggered the ponzi scheme’s collapse but how Madoff was able to get away with running it for decades. It’s about grotesque regulatory failure, institutional blindness and investors’ ability to disregard the mantra that if something seems too good to be true, it probably is. Alas, there’s no shortage of more recent examples that come with the same health warning. FTX, anyone?

Where the Square Mile’s movers and shakers get a few things off their chest. Today it’s generations expert Dr Eliza Filby

It’s disingenuous at best

CITY DASHBOARD

YOUR ONE-STOP SHOP FOR BROKER VIEWS AND MARKET REPORTS

LONDON REPORT BEST OF THE BROKERS

To appear in Best of the Brokers, email your research to notes@cityam.com

BP investors push FTSE 100 even higher but 250 index drops

LONDON’s FTSE 100 was yesterday boosted by investors piling into oil giant BP, which announced its highest-ever full year profits of £23bn last year. The capital’s premier index jumped 0.31 per cent to close at 7,861.11 points, while the domestically-focused mid-cap FTSE 250 index, which is more aligned with the health of the UK economy, fell more than one per cent per cent higher to 20,193 points.

The oil megacap revealed soaring energy prices globally, fuelled by economies getting back online after the Covid-19 crisis and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, had propelled its profits to a record high. Its shares leapt nearly eight per cent to the top of the FTSE 100, lifting Shell, its rival, in its slipstream, up more than two per cent.

The pair represent an enormous share of the index, meaning movements in their shares exert a strong influence on the direction of the FTSE 100.

BP boosted its dividend by 10 per cent and announced more buybacks, firming up investor sentiment. Analysts said the bumper profit haul has enabled it to cushion the financial blow stemming from pulling out of Russia.

Richard Hunter, head of markets at Interactive Investor, said: “Such immense profits have also enabled BP to withstand the major financial cost of its Russian exit as it steps away from Rosneft, as well as actually providing an upgrade to its earnings guidance for the forthcoming year.”

London banks also pulled the index higher, with HSBC, Lloyds and Barclays all up around one per cent ahead of UK banks earnings season next week.

Ascential was awarded a Buy recommendation after the B2B media company announced one of the businesses in which it has a minority stake, Hudson MX, had concluded a funding round. As part of the deal, Ascential has received $30m (£24.9m) in cash but it could get an additional $52m as part of the restructuring. “ If exercised, Ascential will own 79 per cent of the equity in Hudson in the future,” analysts said.

SWINGS AND ROUNDABOUTS

Analysts at Peel Hunt have picked the numbers of Hostelworld and upgraded their target price to 200p as the share price has increased significantly over the past few months, going up from 68.2p in mid-September to over 146p on Monday. “We remain convinced of the potential profit upside and believe that there is more to go for in share price terms,” they said.

“BP may be enemy number one in the public’s eyes for its record profits, but its latest success has helped to drive up the FTSE 100, which in turn will benefit people up and down the country with exposure to UK stocks in their pension.”

RUSS MOULD, AJ BELL

OPINION

EDITED BY SASCHA O’SULLIVAN

A Big Tech-style Whitehall restructure might just make our science sector

Daniel Korski

RENAMING and re-organising government departments is the sort of thing that gets journalists, MPs and officials excited but few people outside of Westminster care about. Even worse, voters often feel it’s displacement activity for policies and the change they hope for in their lives.

Cue the tired metaphor of the deck chairs on the Titanic.

But the reality is that having the right organisational setup is critical for success in the private and public sector. Google reorganised itself a few years ago to ensure it continued to invest in innovation. Facebook famously changed its name to Meta to emphasise its new mission. In the private sector, change is constant and the options for an organisational uplift are manifold - including mergers, acquisitions, selling units.

In Whitehall, the options to change are more limited. A department can’t just sell off a unit even if its purpose has been superseded or greater synergies could be ensured elsewhere. That’s why top-level changes like the ones Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has instituted this week are incredibly important - especially for delivery.

Who now doubts that creating the Ministry of Defence in the 1960s was a good idea? Or that closing the De-

partment for Energy a few years ago was a bad one? Going further, as my former No10 colleague Rachel Wolf has argued, delivery is what matters and to do so governments needs the right organisational tools - like the vaccine taskforce during the pandemic

Of all the changes announced yesterday, the creation of a stand-alone Department for Science, Innovation and Technology is particularly astute.

This future agenda has for a long time benefited from a lot of high-flying rhetoric but little joined up working. While Prime Ministers and

ministers have long talked about the value of supporting British innovation, they have been underserved by the tools available to affect change. Pots of innovation-focused money are scattered across Whitehall, support for technology had to vie with museums for a Cabinet minister’s attention; it took No10 to push for the creation of ARIA, the new innovation agency.

As the cross-party Commission for Smart Government argued, the UK should be better at “marshalling” innovation programmes across government and follow the example of

countries like South Korea and Taiwan to create the sort of dedicated ministry that’s now being set up. Perhaps most importantly, in the neverending negotiations with the Treasury for more innovation funding, the fact that nobody in the Cabinet owned a single science “account” will have undermined the case. Power in Whitehall comes in part from focus.

A “Ministry of the Future” doesn’t just offer the chance to operate more coherently and bring together the government’s innovation support, it is the opportunity to build a cadre of

An outdated Culture Department prioritised Centre Parcs over innovative start ups

IF YOU want to know why the cre-

ation of the new Department for Science, Innovation and Technology matters - I have a story for you.

In 2020 during the early throes of the pandemic - I had a meeting with a senior official at the then-Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) about negotiating a bailout package for the then-stricken tech startup ecosystem. It looked really bad. Investment was down, VCs weren’t investing, and startup founders were fearful. The reply: we need to deal with the holiday parks first, then we can talk about tech companies.

As much as we all love Butlins, we’ll no longer be having dumb conversations like that.

There will be a real voice for innovation in Whitehall.

Why does this matter? Part of this is a question of the facts of life. Big departments bully small ones. That meant in the Whitehall jungle - the ostensible voice of tech at DCMS espe-

Dom Hallas

cially tended to be drowned out by the big spending beasts.

But it also comes down to policy trade-offs, much like the needs of Center Parcs were placed in front of those of tech innovators, there are plenty of other cases where we’ve seen the multiple hats departments wear impacting how they think about innovation.

At the old Department of Business, Energy, Industry and Strategy (BEIS), the natural focus was on the big industrial players. BAE & Boeing got more airtime than Builder.ai & Birdie.

There was a sense that more time was spent worrying about the latest steel

bailout than the future of green innovation.

The same was true at DCMS. The needs of tech were frequently balanced against legacy industries they were often disrupting. The awkward marriage of influential culture and media stakeholders with tech has always been tricky. More Frost/Nixon than Lennon/McCartney. You only have to look at the government U-turn on text and data mining proposals that would help foster generative AI research at the behest of the music industry. Or how in digital competition policy, big long-term questions on the environment needed for future starters were often boiled down to whether Google should be subsidising newspapers.

The new Department for Science, Innovation and Technology has a chance to be the opposite of this. A new department with the increased funding for research & innovation from BEIS, the tech policy knowledge of DCMS and the strong backing of No10 to-

officials better versed in technology, data and science. Over the last few years, and especially during the pandemic years, this fluency has been sorely lacking.

Officials are often the brightest of their generation but they are chosen, trained and promoted in a way that doesn’t ensure the civil service has the necessary expertise. A department that can focus on, attract and develop technically-savvy talent can provide the UK a real advantage.

Changing organisations inevitably comes with challenges. Departments like businesses can become too inward focused. Plaques and jostling for jobs can substitute for delivery. It will be critical that the Prime Minister and Michelle Donelan, the new Science Secretary, lead the outward focusbacking the innovations being developed in the UK across garages, universities, startups, scale ups and larger corporates.

Numerous economic models have shown the serious challenges the UK is facing to its underlying economy. As a nation we aren’t productive enough, we aren’t skilled enough, and we aren’t able to harness opportunities across the country or export as much as we should. Ensuring that innovators have the talent, public R&D support, private investment and access to markets is critical to getting the country on a different economic trajectory. It is therefore crucial not just for the Conservative Party’s electoral success but the country’s overall success. Yesterday’s Whitehall reshuffle is an exciting step in the right direction.

£ Daniel Korski is chief executive of Public and a former Downing Street special

SIT DOWN Michelle

gether should be free to create approaches that unashamedly back innovative tech and science to transform our economy and make the case for them in government. This can only be a good thing for British tech startups.

Of course, there are limits to what machinery of government changes can do. They can’t reverse stupid R&D tax credit cuts, they can’t fix university spinouts, they can’t create data rules that allow AI innovators to thrive. But the new department can and our job is to make sure they do.

Back in the pandemic, when a civil service mandarin told me that holiday parks were a higher priority than tech firms the then Chancellor Rishi Sunak disagreed. His backing resulted in a package that meant hundreds of innovative companies were saved. As Prime Minister, his action today can create an impact just as significant.

£ Dom Hallas

is executive director of Coadec

Rishi Sunak created a new Department for Science, Innovation and Technology yesterday

Donelan, the new Secretary for the Department of Science, Innovation and Technology (SIT) was almost in charge of a ministry with a different name the Department for STI. Westminster insiders warned against a name easily confused with sexually transmitted infections

WE WANT TO HEAR YOUR VIEWS

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Fraud rules ripe to backfire

[Re: Regulator’s fraud reimbursement scheme is ‘fundamentally flawed’, top MP says, Jan 6]

Whilst the new regulations, which oblige banks to compensate victims of authorised push payment fraud, have come under fire for being flawed in practice, there seems to have been an oversight as the proposals are equally questionable in principle, too Authorised push payment fraud is now rampant, with UK Finance reporting a 30 per cent increase on

pre-pandemic levels in the first half of last year. That something has to be done is clear, but our experience working such fraud cases suggests that in making it easier for individuals to be reimbursed, the rules could fuel the very scam they exist to fix. After all, with many facing a cost-of-living squeeze we may well see a growth in individuals either falsely claiming APP fraud or even working with conmen to fabricate invoices knowing they’ll almost certainly get their money back.

Whether the rules are flawed is one thing; whether the rules could seriously backfire is another.

Mehmet Goksen Conflict International

ROUND AND ROUND Hundreds of bus services in England set to be chopped

Poor educational outcomes for today’s children could create a future wave of crime

Paul Ormerod

DURING the pandemic, those most at risk of illness were the elderly and the vulnerable. But it was Britain’s youngest who felt the development and social impacts the most. The full scale of the problem is still slowly unravelling.

As children started at school, we heard horror stories of kids arriving not yet toilet-trained or unable to use cutlery. But, for once, this isn’t anecdotal and there is a large body of evidence which backs up these stories. Report after report has confirmed the effects on children when they arrive at primary school. Last year, the education watchdog Ofsted noted the delays in their speech and language developments. The personal, social and emotional skills of the age cohort have been held back, in some instances, quite dramatically.

Alongside the Institute of Fiscal Studies, the distinguished econometrician Richard Blundell of University College London looked at the impact more

EXPLAINER-IN-BELIEF: MORE LOOMING CUTS TO HS2

Only weeks ago Jeremy Hunt had to shut down rumours HS2 would end in West London instead of at Euston Station.

Now the Department for Transport is working on “Project Silverlight” in a bid to cut costs for the London-Birmingham railway, according to the Financial Times.

The first leg of the project was expected to be ready by 2033, but could be pushed back to 2038. It was originally planned to open in December 2026, with the second leg between Manchester and Leeds up and running by

2033. But a 140km section of the line connecting Leeds with the Midlands was scrapped in 2021.

The remaining 60km is now under threat.

The total cost was originally pegged at £33bn, but is now estimated to cost the exchequer in the realm of £100bn.

Hunt has his public spending scissors at the ready but it’s a difficult project to cull further.

The decision to cut the second leg was marred by accusations of being London-centric, rather than enabling better connections in the North.

generally throughout the school years on educational attainment and skills.

A key feature of all of these studies is how existing inequalities widened significantly during the pandemic. Children from deprived backgrounds have fallen even further behind.

A disturbing corollary is the future increase in crime.

This is the implication of a paper published in the latest issue of the American Economic Association’s journal “Economic Policy” by Anders, Barr and Smith. The report titled “the effect of early childhood education on adult criminality” does what it says on the tin.

Sophistical statistical analysis of two large and reliable data sets, each containing information on around 1.5 mil-

lion people, found powerful results on how good childhood education leads to a large reduction in later criminal behaviour. The impact is strongest in areas with high levels of deprivation.

They’re not the first to find this either. Cambridge economist Robin Marris was a lifelong liberal, but he admitted his findings in a study carried out by the Home Office in the early 2000s had altered his previous beliefs about crime. He showed that most crime is committed by relatively unskilled young men from deprived backgrounds.

In the interests of full transparency, I collaborated with Marris on some of this research.

The real interest was that once a young person first committed a crime, they could go on to commit very large numbers, even potentially thousands, of criminal acts.

So not only is crime concentrated on young, unskilled men, it is heavily concentrated on a small proportion of them.

The American authors of the recently

published paper make the same point independently of Marris. When looking at anti-poverty programmes, they found improving the development of a single career criminal can result in more than 100 fewer victims every year.

The lower the level of educational attainment, the fewer skills which a young man acquires, the more likely he is to become a prolific criminal. The probability of an individual falling into this category remains low, but it is very much higher than it is for those of even average capabilities.

Mitigating the impact will require substantial resources, at a time when there are good reasons to restrain public spending. And these will need skilful targeting at deprived areas across the country.

The educational outcomes of Britain’s kids are not just relevant to them and our productivity, but how safe our future streets are.

£ Paul Ormerod is an author and economist at Volterra Partners LLP

A key feature of these studies is how existing inequalities widened in the pandemic

Young children’s educational outcomes fell behind significantly in lockdowns

Up to 15 per cent of bus services in England could be cut unless the government commits more funding, the Confederation of Passenger Transport said. It could mean less than 10,000 routes for the first time.

EATING&DRINKING

WINE-DOWN WEDNESDAY

London was abuzz with Burgundy this January and the release of the challenging 2021 vintage En Primeur. To buy En Primeur is to purchase before the wine is officially on the market and means consumers can snap up wines at an often more favourable price point –something that would be very desirable for this increasingly expensive region. Experts of the wine trade, restaurant Sommeliers and collectors from the “Burgundy Brigade” attended what tastings they could to essentially “try before you buy”.

The fact there were fewer tasting events was indicative of the major problem of the 2021 vintage, namely its size. Mother Nature decided to get unusually temperamental and the result was a gross reduction in volume.

Most of the region’s growers lost at least half of their crop, many lost more. It was especially bad news for Chardonnay, meaning white Burgundy is even more scarce than red, and the prices are enough to make even the most hardened collector wince.

The wine itself is looking rather good and a return to a classic Burgundy style, unlike the recent warmer years. The cool weather means the 2021 will in general have a higher fresh acidity, a more restrained refinement, more moderate alcohol, and lighter body.

The winemakers and producers I have spoken to all felt it was reminiscent of the Burgundy of old, something many wine lovers will find

Wine without the snobbery, by Libby

Brodie

PICK UP A NICE BURGUNDY FOR VALENTINE’S DAY –IF YOU CAN...

attractive. It is unsurprising that, by and large, the premier and grand crus are showing the best.

The good white wines are fresh, vibrant, and harmonious with a silky finesse as they are sipped. Less fruit forward than in warmer vintages many had a slick minerality, almost a savoury quality and a beautiful measured precision.

The red wines are lighter than previous recent years and there is an overall energy and elegance to them. There is some excitement about Pommard wines, the Burgundy village between Beaune and Volnay. People used to see this as a bullish powerhouse of a wine, stomping out of the Côte de Beaune but, though the flavour is rich, the 2021 vintage has evoked subtle, elegant reds.

Swirling Chateau de Meursault’s Pommard, Clos des Epenots 1er Cru (£515 in bond, case of 6) with Justerini & Brooks’ Burgundy buyer Julian Campbell, he recommended keeping an eye on who neighbours the more famous names. Next door to illustrious Gevrey-Chambertin is the often-overlooked Marsannay, offering charming wines from top-quality producers. In the shadow (metaphorically speaking) of Corton lies Pernand Vergelesses which creates wines so flavourful and fresh as to be likened to a “mini Corton-Charlemagne” and “little known Maranges” can offer rewarding value, giving “many a wine from a more illustrious village a run for its money”.

Where to watch the Super Bowl: bars in London staying open all night

The Super Bowl, that giant American sporting event Brits don’t really understand but use as an excuse to do something they do understand: staying up all night and getting drunk. For those in London, the Super Bowl rolls around this Feb 12 and begins at 11.30pm UK time, running through to almost sunrise if you stay the whole show.

The Philadelphia Eagles and Kansas City Chiefs will contest the 57th edition of the annual game in Arizona on Sunday as the duo look to get their hands on one of the most iconic prizes in domestic sport.

As well as the sport, the show is characterised by big live performances. Rihanna is playing this year to mark her comeback after a decade and Beyonce, Springsteen and Lady Gaga have per-

formed in the past. Here are the London venues showing the Super Bowl in February. Book soon to guarantee a spot as the sport is becoming increasingly popular in the capital.

GIBNEY’S LONDON

Where better to watch the action unfold than in the lively surrounds of Gibney’s, chef Richard Corrigan’s basement saloon bar in Old Street. Enjoy a pint of their Gibney’s Stout or a perfectly poured Guinness alongside bar snacks from the upstairs restaurant Daffodil Mulligan. Think salt chilli pork nuggets and deep fried durrus. Bag a private booth with your very own screen for the ultimate sporting treat with your pals.

TOCA SOCIAL

TOCA Social in North Greenwich will

be showing the action on big screens, with tickets available on Design My Night from £80 for a table of four, with private screening for groups of up to 20 also available. With the reservation lasting from 10.30pm to 3am, you’ll have plenty of time to partake in the variety of games, including Crockinole, Beer Pong, Foosball, Cornhole and more. Food is available and beer will be served in all-American red cups.

BOXPARK

London’s three Boxpark eating and drinking meccas in Shoreditch, Croydon and Wembley aren’t content with just showing the Super Bowl. They’re also hosting

food-eating competitions, a bucking bronco and beer pong tournaments, as well as live bands.

HEADS & TAILS

This West Hampstead bar will burst its doors open on Sunday evening for those looking to watch the showpiece event. It’s famed for its Wild Turkey 101 Old Fashioned but will be serving food too – there is a steep £10 per head preauthorisation, however.

BAR KICK

On football days, Bar Kick in Shoreditch has possibly the most high-energy vibe in London. Super Bowl fans wanting to replicate that football energy can head here where a £20 entry ticket gets you three drinks, and food from a special Super Bowl menu.

SKYLIGHT TOBACCO DOCK

Why not head to one of London’s best rooftop bars in… the coldest period of the year? Don’t worry, there are heaters and indoor areas as US-

themed events change the vibe from blustery Shadwell to spring break in Cancun. There’s a beer pong tournament at 9pm so guests will be absolutely legless a good hour before kick off. Pre-bookable areas are available and food and drink will be available, including nachos, burgers and wings.

BIG PENNY SOCIAL

This adults only event may cost £10 entry but sees one of Walthamstow’s liveliest venues host the American event. The kitchen will be open until the early hours and there’s a huge HD screen to watch the Super Bowl – the venue is open from 7pm to 4am.

MADISON

One of the City’s swanky rooftop bars is opening for a late night session for the Super Bowl. £15 entry gets you a welcome beer and there’s pre-booking available. A live band will warm up and there are DJs before the big event, with US-themed food throughout.

£ See Sport on P19 for how to watch the Super Bowl in person in the US

Somehow this esoteric American sport has become a part of the British sporting calendar –here’s how to watch it

Well, the 2021 vintage isn’t ready quite yet but here’s what you need to know about the disaster-struck year in Burgundy, including some early tastings from the world’s top experts

OOPS, I GOT TRICKED INTO VALENTINE’S DAY

Let’s get this clear: Valentine’s Day is a commercialised hellscape. A disastrous day ruled by anxiety for those of us not in couples. If you’re not smooching your partner in a twee restaurant, making valiant waiters interrupt you to take your order, does Valentine’s Day even exist? It’s not that I mind romance, I just don’t like to be saccharine about it. Anyway, all of this made my dinner at Ting, the Chinesethemed restaurant halfway up The Shard, especially funny.

Before sitting down I was confronted by not one, not two, but three humansized floral cutouts of hearts. They were backlit for Instagram, because if nothing else Valentine’s Day makes for great marketing. In case we couldn’t work it out, upon taking our seats a waiter proclaimed that the restaurant was “a great place for a romantic dinner.”

I’d taken a good friend for dinner rather than a partner, but a friend who teetered on the brink between friend-

We made for the lift, but a sign for the rooftop infinity pool caught our eye. We swung open the door, looked at each other, then slowly removed our shoes

ship and romance. We’d been voice noting all year but days earlier he’d revealed he’d be moving to Australia, so we’d decided on a slap up meal to celebrate: a toast somewhere high. He’d never been up The Shard, so there we were.

At Ting, Valentine’s Day feels even more reductive than it does on the ground. There is simply no need to hammer the message home when the environment is this romantic. Chairs are carefully positioned so that as many diners as possible get views over the capital, and live musicians play love ballads. We’re halfway up The Shard so everyone’s tingly with excitement. There’s an addictive energy, and unlike other sky-high restaurants in the capital (I won’t name names) the food is actually good.

We swerved the four-course truffle menu because there can be too much of a good thing. Instead we dove into something far more romantic: a gutbusting five courses. In reality the courses are fairly small, but precisely enough to fill you up. The Experience menu could certainly be more Chinese, but it proffers exciting little dishes that are as fun to look at as they are to taste.

Mushroom toast with grilled portobello, shiitake soy and fermented cep

Illicit late-night swimming made Adam Bloodworth’s trip to Shangri-La at The Shard romantic as hell - but shhh, don’t tell

DON’T FORGET TO BOOK A TABLE FOR THE BIG DAY

Five ideas to inspire you for St Valentine’s

boasted lovely folds of mushroom, succumbing to the bread like layers of apple atop an elaborate tarte tatin. A salmon wonton tart with avocado, wasabi and coconut foam was just the right amount of novelty to spark a conversation, while sprouting broccoli with satay sauce and puffed black rice had a welcome lightness. Soy braised short rib with potato, nori terrine and kale chimichurri was small but perfectly formed. The chocolate and miso pudding was decadent enough to make me crave retreating to bed for anything but Valentine’s Day sex.

Back to the sexual tension: we’d got

through a bottle of orange wine before buzzing the lift to Gong, the bar at the top of the Shangri-La hotel on The Shard’s highest floor, where house music replaces the ballads. It’s a great spot to feel high, in every sense. After too much vino and the speedy lift, Gong’s floor-to-ceiling glass windows feel close, almost like aeroplane windows. After the amount we’d drunk, being in Gong felt like flying. It had ticked past one in the morning and staff told us that the man shaking our spicy margs had to go home. Heavy on our feet, we made for the lift, but a sign for the rooftop in-

finity pool caught our eye. We swung open the door, looked at each other, then slowly removed our shoes. Next thing we knew we were in the warm, inviting water in our underwear and ogling the view of the darkened London skyline. Arms resting on the pool’s edge, we watched kebabed throngs milling around London Bridge fifty floors below until a security man politely asked us to leave. Shangri-La really needn’t bother with Valentine’s Day, it’s already romantic enough.

£ Gong-shangri-la.com; Ting-shangrila.com; 0207 234 8108

1. THE HOLLAND

The Holland in Kensington is serving a seasonal three-course menu with rhubarb fizz apéritif. Think cosy candlelit pub vibes and discreetly luxe dishes. And it's ticketed, so no need to worry about your partner seeing the bill.

2. FRENCHIE

Greg Marchand’s Covent Garden restaurant, Frenchie, is celebrating Valentine’s Day with a five course tasting menu. Available for dinner only, it’s £95 per person, with an optional wine pairing for an additional £75.

3. OMBRA

Mitshel Ibrahim’s canal side Italian restaurant in Hackney is usually closed on Tuesdays, but this Valentine’s the team are making an exception, offering a tasting menu for £100pp which includes a glass of bubbles on arrival, oysters to start and maritozzi (the iconic Italian cream filled buns) for dessert.

4. THE BEAUMONT

The Beaumont hotel will serve a special Valentine’s menu from head chef Ben Boeynaems in their glamorous resident restaurant, The Colony Grill Room. An optional Sommelier’s wine pairing will also be available.

5. BOOKING OFFICE 1869

Booking Office 1869 in the St. Pancras Renaissance Hotel is the perfect place to celebrate, with a romantic Valentine’s Day tasting menu to be enjoyed alongside live music.

Clockwise from top: views from the Gong bar at the Shangri-La hotel; the mushroom course at Ting

THE PUNTER

Wally Pyrah previews today’s card from Happy Valley

Richards to Encounter another Valley winner in progressive Pachisi

RACING fans can look forward to an excellent card at Happy Valley on Wednesday, with over £1.6m in prize money on offer on the nine-race programme.

Favourite-backers would have left Sha Tin on Sunday full of the joys of spring after six of the 10 races went to market leaders.

They will, however, find this Valley card a very different kettle of fish, with many of the races wide-open affairs.

Star attraction at the city track has to be expensive French import Viva Chaleur, who seeks to get his career back on track in the Tsui Man Handicap (2.50pm) over the extended mile.

Formerly known as Trident when trained by Andre Fabre in France, this son of Wootton Bassett was runnerup in the G1 Prix Morny behind Perfect Power as a juvenile and filled a similar position behind Modern Games in the G3 Somerville Tattersalls Stakes at Newmarket.

After a couple of encouraging runs in Hong Kong, trainer Caspar Fownes had high expectations that the four-year-old would make his mark in the Hong Kong Classic Series and be a leading fancy for the HK Derby. That was until he showed nothing in the Hong Kong Classic Mile at Sha Tin ten days ago, when trailing the field for most of the journey and never sighted.

Trainer Jamie Richards has saddled 14 winners in his first season training in Hong Kong

With the form of that contest questionable to many pundits, Fownes’ runner makes a quick return to the track, in the hope of him proving that form wrong and still being a Classic contender going forward. He is, however, going to have to do it the hard way from the outside draw, and is mapped to suffer a wide and tough journey.

A better alternative can prove hat-trick seeking and highly progressive ENCOUNTERED, who was hugely impressive when withstanding the late charge of Rocket Spade from the outside draw over the course and distance last month.

With a low draw of five in his favour

this time, he is set for a more economical journey and, despite a penalty, has enough in hand to overcome potential danger Sight Spirit.

Supporting gallopers from the widest draw (12) at Happy Valley, is a quick journey to the ‘poor house’ with many hopes dashed from the coffin-box number.

However, it may still be worth taking a chance with the Jamie Richardstrained PACHISI, who has drawn the outside number in the Village Handicap (12.45pm) over five furlongs.

Richards has his stable in good form at present, with a winner at the last three meetings and nine of his 14 winners coming at the city track.

This New Zealand-bred gelding has always looked a sure-fire future winner, judged on trial form, and produced an eye-catching performance when coming from the clouds to snatch third place behind Faribault on his debut last month.

That form reads well in this contest and, provided Karis Teetan has him close enough turning into the home straight, his impressive finishing-kick should do the rest.

POINTERS

Pachisi e/w 12.45pm Happy Valley

Encountered 2.50pm Happy Valley

Size’s M can spoil a Special comeback win for returning Chadwick

IT’S GOOD to see jockey Matthew Chadwick back in action for the first time since he fractured his ankle in a track-trial accident back in December.

The injury couldn’t have happened at a worse time for the former Hong Kong Champion Apprentice, who was on fire, riding 17 winners, and at the top of his game.

Chadwick returns to the Valley with

four rides – all of them have good chances – but gets no opportunity to ease himself back in, with his first ride back aboard hot-favourite California Deeply in the Kwing Kwong Handicap (12.15pm) over five furlongs. This progressive Tony Cruz-trained gelding, renowned for his explosive late charge, was unlucky not to complete a hat-trick when just denied by Pretty Queen Prawn last month,

and the handicapper has still put him up three pounds. His chance is obvious, but it may still pay to take a chance with the John Size-trained SPECIAL M who is exceptionally well-handicapped against California Deeply on recent form and was better than his final finishing position suggested after a tough and wide journey last start.

Rewarding Together is another

clear choice in the Blue Pool Handicap (2.15pm) over six furlongs, but luck always plays a part in these competitive sprints.

Keep an eye on long-shots Family Folks and back-to-form Astrologer who could both outrun their odds.

David Hayes stable hasn’t been firing on all cylinders recently, but when Zac Purton climbs aboard one of his gallopers, bettors take note.

With the partnership recording a 33 percent win strike-rate, ALLGREEKTOME, who trialled impressively at the course recently, will be hard to beat in the Wang Tak Handicap (11.45pm) over six furlongs.

POINTERS

Allgreektome 11.45am Happy Valley Special M e/w 12.15pm Happy Valley

How to tick the 2023 Super Bowl off your list

SUNDAY’S Super Bowl is set to be watched by more than 250m people globally, but imagine being in the State Farm Stadium.

The Philadelphia Eagles and Kansas City Chiefs clash this weekend in the annual game, held this time at the 63,400-capacity venue in Glendale, Phoenix, Arizona.

So just how can you get there, and how many thousands will it cost?

VISAS

First, you need an ESTA visa to enter the United States.

This gives you the right to stay for 90 days and costs $21 (£17).

But be quick, because it can take upwards of 72 hours to process. Applying will also tell you whether you need to do anything else to enter the country, such as visit the visa office.

FLIGHTS

Based on a trip that sees you fly out to the Super Bowl on Saturday and flying back two days later, Finnair offers the best deal. For £652 you’ll leave London Heathrow at 11:15am and arrive in Phoenix at 6:58pm, after a stop in Los Angeles.

The return flight sees you take off on Monday evening and land at Heathrow on Tuesday morning after a nine hour, 45 minute direct flight.

The fastest trip currently costs £1,000 and involves direct flights between Heathrow and Phoenix. The return flight is the same as the above journey.

The cheapest trip takes more than 22 hours and is only £70 cheaper than the

NFL game.

best value trip, so hardly worth it. This leaves Heathrow on Saturday at 12:35pm and arrives in Phoenix on Sunday lunchtime after a 19-hour stop in San Francisco. You could drive that bit for less.

TICKETS

One advantage to the Super Bowl is that there tends to be tickets right up until the weekend of the event –they’re just very, very expensive. The cheapest ticket on the NFL exchange at the moment is around $4,500 (£3,700) but some have been seen for upwards of $18,000 (£14,985). This is the major sticking point, but you do get to watch Rihanna, who is

By Matt Hardy

set to feature in the half-time show.

HOTELS

Based on a Saturday to Monday stay, a hotel can be secured at the “HomeTown Studios by Red Roof Phoenix – West” for just over £250.

Hotels increase to the thousands if you want something fancier, with a four-bedroom ranch house available for rent for £33,000. Ouch. So there you have it. If you want to go to the Super Bowl it's going to cost you a fortune but it can be done. And if you do go, let us know.

£ See Life&Style on P16 for where to watch the Super Bowl in the capital

SUPER BOWL LVII: A BRIEF PREVIEW

WHO IS PLAYING?

Runners-up from 2020 and 2021 the Kansas City Chiefs take on the 2018 champions the Philadelphia Eagles.

WHERE IS IT?

The 57th Super Bowl is taking place at the State Farm Stadium in Glendale near Phoenix, Arizona.

WHEN AND WHERE IS IT ON?

The showpiece event gets going at 4:30pm local time on Sunday, which is 11:30pm in the United Kingdom. The event will be shown on ITV and will include the famed half-time concert show.

issue develops closely” and “may not want to be associated with a club that is found guilty of malpractice”, said Hurtado. Front-of-shirt partner Jeep’s contract is due to expire next year. Juve’s share price, meanwhile, is down 19 per cent in the last year.

HEARD the one about the serial domestic champions brought to heel over allegations of systematic abuse of financial regulations? Except this isn’t about Manchester City and the Premier League but Juventus and Serie A, and a scandal with implications for the European Super League, Tottenham Hotspur and some of football’s biggest names.

The “plusvalenze” – capital gains –case exploded again last month when Juventus were found guilty of generating artificial profits by inflating the value of players used in swap or partexchange deals. Italy’s football authorities threw the book at them, issuing a 15-point deduction and instantly knocking the Turin giants out of the title race and into mid-table.

It had almost come to nothing. The charges were initially dismissed in April last year but fresh evidence from wiretaps and a training-ground raid blew it wide open again and led prosecutors to mount a successful appeal. Perhaps sensing the worst, the entire board of Juventus, including influential chairman Andrea Agnelli, resigned in November.

But things could yet get considerably worse for Juve. They are also accused of secretly paying players who were supposed to be foregoing wages during the pandemic and, as a listed company, misleading the market. A further 20point penalty from football chiefs has been mooted, while the separate “Prisma” probe by local prosecutors is to be heard next month.

The episode has ominous echoes of the “Calciopoli” scandal, which saw Juventus stripped of the 2004-05 Serie A title and relegated to the second tier after their executives were found to be the worst offenders among a handful of clubs trying to influence referees, and has left the team, staff and fans are in a state of limbo, unsure of what they are playing for.

“In 2006 I remember watching Juventus games and not knowing what would happen, or if their goals would count. Now I have a similar feeling,” Turin-based journalist Lorenzo Bettoni, an editor at Football Italia, told

SNAKE

Having bounced back from the Calciopoli affair to win nine successive titles and reach two Champions League finals, the club known as the Old Lady has been dragged through the mud again. “Juventus worked hard to reposition the club’s reputation,” Carlos Hurtado, team leader of sports law at Baker McKenzie’s Madrid office, told City A.M. “Further off-field controversy

There could also be dire financial consequences for Juve, whose bigmoney gamble on signing Cristiano Ronaldo in 2018 left them exposed when they slipped off their Serie A perch two years ago and the pandemic battered the Italian economy. Revenue will take a big hit from missing the Champions League next term, while relegation would also deliver a swingeing blow.

Sponsors “will be looking at how this

A summer player clear-out is already planned in order to cut costs, with Angel di Maria and Adrien Rabiot among those tipped to leave. Paul Pogba has so far indicated he will stay, but relegation may make that untenable. Forwards Dusan Vlahovic and Federico Chiesa currently look like their best hope of raising money in the event of a fire sale.

The shockwaves could be felt in London, too. Fabio Paratici, Juve’s sporting director during the period between 2019 and 2021 subject to investigation, is now in the same role at Tottenham Hotspur. He was banned from Italian football for 30 months for his role in

the scandal. Fifa has not yet decreed whether it will follow suit and extend the ban worldwide.

Perhaps the biggest loser in all of this is Agnelli. Part of one Italy’s richest dynasties, he rose to become one of football’s most powerful executives and unofficial spokesman for the big continental clubs but was booted out of Uefa and branded “a snake” for his leading role in orchestrating the failed European Super League breakaway.

Now he has lost his position at Juve and any remaining clout, too. “Agnelli had been saying for years that he was Robin Hood, saving the poor, when in reality he was robbing the hood,” one football industry insider quipped. His ostracising represents yet another blow to the twitching corpse of the European Super League.

Uefa, meanwhile, is likely to bring its own action against Juventus. Having seen its revised financial fair play rules accused of lacking teeth, the European governing body has a perfect opportunity to show how hard the regulations can bite by making an example of a club that remains one of its biggest critics. Bettoni added: “This isn’t the end of the story.”

Italy’s biggest club, Juventus, is on its knees and it could get worse, writes Frank Dalleres

Agnelli had been saying for years that he was Robin Hood, when in reality he was robbing the hood

SPORT

England Rugby raid Leicester Tigers to bolster coaching team

ENGLAND Rugby yesterday confirmed the departure of one coach and the addition of two other as head coach Steve Borthwick continues to bolster his backroom team ahead of this year’s World Cup.

Interim Leicester Tigers head coach Richard Wigglesworth – who until Borthwick’s appointment as England coach in December was still playing for the East Midlands club – and Aled Walters, who was part of the victorious World Cup-winning South Africa in 2019, will join the national set-up at the end of the domestic season.

Borthwick said:

“Richard and Aled are two outstanding coaches in their fields who I know very well.

“Richard has been a proven winner throughout his playing career and has carried this into his coaching career.

“He already has international coaching experience, from the 2019 Rugby World Cup, alongside a hugely successful playing career and has amassed a wealth of knowledge. Few people have such an in depth, wideranging view and understanding of the tactical element of the game.

“Aled is an excellent performance coach who had an incredible impact with the Rugby World Cup holders, South Africa. Wherever he has worked, players improve. I have never met any-

CRICKET

TERROR IN TURIN

Juventus is on its knees and it could get worse

FESTIVAL SWANSONG Honeysuckle set for final race

one who is able to get more out of players than he does.”

Earlier on Monday, England confirmed the departure of Richard Cockerill after the end of the Six Nations Championship next month.

Cockerill has been part of the England coaching staff since September 2021 and was interim head coach of the national side between the departure of former boss Eddie Jones and appointment of Borthwick.

The former Leicester Tigers head coach will head to French Top14 champions Montpellier where he will become forwards coach and work with the likes of England internationals Luke Cowan-Dickie and Sam Simmonds.

“Having coached and played in France previously, my family and I always had aspirations to return.

This opportunity presented itself some time ago and it was too hard to turn down,” Cockerill said.

“It is disappointing not to work with Steve and the wider team beyond the Six Nations.

“I had hoped to be able stay for the Rugby World Cup, but the timings weren’t meant to be.”

England look to avenge their first round Six Nations loss to Scotland against Italy on Sunday.

Aussies: Winning in India bigger than retaining Ashes

MATT HARDY

BEATING India in their upcoming away Test series would be a bigger scalp then retaining the Ashes against England this summer, according to Australia’s batting talisman Steve Smith.

Australia are the world’s No1 team in Test cricket and begin their first five-day match of 2023 tomorrow as part of a four-Test series against world No2- ranked side India.

“It’s a difficult place to win a Test match, let alone a series,” Smith said. “If we were able to top that mountain, that would be huge.

“I think if you can win in India, that’d be bigger than an Ashes series.”

Australia dominated in the last Ashes series between the two sides, with England retuning home after a humiliating tour which ended in a 4-0 victory for the hosts.

Since then, however, England have gone on an incredible run of results that has seen them lose just once since Ben Stokes was named captain and Brendon McCullum entered the set-up as head coach.

Australia’s tour of India begins in Nagpur tomorrow before three further Tests in Delhi, Dharamsala and Ahmedabad.

FOOTBALL

The Cheltenham Festival’s defending Champion Hurdle winner Honeysuckle will not return to the famous jump meet to defend her crown but will instead race in the Mares’ Hurdle around the iconic racecourse in what is set to be her final race. Honeysuckle has been beaten twice this season, including last weekend in the Irish Champion Hurdle, but will compete in the hurdle race she won in 2020 next month. This year’s Cheltenham Festival is set to be the last for the Mare with the nine-year-old expected to retire this year. Trained by Henry De Bromhead and owned by Kenny Alexander, she was unbeaten until this year and has won an estimated £1.3m across her esteemed jumping career.

Strengthen footie regulator, new Minister told

MATT HARDY

THE NEW Secretary of State for the Department of Culture, Media and Sport Lucy Frazer MP has been pressed by a reform group to strengthen the powers of the incoming football regulator.

Niall Couper, the chief executive of football reform group Fair Game, said: “Lucy Frazer has the weight of expectations on her shoulders.

“Clubs across the country will be eagerly waiting to see what she can deliver. There is no doubt that our national game needs a reboot. The pandemic and the cost-of-living crisis have left clubs on their knees.

“Yet so many still routinely spend

more than they earn on players’ wages. At stake is the very future of our clubs. That gambling culture needs to end.

“We were hours away from the White Paper finally being published. Leaks of the paper had a lot of promise. Our hope is that the delay allows her to strengthen the proposals and focus on delivering a fairer financial flow in football. A flow that rewards well-run clubs and ends that gambling culture endemic in the game.”

Frazer was moved to her new department from the position of Minister of State for Levelling Up, Housing and

CRICKET

Communities amid a minor reshuffle by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak that stemmed from the departure of Nadhim Zahawi as the Conservative Party chair. Frazer becomes the fifth Secretary of State for the department inside four years but her brief will not include digital as the position previously did. Details from the football regulator White Paper were leaked last week and publication has been out back until later this month.

Yorkshire admit to four amended racism charges

MATT HARDY

YORKSHIRE County Cricket Club have admitted to four amended racism charges in relation to the investigation surrounding former county cricketer

Azeem Rafiq.

Those charges include a “failure to take adequate action in respect of allegations of racist and/or discriminatory behaviour” and a “failure to address systemic use of racist and/or discriminatory language over a prolonged period of time”.

The county will not participate in the Cricket Discipline Commission hearing next month along with Gary Ballance, former bowling coach Richard

Pyrah, Andrew Gale, Matthew Hoggard, Tim Bresnan and John Blain. All have been involved with Yorkshire in some capacity and charged with allegations relating to the scandal. Of everyone charged, only Michael Vaughan will participate in the hearing but the commission will still hear the charges against the others.

Azeem Rafiq said: “I want to thank both Yorkshire and Gary [Ballance] for doing the right thing.”

In a statement, Yorkshire said: “The club has admitted four amended charges which the club accepts may be prejudicial to the interests of cricket and/or may being the ECB and/or the game into disrepute.”

MATT HARDY

Wigglesworth became Leicester head coach after Borthwick left