Monday 3 July 2023

WELL, AT LEAST IT WASN’T SANDPAPER THIS TIME... AUSSIES IN STORM AGAIN P20

LONDON SET TO POWER UK RECOVERY

‘DRIVE’ OF CAPITAL’S FIRMS STILL SUPPORTING GROWTH

EXCLUSIVE

JACK BARNETT

LONDON businesses are shaking off all the doom and gloom swirling around the UK economy and are poised to power the country’s recovery, research shared exclusively with City A.M. has found.

The capital’s firms are standing up to rising costs and shaky consumer demand, but are still alive to inflationary threats, according to the London Chamber of Commerce and Industry’s (LCCI) latest Capital 500 survey.

Some 24 per cent of London businesses notched an increase in domestic sales in the second quarter of this year, up from 21 per cent in the three months to March.

It is a sign that the capital’s economy is in rude health despite firms being

THAMES WATER WOES SIGN OF AN INDUSTRY IN ROUGH SHAPE P10

squeezed by rising energy, wage and interest bills and consumer finances taking a knock from surging prices.

The research “shows yet again the resilience and entrepreneurial drive of the London business community despite the economic headwinds,”

Richard Burge, chief executive of the LCCI, told City A.M. Last quarter’s improved performance is lifting confidence in future income flows. Nearly two in five companies expect their profitability and turnover to grow in the next 12 months, the LCCI said.

Similarly, 24 per cent of the 510 firms surveyed by Savanta for the LCCI are optimistic about London’s economy over the coming year. They are less buoyant about Britain’s overall prospects, with 44 per cent of London firms souring the country’s economic health.

Meanwhile, employment in the capital is on course to expand in the coming months as well. Just five per cent of companies plan to trim their workforce, while 22 per cent are set on bringing in new staff.

UK families are being gripped by sticky inflation and much higher interest rates. Prices have jumped 8.7 per cent over the last year to May, the same rate of change registered in April. Experts thought the rate would fall.

Persistent inflation has compelled the Bank of England to hike interest rates 13 times in a row to a near 15-year high of five per cent. Last month, governor Andrew Bailey and co shocked markets by sending borrowing costs up 50 basis points. Financial markets think they will peak at more than six per cent. There were signs in the LCCI’s research that inflationary pressures are hanging around, but are at least cooling. Some 43 per cent of firms intend to hike prices in the next three months, down from half in the last quarter.

JAMES SILVER

DEDICATED tennis fans began queueing over the weekend to ensure they get through the door at Wimbledon later today, with The Championships beginning at the All England Lawn Tennis Club in southwest London.

Tickets to the tournament sold out through the always over-subscribed ballot but the queueing system remains in place, with fans able to

secure both ground passes as well as tickets to the so-called show courts.

Suzanne Pyefinch, 57, from Norfolk joined the queue for the 38th consecutive year.

“Come early, be prepared to wait, bring lots of drinks, and a comfortable chair, wait for your ticket and go and have a great day,” she said.

As for keeping spirits up, the queue veteran had some advice for newbies.

“Pimm’s is great, but you need your tea and coffee,” she said.

Comms outfit SEC Newgate latest flack shop to announce its own transaction

JAMES SILVER

ANOTHER of the City’s best-known PR firms –more used to announcing transactions than being a part of them –has become the subject of a multi-million pound deal.

Bahrain-headquartered Investcorp has taken a majority stake in SEC

Newgate for around $100m (£78.7m), valuing the PR outfit at $250m (£196.8m).

SEC Newgate grew out of the merger of Italian comms firm SEC and London-based Newgate, with the combined firm also encompassing fellow City flack-shops Newington and Redleaf.

SEC Newgate now has offices in more than twenty countries across five continents. It is the latest deal in the comms and PR space.

Earlier this year, CVC-owned giant Teneo bought Tulchan Communications in a deal worth around £65m.

And Roland Rudd-founded

Finsbury, which bought US comms firm Sard Verbinnen in 2021, then sold 29 per cent of its business to private equity outfit KKR in

April of this year.

SEC Newgate said the funding would help the firm with further geographic expansion “through acquisitions and greenfield developments”. The firm delisted from the stock exchange in March 2022, adding Three Hills Capital Partners as minority shareholders.

STANDING UP FOR THE CITY

House of Lords is a valuable institution - but a clear-out is needed

IT IS HARD to imagine what sort of mental gymnastics one would have to undertake to think that attending a Russia Day drinks party, at the Russian Embassy, was in some way an act of protest against Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Yet that appears, somewhat bizarrely, to be Lord Skidelsky’s excuse for rocking up at the Kremlin-inKensington party earlier this year.

“I wanted to show my respect and affection for the Russian people

THE

CITY VIEW

on their national day, especially in these circumstances,” said the economist, who in a no doubt unrelated turn of events was also a non-executive director of a Russian oil company between 2016 and 2021. He was joined at the party by Lord Balfe, a former

MEP, who described Ukraine as a “mess of a country… knocked together by Churchill and Stalin towards the end of World War Two”. This will no doubt be a surprise both to Ukrainians and to the many Russians in the Kremlin who trace modern Russian identity to –you guessed it –Ukraine, and the Kyivan Rus. These useful idiots are harmless enough on their own. But it does rather make one question the continued value of the House of

Lords, now the second-largest legislative chamber in the world, pipped to the post by the Chinese National People’s Congress. Is the House of Lords, at this point, fit for purpose? There are reams of smart, intelligent people on the red benches, active in our democracy and — generally — improving the quality of legislation, and preventing the government of the day from overstepping. That is not measured purely by experience or age; some

NEVER FORGET WATERLOO! Reenactors take part during the Battle of Waterloo reenactment in Waterloo, Belgium. The battle marked the end of the Napoleonic Wars

former aides of the Cameron and May era have proven themselves to be of great value to our democracy in the Lord’s. But it is hard to see that a body that can encompass Skidelsky, Balfe, and the collection of inexperienced advisers and largely unimpressive MPs recently ennobled should be immune from some kind of reform. Unfortunately, with political attention elsewhere, we are likely stuck with the lot of them for a while yet.

WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING

THE TELEGRAPH

QUANTUM COMPUTER MAKES BREAKTHROUGH

Google has developed a quantum computer that instantly makes calculations that would take the best existing supercomputers 47 years, in a breakthrough meant to establish beyond doubt that the experimental machine can outperform its rivals.

THE TIMES SPOTIFY COUNTING COST OF BILLION DOLLAR FLOPS

Spotify has spent a total of $1bn signing up exclusive rights to podcasts, including one that featured Joe Rogan, but the project has not been a universal success. Last month, the company made big cuts in its podcasting division and cut 200 jobs.

THE GUARDIAN ALMOST ALL TOP BRITISH RESTAURANTS NOW CHARGE FOR NO SHOWS

A study by the Observer has shown that more than 90 of the top 100 restaurants in the UK charge for “no-shows” (where a customer does not turn up) or for late cancellations. A cancellation fee can be as far in advance as two weeks ahead.

London Stock Exchange listing cash plunges amid IPO drought

CHARLIE CONCHIE

FRESH LISTINGS on the London Stock Exchange have raised just £1.6bn in the past year as the City is hit by an extreme drought in public market activity, new data shows.

In the 12 months to the end of June, the amount of cash raised via initial public offerings (IPOs) plunged 72 per cent as just 30 firms shifted onto the public markets, a year-on-year decline of 78 per cent on the same period a year prior, according to research from UHY Hacker Young Group. The figures underscore the severity

of the public downturn in the capital as regulators and officials look to tempt more firms to float.

London Stock Exchange bosses and the Financial Conduct Authority have been forced on the offensive and have tabled a slew of reforms in a bid to encourage more firms to go public.

The listing slump has also spread well beyond London in the past 12 months. IPOs globally have been largely off the table as war in Ukraine and rampant inflation roiled equity markets, with global float proceeds falling over 60 per cent in the first quarter, according to separate data

from EY.

Colin Wright, partner and chairman of UHY Hacker Young Group, said rising interest rates and investor jitters had caused firms to shelve float plans en masse.

“The last 12 months have hit the London market hard. Investor appetite has receded considerably as interest rates have risen which has impacted valuations,” he said.

“A number of IPOs have been put on

the back burner as a result.

“With how volatile equity markets have been in recent months, a lot of companies that see an IPO as their next stage to fund growth have decided to hold tight.”

London has felt further pain in recent weeks after Turkish soda ash firm WE Soda shelved its plans for a London listing due to “ex-

treme investor caution”.

There has been debate over the exact cause of the drought which comes in a dismal period for UK listings.

In March, Cambridge-headquartered Arm rebuffed the UK despite a significant charm offensive from the government, with the firm choosing to pursue a US-only IPO and dealing a major blow to wider confidence in the benefits of a British listing. Excessive regulation, global caution towards riskier investments as interest rates rise and a lack of investable opportunities are among the factors cited for the decline in listing activity.

Hoggett took the helm in 2021

City lure back as country homes drop in price

LAURA MCGUIRE

SOARING interest rates have softened the prices of luxury homes outside of London, according to new data, in a signal that the ‘move to the country’ trend fuelled by the pandemic is showing signs of slowing.

The average value of luxury homes across UK markets outside of London — broadly the top five per cent to 10 per cent of the market by value — slipped 1.5 per cent in the second quarter, according to analysis by estate agent Savills. The figure marks a 3.5 per cent drop year on year, though it is still 12.1 per cent up on the first lockdown in March 2020.

Over the past year, high value housing markets in regional cities saw price falls of 1.4 per cent, while village and rural house prices fell by 3.7 per cent and 3.9 per cent respectively.

It comes after a boom in this market

during the pandemic, when many left the city in search of greater space.

“With increasing pressure on buyers’ budgets, committed sellers need to price in a way that reflects the prevailing macroeconomic conditions to achieve a sale,” said Frances McDonald, director in the Savills residential research team.

“But the work-life balance has had something of a reset over the past six months, which has helped underpin values in prime city locations across the country which are now marginally outperforming. Ease of access to transport, work and amenities are once again priorities that trump lifestyle considerations for some buyers.”

It comes during a tumultuous period for the housing market, with prospective buyers burned by the Bank of England’s decision to raise interest rates to five per cent last month, with Zoopla reporting a drop in buyer numbers during the last four weeks.

UK losing

£6.5bn

to shortages in factory workers

JACK BARNETT

A SHORTAGE of factory workers is dealing a £6.5bn blow to the UK economy, while London and the South East’s manufacturing economy is outpacing any other in the country, a new report out today has claimed.

In London, 27.3 per cent of taxpayers now come under the 40 or 45 per cent tax bracket

Quarter of taxpayers in London stung by higher income tax rate

JESSICA FRANK-KEYES

A QUARTER of taxpayers in London and the southeast of England now fall within the higher rate of income tax, it has been revealed. Almost 2.5m people in the capital and commuter belt constituencies now come under the 40 or 45 per cent tax bracket, analysis of HMRC

data by the Liberal Democrats has shown — more than twice the 1m who were eligible for the 40p tax rate in 1999. In London, 27.3 per cent of taxpayers now pay either 40 or 45 per cent in income tax, while the southeast figure is 22.7 per cent, according to The Telegraph. This compares to 18 per cent across the UK as a whole, the paper says.

Factories are still to fill 74,000 empty roles, representing a big slice of lost output, according to industry body MakeUK and consultancy BDO. It is another sign that the UK’s jobs market is in a period of imbalance, with companies in certain sectors seeking out more workers than are available.

A combination of skills mismatches, Brexit and an exodus of workers from the labour force due to long-term sickness have been blamed for engineering shortages. Despite those issues, manufacturing jobs across the UK are on the up, which MakeUK and BDO said disproves the “the longheld narrative of inevitable decline in manufacturing employment”. Six out of eight English regions saw their factory workforce expand last year.

Retailer insolvency numbers jump to higher levels than pandemic

LAURA MCGUIRE

A SQUEEZE on shoppers’ finances has increased the number of retailers being plunged into hot water, new research shows, as the cost of living crisis continues to hit customer-focussed businesses.

As inflation sits at a sticky 8.7 per cent, the number of retailers entering insolvency jumped 56 per

cent in the past year, according to figures from international law firm RPC.

It’s the highest level in nearly a decade, with some 1,942 retailers going bust in 2022/23, up from 1,243 in 2021/22 — surpassing pandemic levels when shoppers were prohibited from hitting the high street.

Bigger players in the retail market

CAN’T STOP VINCE Ecotricity founder Dale Vince has defended his Labour donations

have capitalised off this trend, snapping up businesses which have buckled under the pressurenotably Mike Ashley’s Frasers. “Challenging economic conditions over the past year have had the impact of forcing struggling retailers into insolvency,” said Finella Fogarty, partner and head of RPC’s restructuring and insolvency practice.

Cash injection for UK restaurant chain Heartwood

LAURA MCGUIRE

HOSPITALITY chain Heartwood Collection, formally known as Brasserie Bar Co, has secured £100m of additional funding as it steams ahead with its growth plans.

In June, the pub and restaurant chain revealed a major revamp which saw the hospitality group expand into the pubs with rooms market.

Last year, Brasserie Bar Co was snapped up by private equity group Alchemy Partners for an undisclosed sum, and was renamed as Heartwood Collection, as part of its new makeover.

The group already operates 20 pubs and 14 Brasserie Blanc restaurants across the UK — and now plans to grow into 60 sites and up to 500 bedrooms by 2027. The expansion is expected to create around 1,500 further jobs across the UK. To help with this revamp, a new banking facility of £50m has been agreed with Oaknorth Bank and funds advised by Alchemy Partners have already committed £50m.

Heartwood said Alchemy Partners is also expected to pump a further £50m investment into the group to help with its expansion plans.

The group has already acquired 11 freehold pubs with a further five under offer, including 120 rooms.

Heartwood said it anticipates that it will have 150 rooms in the business by June 2024.

Mark Derry, chairman of Heartwood Collection, said: “This new funding will be deployed for acquiring additional freehold sites, and it will underpin our target of reaching over 60 sites and 500 rooms over the next four years.

“While ambitious, we are confident that our combination of highly skilled chefs, warm hospitality and characterfilled pubs leaves us ideally placed within a market which is considerably underserved.”

Richard Ferrier, managing director of Heartwood Collection, added: “This additional support from Oaknorth and Alchemy is testament to the strength of the business that the team at Heartwood is building.”

No teas or coffee for shareholders at M&S AGM in digital-first push

LAURA MCGUIRE

ATTENDEES of the Marks & Spencer AGM tomorrow will not be served any refreshments or get a chance to speak to bosses face to face, as it looks to take the event totally digital.

The Percy Pig maker has advised shareholders not to travel to the company’s AGM this week, with shareholders who do arrive at the venue only able to join electronically in dedicated spaces, despite being in

the building, according to reports in The Mail.

Shareholders will instead be asked to join the AGM via their computers or phones. The company said a totally digital format has improved attendance and chair Archie Norman now believes it makes it easier for people to participate.

The retailer’s last in-person AGM, known for generous hospitality and lively shareholder debate, was held in 2019, prior to the pandemic.

Green energy boss Dale Vince has defended his donations to the Labour Party and Just Stop Oil. Speaking to Sky News on Sunday he said there was no “deal” between him and the party on environmental policy, saying only he wanted to close the funding gap.

Boardroom vet to take charge of Tesco board

THE CITY grandee who took aim at Rishi Sunak for self-defeating tax hikes will soon take up the chairman’s role at the country’s biggest grocer, Tesco.

Burberry chair Gerry Murphy, who took the Prime Minister to task at a recent conference for scrapping the VAT exemption for foreign tourists, will replace predecessor John Allan at the helm of Tesco’s boardroom in September.

Allan resigned after misconduct allegations, only one of which was proven and for which he apologised, were aired by the Guardian newspaper earlier this year.

Tesco made “no findings of wrongdoing” against Allan but the former chair said the supermarket had found the easiest thing to do when

the allegations were made was to “propel (me) under the nearest bus.” Murphy, who also chairs Tate & Lyle but will give up that role, said he was “delighted” to take the chairman’s job at Tesco.

“I’m fully committed to helping Ken (Murphy, CEO) and the Tesco team deliver on this purpose and very excited about the strategic opportunities for growth across the Tesco group,” he said.

“I also want to pay tribute to my predecessor, John Allan, whom I have known for many years. John has left Tesco with its business, management and board in great shape and fit for the future.”

He will take the role with the nation’s grocers under a degree of pressure for passing on supply chain price hikes to customers during the recent inflationary spike.

CV

GERRY MURPHY

£ DRINK TO THAT Murphy’s career began in various roles at what is now Diageo, then Grand Metropolitan. A host of sales roles led him to time in the US and then to the MD chair in London for Pillsbury.

£ THE BIG CHAIR Murphy became CEO of Greencore Group, the Irish convenience food producer, turning it around after a c-suite scandal. He moved to London to run Exel, now DHL Logistics, before taking on the top job at Carlton Communications

£ PUBLIC TO PRIVATE Murphy ran Kingfisher, owner of B&Q amongst others, before switching to private equity as Blackstone’s senior managing director for private equity and serving as chairman of the Blackstone Group International Partners LLP from 2009 to 2019. He has helmed Tate & Lyle’s board room since 2017, and Burberry’s since 2018.

Another name signs up to IPO retail platform

CHRISTOPHER DORRELL

CROWDCUBE has joined the alliance of brokers who are forming RetailBook, the new platform giving retail investors access to IPOs.

Crowdcube, based in Exeter, is one of the world’s largest equity crowdfunding platforms. Since its founding in 2016, it has raised over £1.2bn for over 1,300 businesses.

It will join existing partners Hargreaves Lansdown, Jefferies, Numis and Rothschild, enabling it to expand its model into IPOs.

The partnership aims to further the democratisation of capital markets and creates one of the largest single pools of retail investors in the UK to which a company may market their IPO.

Aaqib Mirza, the designated chief executive of RetailBook says: “As RetailBook progresses on its journey to becoming a standalone business, we’re delighted to partner with another leading financial sector name.”RetailBook is being established as a new legal entity which will own and operate a deal platform based on Peel Hunt’s existing REX technology.

JAMES SILVER

Tesco’s new chair Gerry Murphy will take up the role after the summer break

Cleverly to hail new chapter in UKEU relationship in Brussels today

JESSICA FRANK-KEYES

JAMES CLEVERLY is today expected to hail a “new chapter” in the UKEU relationship in his first speech to the European Union Parliament in Brussels.

The foreign secretary will welcome a new era of refreshed "close and friendly UK-EU cooperation" as he addresses the

UK-EU Parliamentary Partnership Assembly (PPA) in Brussels.

It follows the advent of the Windsor Framework, signed by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen earlier this year.

Ahead of the speech, Cleverly said:

“This is a new chapter in the UK-EU relationship. We stand together in support of Ukraine, and we want to

maximise the opportunities of our trade deal.

“But we don’t have to agree on everything — a mature relationship can deal with differences.”

Cleverly will set out the UK’s priorities on future co-operation, trade and support for Ukraine, and also celebrate the signing of the financial services memorandum of understanding.

Insurers welcome Brexit reforms to Solvency II rules

CHRIS DORRELL

INSURERS have welcomed proposals released last week detailing potential postBrexit reforms to the EU’s Solvency II regime.

The EU’s Solvency II regime imposed rules on how much capital insurers had to hold and where it could be invested. Plans to reform the regime were announced last year and are designed to unlock billions in capital from the balance sheets of insurance companies to invest in core UK infrastructure.

The industry got its first glimpse of the possible changes last week after the PRA put forward its consultation on how the rules could be changed.

Among the proposals were plans to move towards a more principles-based system for assessing firms’ internal models, taking away some of the more onerous requirements that firms must meet. Firms will also be given greater flexibility in how they calculate capital requirements.

The proposed changes were welcomed, with many in the sector saying they could

help spur a new wave of investment in UK infrastructure.

“This is another important step towards introducing Solvency UK and enabling our sector to play an even greater role in supporting investment in UK green infrastructure,” the Associated of British Insurers said.

Similarly, a Phoenix Group spokesperson said the reforms were “critical in enabling significantly more investment in productive assets in the future”.

“If the reforms are implemented in the right manner and we are given access to transformative investment projects that offer an attractive returns profile in the long term, Phoenix Group could invest up to £40bn in sustainable and/or productive assets to support economic growth, levelling up and the climate change agenda,” they continued.

KPMG UK insurance partner Huw Evans said the proposals appear “sensible” and that they maintained “a robust risk-based capital framework consistent with our European neighbours andinternational best practice.”

POLITICS MEETS SPORT Software giant backing Ukraine efforts goes courtside

Sadiq Khan to face High Court showdown over ULEZ policy

GUY TAYLOR AND JESSICA FRANK-KEYES

SADIQ KHAN faces a High Court showdown this week over his plans to expand the Ultra Low Emission zone to most of Greater London by the end of the summer.

A coalition of conservative-led councils opposed to ULEZ claim that the mayor has acted unlawfully while attempting to expand the controversial scheme.

The court hearing, which will take

place on Tuesday and Wednesday, marks a pivotal moment in Khan’s term as he looks to defend the future of one of his most controversial, yet defining policies.

The Tory borough's — consisting of Bexley, Bromley, Harrow, Hillingdon and Surrey — have all vehemently pushed back against the proposals to widen ULEZ to most of Greater London from 29 August, with the councils launching a legal challenge in February.

Palantir, the US software giant that has been assisting the Ukrainian government and military during the war in the country, has doubled-down on its backing of the war-torn country with sponsorship of Ukrainian tennis player Elena Svitolina.

Analysts hope Sainsbury’s has turned corner

INVESTORS will tomorrow turn their focus to Sainsbury’s’ first quarter trading update to see how shoppers are reacting to the impact of food inflation amid the cost of living crisis.

The supermarket is expected to post a jump in revenues driven by higher sales over the quarter to June. Analysts at Shore and UBS told PA they expect Sainsbury’s to reveal sales growth of nine per cent which could provide “reason for optimism”. However, shareholders will also be keen to see how higher costs are impacting the grocer's profit margins, with the supermarket having already warned shareholders that annual profits for this year are expected to be dented by the brand's investment in keeping prices low amid sky high food inflation.

Food inflation fell to 14.6 per cent this

month, down from 15.4 per cent in May, figures from the British Retail Consortium show.

Last week, the brand unveiled £15m worth of price cuts, following claims that ‘Big Four’ supermarkets were profiteering from the cost of living crisis — a claim Sainsbury’s has rebuffed.

In April, the grocery reported lower annual profits for last year despite a 5.3 per cent uptake in sales, as chief Simon Roberts revealed it spent over £500m on cutting prices for consumers.

Analysts at AJ Bell said shareholders would be keen for insight on “costs, pricing and volumes, especially if there is any evidence that customers are trading down to cheaper brands or cutting out some purchases altogether”.

“Tesco’s first-quarter trading statement in June featured warnings to this effect and disappointed the market,” they added.

Jet2 is ready for bumper profits over the summer

GUY TAYLOR

JET2 IS set to report profits ahead of expectations in its full year results this week, as the leisure travel company eyes a critical summer period.

The group now expects pre-tax profits significantly above previous analysts’ estimates, of up to nearly £400m, well ahead of initial predictions of £377m.

It comes amid a rise in demand for its international offerings and a stronger than expected winter season.

The full-year results come following a booming few months for Jet2, which has thrived as post-pandemic travel mania, despite cost-of-living concerns, has seen airlines and tour operators rake in bumper profits.

It has promised a deeper dive into its outlook for summer in Thursday’s announcement.

Peel Hunt analysts said that “robust forward bookings and pricing” were encouraging, “with customers sacrificing other forms of expenditure to fund holidays.” In February, the firms’ holiday segment, Jet2holidays, overtook major rival TUI to become the UK’s

Back Hydrogen or lose position to Europe and Asia, warns BMW boss

GUY TAYLOR

BRITAIN must back the roll-out of hydrogen filling stations in the UK or risk falling behind Europe and Asia in the race to roll out greener vehicles, BMW has warned.

government wants to decarbonise,” it must “get a hydrogen strategy, decarbonise the commercial vehicle sector and roll it out to passenger vehicles.”

and Korea and the rest of Europe, where there is a fuelling station network being built.”

biggest tour operator for the first time, with 5.9 million people buying its package holidays.

In April, Jet2 hiked its pre-tax profit expectations from £387m to £392m.

“We continue to believe that despite price increases… international holidays to Jet2 beach destinations offer better value than similar domestic UK holidays, with a much higher chance of better weather and cleaner, as well as warmer, seas,” Peel Hunt analysts said.

“Jet2 has an extremely strong balance sheet… and has now achieved its ambition to become the market leading tour operator, which should deliver further scale benefits.”

The last few months have also coincided with a dip in fuel costs, which had previously hampered airliners profits and recovery.

Jet2 had previously warned that it faces high input costs and cost pressures, including fuel, carbon and wage increases and that this could still dent margins and hamper demand — although analysts believe that high demand will “more than offset cost pressures.”

Jurgen Guldner, manager of hydrogen technology at the Munich-based carmaker, told the Sunday Times that “if the UK

King’s partners with life sciences estate firm to build new lab space

JAMES SILVER

KING’S COLLEGE LONDON, home to the discovery of DNA, has announced a partnership with life sciences developer and funding firm Pioneer Group to create lab space on the south bank.

It is the latest sizable investment in life sciences in the capital, with a new lab coming online in Canary Wharf.

King’s and Pioneer will revitalise two sites on the south bank which currently sit empty, with the lab space

designed from university enterprises and early-stage companies.

The university’s Entrepreneurship Institute, which looks to create spinouts from academic research, has already produced results including the firm C the Signs, an online diagnostic tool used by GPs to identify early-stage cancer warnings. Glenn Crocker, Executive Director at Pioneer Group said “King’s is recognised internationally for the impact of its research.”

Guldner said that with the right infrastructure, BMW would be ready to bring cars to market in the UK, but warned that “if there’s no hydrogen fuelling stations in the UK, we will bring the cars to Japan

The comments from one of BMW’s senior executives and manager of the companies’ hydrogen programme, come amid skepticism of the UK government’s infrastructure roll-out and its plans for the technology’s potential implementation.

King’s College London is based in a number of campuses across the capital

ENERGY

City A.M.’s Nicholas Earl delves into the commodities sector in his weekly column

Thames Water troubles tell a wider story of the water industry

GLENCORE BOSS HITS OUT AT GREEN GOALS

ers, which has destroyed public trust in the industry and left Britain with creaking, leaking pipelines that will cost tens of billions of pounds to fix.

No wonder then, there is a deep sense of irony that Thames Water bosses are finding their own mess too toxic to handle, after years of customers having to wade through spilled sewage across Britain’s beaches and rivers.

Yet, any feelings of karmic justice at the travails of the UK’s largest water firm must be tamed.

Whitehall has drawn up contingency plans in case of Thames Water’s collapse amid a £10bn black hole in its future finances, with the supplier getting out the begging bowl in protracted talks with stakeholders last week.

If the company folds, every choice taken would have serious consequences.

Bailing out Thames Water or renationalising the industry both come with immense costs which would eventually have to be paid by Britain’s squeezed taxpayers.

That potential eventuality has even awoken politicians from their summer slumber, with MPs and peers now preparing to grill Thames Water over the coming weeks, including two Westminster committees preparing to put the industry

Thames Water’s lucratively paid former chief executive Sarah Bentley and ex-chair Ian Marchant, the company’s £14bn debt pile, and growing concerns that a turnaround plan for storm overflows and Victorian-era pipelines lacks liquidity.

If they have time left, it might also be worth asking how comfortable Thames Water is having a state-owned Chinese investment group among its stakeholders, and the lack of any new reservoirs in 30 years despite the company warning of an upcoming billion litre per day shortfall.

The most important question, however, is whether this is just about Thames Water.

Thames Water’s record is wretched, but the supplier’s problems are not unique in the industry.

It might be top of the pops when it comes to debt levels, but that’s a competitive race, with suppliers drowning in £65bn of debt.

Rounding off the top five are United Utilities (£8.2bn), Severn Trent (£7.2bn), Anglian Water (£6.5bn) and Yorkshire Water (£5.7bn) – powered by inflation but initiated through dividend extraction and underinvestment.

On the disciplinary side, Thames Water is facing enforcement action over unauthorised sewage spills, but so are five other water companies.

for wastewater improvements.

While attention has focused on Thames Water, the House of Lord’s Industry Regulators Committee and House of Commons’ Environment, Food and Rural Affairs have both recognised the holistic nature of the problem.

Peers are planning to scrutinise Ofwat’s chairman and chief executive tomorrow, while next week MPs will take evidence from Ofwat’s senior team, environment under-secretary Rebecca Pow and Thames Water.

WESTMINSTER MUST HOLD INDUSTRY TO ACCOUNT

After all, the problems that have led to vast debts and underperforming suppliers came from many sources.

While Ofwat has improved its performance at a greater rate than the suppliers it oversees, its relentless focus on cheaper bills meant that it failed to assess the long-term viability of the industry for decades.

Damningly, there also appears to be a revolving door between the regulator and the industry, with two-thirds of England’s biggest water companies employing ex-Ofwat executives, according to The Observer.

Looking to Downing Street, Chancellor

sense of urgency to tackle the escalating debt crisis in the sector from the government –and its modest sewage ambitions in the Plan for Water remain unchanged.

In such circumstances, it is no surprise to see YouGov polling recently revealing seven in ten Brits are now in favour of nationalising the water sector.

Public ownership of water suppliers is a worthy subject of debate, but competency and trust should not be.

Instead, this is meant to be a nonnegotiable matter, with confidence in the sector vital amid the growing challenges of droughts and hot weather caused by climate change, soaring demand from population growth, and a lack of infrastructure to meet it.

Committees have shown themselves capable of grilling regulators and firms over the energy crisis and policy experts, politicians and supermarkets over runaway inflation with punchy questions and weighty reports.

With the industry, regulators, and Downing Street so far failing to act decisively – MPs and peers are now being left to find answers from an industry that has collectively failed the millions of people who depend on it.

Let’s hope they find some.

Gary Nagle, chief executive of the world’s most profitable coal miner Glencore, has hit out at ESG –raising concerns last week it was driving decisions more than returns. While greenwashing is rife in the investment world, criticising green ambitions publicly is a strange move from the commodities boss. After all, Glencore is desperately looking to seal a merger with Canadian miner Teck Resources, and yet investors remain wary of holding any of its fossil fuel assets in the push to net zero.

LET THE RACE BEGIN!

£ Octopus Energy has completed the migration of swallowed rival Bulb’s 1.5m customers over to its systems –confirming its new position as the 3rd biggest supplier in the country. Its ambitions might not stop there with Shell's household energy arm now up for sale, and home to nearly as many customers as Bulb. With the Big Six consolidating their collective market share at 90 per cent, the race is on to solidify the top position behind leader British Gas –which is well in front with 9m customers. British Gas is also rumoured to be interested, as is Ovo Energy, so watch this space.

THE NOTE BOOK

IT’S INFAMY FOR CAREY

Last week I got around to cancelling a Vodafone broadband contract I hadn’t used for about a year. It was for a tablet gathering dust in a cupboard, the result of a lost charger. Cancelling it proved, err, somewhat challenging, and it doesn’t bode well for Vodafone’s new management’s attempts to turn around the telco.

After trying to cancel online, I was advised to call the firm’s customer service line. After then calling Vodafone to nix the deal, I was directed to an online chat bot, the link for which was sent to my mobile; all well and good, other than the fact that the chat bot is optimised for a browser, so using the thing was enough to drive even a mild-mannered editor like myself to offer a sea of expletives in the general direction of modern technology. So infuriated was I with the whole set-up, which took more than an hour of my time, I elected to cancel my other, mobile contract

with Vodafone purely out of spite. Customer service matters, and one can probably assume Vodafone’s motives for turning cancelling a contract into a Kafkaesque farce. Attempting to get a refund off British Airways falls into the same basket. The sudden arrival of the infernal self-service kiosks at places like Itsu and Leon further speak to a wider disregard for the value of the people who actually pay the bills.

By contrast look at, say, First Direct. Famed for their customer service, the phone and online-only bank continues to invest in real people; the CEO, Chris Pitt, spends hours on the floor of his call centres. It’s hardly surprising that after a brief wobble, the brand is back to being trusted and respected by customers and non-customers alike. What my trial-by-chatbot exercise with Vodafone taught me was that the telco has an awfully long way to go in its turn around.

The laws of the game or the spirit of cricket? The debate about Alex Carey’s dismissal of Johnny Bairstow yesterday will drag on and on, and should at least bring some competitive spice to this week’s Headingley Test. Carey’s move to stump Bairstow was certainly smart cricket, but it leaves a sour taste in the mouth. Sometimes in sport as in business, the damage to one’s reputation can far outweigh the shortterm gain from pushing the boundaries. Carey could ask his de facto captain Steve Smith about that.

£ Another day, another tranche of press releases abut ministers jetting off ever further afield in order to ‘strengthen trade ties’ with the rest of the world. It’s a lovely idea but it would perhaps be more worthwhile dealing with the red tape and non-tariff barriers which still tie up exporters attempting to get goods to Europe. The idea that trade with the four corners of the earth is going to replace that with our closest neighbour is for the birds.

£ Are Just Stop Oil a plant for the dirty energy industry? The reaction to the two idiots running on the pitch at Lord’s last week was similar to that of the seven or so that were arrested disrupting the Pride parade at the weekend: total apathy. Since the Metropolitan Police finally got its collective backside in gear and started to remove protestors from blocked roads, Just Stop Oil have become a sort of amusing sideshow. If they cared about fossil fuels, they’d stop their counterproductive nonsense.

TO THE SEAS, FOR YOUR BEACH READING

CAN I QUOTE YOU ON THAT?

Happy birthday dear NHS

For reasons that I can’t work out, BBC Newsnight invited a choir on to sing happy birthday to the health service. But it’s definitely not a cult.

Here’s a pub quiz question worth trying in the officewhat’s 40 foot by 8 foot by 8 and a half foot, and helped make the modern world? The answer is the humble shipping container, the workhorse of the global shipping industry. That particular part of the global economy may not feel like the obvious place to look for summer reading but two books on the industry have had me hooked over the past couple of weeks. The first, Marc Levinson’s The Box, tells the story of the container; the second, Dead in the Water by journalists Matthew Campbell and Kit Chellel, is as much like a thriller as any non-fiction book I’ve ever read, attempting to get under the skin of a ship scuttling in Yemen that cost a good man his life in the investigation. They both come highly recommended.

INCLUSIVITY AN ASSET

Far from it.

Tomlinson has conducted research revealing that one in five LGBTQ and trans founders hide their identity from investors, and that over 1-in-10 of UK founders are still denied investment based on their gender, race, or age. And 75 per cent of LGBTQ+ founders admit they feel uncomfortable sharing their identity with others, according to Proud Ventures. Since setting up Tomlinson has proven that being trans, non-binary and LGBTQ inclusive isn’t just kind, it’s lucrative too.

WHEN you look at underrepresented founders as a whole, they’re actually the majority of founders,” says Reece Tomlinson, trans CEO and founder of Saône Capital, an investment firm that has identified a huge gap in the market.

When Tomlinson talks about underrepresented founders, she is talking about those who are not white men. “We need to increase accessibility so these founders can get in front of investment groups with confidence. That is the premise of Saône. Can we change by having representation in the market? My opinion is 1,000 per cent we can.”

Tomlinson founded her investment capital firm a year ago after meeting other trans and non-binary business owners that needed investment but did not feel comfortable speaking up and asking for it from traditional firms. Tomlinson came out as a trans woman a year ago in a move she thought would be “terrifying, I thought it would be career suicide.”

Investment firms are “missing a big opportunity by not necessarily having proper representation from these communities,” says Tomlinson. “People who come from underrepresented backgrounds often have different ideas, which further reduces risk. So it’s my view that it’s a quintessential requirement.”

Saône offers investment, corporate finance, ESG and leadership advisory to help companies scale. Tomlinson puts in over ten years of experience working in the financial industry, and has in her career advised on over $1bn in transactions at RWT Growth.

Saône has built a small portfolio of seven firms, including a hybrid solar and wave company and an e-scooter charging system.

“The best thing I can do is have a lot of success and interaction as a woman in business who happens to be trans. I think people need to see within the trans community people speaking up and being leaders that are relatable and I hope I can be that person."

The “overwhelming” responses from founders is that they tell Tom-

linson they “love” Saône’s messaging, that she understands what they’re going through. 64 per cent of the current portfolio is people from minority communities.

“With that being said, there’s absolutely nothing wrong with being a white male,” says Tomlinson. “I think some people have this notion that there’s some prejudice or exclusionary principles there. It’s like no, not at all, that goes against what I’m about personally. We just want to

make sure that people who are from underrepresented groups get the access to the advisory that they wouldn’t have got elsewhere.”

“We’re living in a time where talent is increasingly hard to find,” surmises Tomlinson. “So if you’re not promoting people who don’t look like you, and encouraging them to come work at the places you lead or run or own, you’re invariably missing out on talent that can help your business.”

Business is still first and foremost about your customers

Firms are missing an opportunity by not having proper representation

Investment fund manager Reece Tomlinson

CITY DASHBOARD YOUR

ONE-STOP SHOP FOR BROKER VIEWS AND MARKET REPORTS

LONDON REPORT BEST OF THE BROKERS

Higher interest rates tipped to accelerate UK house price decline

HIGHERinterest rates are set to accelerate UK house prices’ decline, new figures in what will be a quiet week for markets are expected to reveal.

Analysts at consultancy Oxford Economics reckon Halifax’s house price data on Friday will show they dropped 2.5 per cent over the last year and 0.1 per cent over the last month.

That would be a much steeper drop than May’s one per cent annual fall.

Sellers are finding it harder to source buyers due to mortgage racing ahead over the last month to more than six per cent. That jump made it much less affordable to finance a house purchase.

Mortgage providers have been passing on the Bank of England’s 13 successive interest rate rises, designed to tame inflation. Britain’s official interest rate is now at five per cent, a 15 year high.

City traders will be starved of any meaningful news this week as markets approach the typically quieter summer period.

Across the pond, minutes from the Federal Reserve’s latest interest rate decision meeting will be released on Wednesday. They are likely to provide information on why the federal open market committee chose to pause its aggressive rate hike campaign for the first time in more than a year.

In the UK, final purchasing managers’ index numbers will be released throughout the week. Analysts don’t think there will be much change from the initial readings that showed the private sector is growing. But, any further evidence of inflationary pressures hanging around via growing wages or cost pressures could raise the prospect of another 50 basis point increase from the Bank in August.

SILLY SEASON

“Silly season is a term in the media that refers to the typically quiet summer period. This week seems to mark the start of the dud news cycle for markets. Not much on the docket, apart from the Federal Reserve’s minutes from its ‘skip’ meeting last month. Will be interesting to see how much Jay Powell backed that.”

JACK BARNETT, ECONOMICS EDITOR

Slimming fuel prices and strong demand among holidaymakers (probably to get away from all the gloomy economic news) is poised to keep Jet2 on a positive path. Lower fuel prices and a strong pound will keep costs lower, analysts at Peel Hunt think. They also reckon next year will carry on in the same fashion. They think clients should buy the airline’s shares.

real-time thought leadership, insights and news delivery mechanism fuelling the most up-to date reporting, adding critical context for decisions that require consciousness, education and thought leadership.

OPINION

EDITED BY SASCHA O’SULLIVAN

Sizing up Whitehall: a Labour reshuffle must focus on potential ministers

ture ministers rather than just cheerleaders, and most appointments ought to be framed in that context.

BEINGleader of the opposition can be frustrating. There is relatively little power in your hands: the government sets the parliamentary agenda and shapes the media’s priorities, you are unlikely to win votes in the House of Commons and you are usually reacting to events rather than creating a narrative. But you have a much freer hand over appointments to your top team, which is why opposition leaders are so fond of carrying out reshuffles.

The whisper currently on the hot, stale air of Westminster is that Sir Keir Starmer will soon reshuffle his shadow cabinet. It will probably take place after the trio of by-elections which will happen on 20 July, in which Labour are expected to do well, and the party’s National Policy Forum, its internal synod, which takes place that weekend. By then, the general election is likely to be not much more than a year away, so it is the last convenient opportunity for Starmer to put in place the line-up which, broadly, he wants to take into government.

The last major changes were made in November 2021, and Whitehall has been reshaped since then, which Starmer will want to reflect. There has also been a decent period of time to assess who is performing well and who is

not: Yvette Cooper has been an effective and tough shadow home secretary, matching first Priti Patel and now Suella Braverman in grim-faced determination; Wes Streeting, the shadow health secretary, has shone brightly enough to be seen as a future leader; and Bridget Phillipson has sounded rational, humane and on top of her education brief.

Starmer has been dogged from the beginning by what to do with Angela Rayner. She was the party’s choice as deputy leader, not his, and she is a useful political brawler with an every-

woman appeal and a licence to overstep boundaries once in a while. But her brief runs from the administrative grind of the Cabinet Office to the blue skies of “the future of work”, and even her most loyal supporters would not claim either of these play to her strengths.

Some shadow ministers may be looking at exciting opportunities on the back benches. David Lammy has made little impact in foreign affairs, especially noticeable when the foreign secretary, James Cleverly, has been cutting a statesman’s dash around the world,

and there have been too many gaffes and mishaps. Lucy Powell, at culture, landed a few blows on the Johnson-loving piñata which was Nadine Dorries, but has lacked conviction in the ongoing Woke Wars. And there is a creeping sense that fondness for a former leader may have led to the overestimation of Ed Miliband in the vital energy brief.

Starmer needs a team which is ready for a gruelling general election campaign, because he knows that the government’s poll slump owes little to enthusiasm for Labour. But he will also be aware that he is now looking for fu-

We need $100trn to hit our climate change commitments - in just six years time

IWAS recently given the great honour of welcoming His Majesty The King to the City of London where he was a surprise guest at the Climate Innovation Forum. Everyone from inventors and academics to bankers and government ministers attended to present ideas of how different sectors can collaborate to tackle climate change.

The King oversaw the launch of a Climate Clock, counting down to 2030, warning the world it had just six years and 24 days to limit the heating of the earth to 1.5C. This clock was immediately displayed in Piccadilly Circus and across the country in Glasgow, Edinburgh, Liverpool, Manchester and Newcastle. The ticking clock is a stark reminder that time is of the essence. And without urgency, the gesture is in danger of becoming as empty as the catchphrase.

I should be clear that I do not believe for a second that this fact is lost on those who signed the Paris Climate Agreement in 2015, or any of the delegates and VIPs at the many successful COPs since. However, it is worth

Nicholas Lyons

reiterating.

Last week, the government announced an £80m cash boost to help companies cut their carbon footprint which will help turn the dial on climate action in various sectors. Among the businesses that received the funding was Kellogg’s, which will transform their production by using hydrogen to fuel their cereal making process in Manchester. Meanwhile, Scotland’s oldest whisky maker, Annadale Distillery, will take a step towards a new low-carbon future with a £3.6m government investment in new thermal heating technology. The UK is a natural home for innovation. New climate tech advancements such as these have the potential to transform entire

sectors and pave the way for more sustainable practices.

If we want to meet our Paris Climate goals, then we need at least $100tn of sustainable investment between now and 2050. These clean energy infrastructures and significant changes to agriculture and manufacturing will not come solely from government intervention; private finance has a huge role to play in bridging this gap.

Thankfully we have seen great efforts and enthusiasm from the financial services industry around the world for this work. Over the last two years, organisations that manage $85tn of private capital have committed to hitting net zero emissions targets by 2050, including over 500 banks, insurers, and asset managers across 45 countries.

The time for global collaboration is now – not just financial services working across international borders, but governments, regulators, innovators, academics, insurers, project managers, engineers – especially when it comes to India and China.

Last week, I spoke at the UK-India Infrastructure Summit to outline how we

need to bring bankers, regulators, investors, lawyers and researchers together to meet India’s climate ambitions. This couldn’t be more important: as India’s population overtakes China’s, and is expected to become the fastest-growing major economy, sustainable infrastructure will be critical for its economic trajectory.

China too is increasingly aware of the need to put sustainability at the very forefront of their minds, too. Yes, China may be the biggest carbon polluter, but it is also the largest investor in renewables and the biggest producer of clean energy. A partnership –where China and India are supported through the UK’s thought leadership in sustainability – will be critical to tackling the challenge of global climate change.

The introduction of a countdown clock won’t change the world but it reminds us of our commitments to tackle climate change and our obligation to create a just transition.

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

Rachel Reeves will stay as shadow chancellor. She may still be, in Ian Katz’s memorable description, “boring snoring”, but she knows her subject as a former Bank of England economist, and has the indispensable air of a grown-up. Likewise Yvette Cooper should keep her portfolio. Rayner needs a policy area which will benefit from her relatability and instinct for a knee to the groin: shadowing Michael Gove at levelling-up and housing would be one option for a brief with realworld effects. She could make an impact at health or education, but both are ably filled at the moment.

Who should move up? Shabana Mahmood has impressed as campaign coordinator, hard-working and a good fixer.

Darren Jones, chair of the business and trade committee, has sharp political teeth and a firm grasp of commerce and technology; he could easily shadow his committee’s remit or take on the new science and innovation role. Stephen Kinnock and Liz Kendall are underused assets, while committee chairs Meg Hillier and Stephen Timms would add heft.

Starmer himself has never been a minister, yet needs a team which can prepare itself for moving into Whitehall. In fact, to identify his core colleagues and get a grip on the machine, he really needs the advice of Sue Gray— but she will not start as his chief of staff until September. Watch out for notes passed under the table.

£ Eliot Wilson is co-founder of Pivot Point and a columnist at City A.M.

KEEPING

COOL

Eliot Wilson

Keir Starmer is rumoured to be considering a reshuffle in the autumn

HIS

Emmanuel Macron faced yet more riots over the weekend after the killing of a teenager by police. Hundreds of people were arrested and policemen injured as the protests intensified. The unrest spread from Nanterre to the rest of the country in a matter of days

WE WANT

TO

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Creatives, do not fear

AI

There are always winners and losers with disruptive technologies, but it’s misguided to anticipate that creative work will suffer the most from generative AI’s applications. Productivity has always been a key barometer of competitiveness and growth, which AI is set to transform comparable to Henry Ford’s assembly line over a century ago. The report is right to stress the impact on the creative industry, but it will

certainly not wash out the value of creative work altogether. These tools function as an autopilot in the creative process, making the production of content and art more accessible and efficient for small business owners and aspiring creatives.

For businesses to generate value for their customers, they cannot rely solely on automation for creative tasks.

Generative AI still needs a human behind the wheel to give its responses the necessary personalisation and life that delivers meaning.

Once this is realised, the future of AIdriven creative work is not only safe, but crucially bright, and one of endless opportunity.

Iván de Prado Alonso Freepik

Matthew Sinclair

NO MINISTER sat down one day and decided to hand unchecked, open-ended powers to the Competition and Markets Authority in digital markets. Sadly that is what the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Bill, currently passing through Parliament, would do. It’s the latest example of ill-thought out tech regulation, making even the EU’s Digital Markets Act look relatively restrained. At a time when the UK is losing its reputation as a predictable regulatory environment, we should ask: why are we so bad at regulating tech?

The most obvious problem is that no one minister has been in charge. With turnover at the top and an entire departmental restructure, there hasn’t been a chance for one person to grasp control of the agenda. Political instability has put officials in the driving seat.

Too many parliamentarians think about this in terms of whose side they are on, not whether the regulatory framework is well-designed. Their analysis often starts and ends with concerns that the major tech companies have a market position they have not earned fairly, or defend unfairly. This leads to proposals not getting the required scrutiny and policymakers brushing aside unintended consequences.

EXPLAINER-IN-BRIEF: THE NETHERLANDS JOIN THE MICROCHIPS WAR AGAINST CHINA

The Netherlands dealt a significant blow to China last week, restricting sales of machines used to make chips. From September, Dutch companies making machines that produce advanced processor chips will need an export licence to sell their products overseas.

The Dutch government has been at pains to specify this policy is “country neutral”, but it’s clear that it is instead part of an American-led push to isolate China. Mark Rutte, the Dutch prime minister, met with US

President Joe Biden in January, and they discussed this issue following the export controls imposed by the US on China in October of last year. China has bet big on its microchips industry. It has invested billions to develop an industry that could compete with other major players like the US, but now risks lagging behind as Washington and its allies attempt to exclude it from the international market. Despite having its own companies, China still needs foreign manufacturing equipment.

Big, American tech companies are striking a delicate balance every day between the needs of the different groups using digital markets: consumers, advertisers, creators and many more. If a regulator ploughs in there is every chance they make outcomes for some or all of those users worse. The new Bill doesn’t require a full consideration of consumer benefits: it’s all of us who are likely to pay the heaviest price over time.

Another problem is the basic fact that politicians and regulators are running years behind the reality of the markets they are seeking to regulate.

The Bill is based on a 2019 review; fastforward a mere four years and Amazon is a growing challenger to Google and Facebook, with TikTok - which didn’t even exist in 2019 - rapidly increasing its market share. In the next four years there is likely to be more businesses seeking to get into the market, including other e-commerce and media com-

Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Bill will regulate companies like Google

panies. Regulation based on outdated information could easily curb this dynamic innovation.

In the end, politicians will find they cannot have their cake and eat it too. You cannot be pro-tech in your rhetoric and then create a regulatory straitjacket for any business that seems too successful. If we seek to unnecessarily restrain innovation, the UK will become a less natural home in which to build new services. That will mean UK startups no longer using the best tools, collaborating with the best global players, and international start-ups not considering the UK as the best market in which to launch or expand.

The CMA may not use the new powers in the DMCC Bill to inflict the most damage, but no one in the tech sector is going to trust that their approach will be careful. Decisions like the one over the Microsoft and Activision Blizzard merger show that UK regulators take a more speculative and hawkish approach than other European regulators.

There is ultimately no substitute for proper checks and balances and keeping some decisions where they belong: with ministers passing laws in Parliament. Some of the powers in the new Bill that give the regulator the final say have been described as “quasi-legislative”. A few years down the line, ministers could find themselves unable to comprehend why they are having to live with the consequences of decisions made by an overpowered regulator.

The complexities of digital markets mean it is particularly important to intervene carefully. There are modest changes that would improve the Bill considerably, such as putting back proper appeals and ensuring consumer impacts are fully considered. Ultimately though it would be better to stick to the existing regulatory toolkit, than go ahead with this exceptional expansion of regulator power.

£ Matthew Sinclair is the Head of Tech and Innovation at the Centre for Policy Studies

The festive, colourful Pride parade took to the streets of London on Saturday. Setting off from Hyde Park Corner, the march of more than 30,000 people reached Trafalgar Square, before closing up in Whitehall Place.

Certified Distribution from 03/04/2023 till 30/04/2023 is 67,569

TRAVEL

The

IS THIS THE IDEAL BEACH RESORT?

Playa del Carmen lies halfway between Cancun and Tulum, both geographically and spiritually. It’s not quite the tourist hellscape of the former, a haven for spring breakers and the kind of traveller who wears sports socks with sandals, but neither does it have the bohemian charm of the latter, which has positioned itself as the Ibiza of the Americas.

So it was with some trepidation that I boarded a flight to the Yucatan province on Mexico’s Caribbean coast for an all-inclusive, five-day beach resort holiday. (These fears were not allayed by the Russian lady wearing a neon blue Juicy Couture lounge suit who sat next to me on the plane.)

Thankfully, pulling into the Mayakoba estate is like entering an hermetically sealed world, one precision engineered by an army of designers and landscape architects to present a perfectly manicured slice of paradise, nary a blade of grass nor grain of sand out of place. Once you enter through the grand gates you can essentially ignore the outside world – indeed you’re encouraged to, with a fleet of golf buggies and pedal bikes scooting around the vast complex and a suite of bars and restaurants providing enough diversions to keep you perpetually sated.

The first thing that strikes you is the sheer size of the place. Mayakoba houses four hotel groups – Andaz, Fairmont, Rosewood and Banyan Tree – each with its own gigantic resort peppered with beachside and lagoon-side villas. I barely strayed from the Andaz, which alone occupies a vast tract of land; a buggy ride from the beach to the farthest restaurant lasts six or seven minutes. You certainly wouldn’t want to walk it at night after a mescal or three. There are few surprises here: rather this is the kind of place that goes out of its way to iron out anything that might catch you off guard, aiming instead to utterly perfect the beachside experience.

Perhaps the purest expression of this is the lagoon tour, where you glide across impossibly clear waters that snake through mangrove forests so verdant that none of it looks real, like you’re on a ride at Disneyland, with even the wildlife posing dutifully at the correct spots: iguanas lazing on low-hanging branches, a caiman basking on a rock, cormorants drying their wings in the sun.

This philosophy is repeated throughout the resort. My room was a chic rectangle of polished concrete complete with private plunge pool. On the beach you’ll find dozens of loungers flanked by neat stacks of towels, and an attendant will immediately rush over to furnish you with an ice bucket filled with your beverage of choice.

Want to swim in the sea? There’s a section of water fitted with giant filters to make sure you’re not disturbed by the seaweed that clogs this stretch of ocean.

There’s a yoga and sound bath studio, a dive centre, an 18-hole golf course, a pool with resident DJ, and half a dozen places to eat, ranging from spins on local dishes to the kind of international cuisine beloved of big hotel groups.

Amate, the flagship, is decked out like a well-to-do Mexican home, complete with bookshelves housing such titles as The Holy Bible and The Fundamentals of Financial Accounting. It’s “Latin” rather than

DON’T MISS

The Andaz Mayakoba lagoon tour, which takes you on a journey through mangrove forests so verdant and waters so clear it’s like being on a ride at Disneyland

Mexican, encompassing everything from Peruvian ceviche to Uruguayan stew and Argentinian cheese, each dish a Jackson Pollock collision of colour and texture.

The day I arrived a collective of local fishermen had set up a pop-up seafood grill on the terrace, serving fried oysters and thick, meaty chocolate clams. Another evening I ate sea bass on the beach as the sun set. You certainly don’t go hungry.

It’s all so meticulously put together that leaving the resort feels like a jarring clang back to reality. The hotel organises planned or bespoke excursions, including the one I joined to the Melipona bee reserve, a two hour drive down the choked motorway that connects the north and south of the province. We eventually ar-

rived at a remote Mayan village where the locals farm both European and local bees, the latter producing honey that’s said to have medicinal benefits. Mmmm, delicious medicinal benefits.

After a serious trek through the forest to check out the hives, the village matriarch made us tacos on a wood-fired hob. If it’s your first trip to this area you should also arrange a trip to the amazing “cenotes” –underground limestone caves – of which there are some 10,000 across the region. And then I was back on the beach at Mayakoba, sipping an ice cold michelada, listening to a group of American finance bros long-distance call their clients about “interesting new investment opportunities”, presumably fired up after an after-

noon on the back nine.

Mayakoba feels as far away from the Melipona bee reserve as it does from London; an independent nation state designed to wring all stresses out of life. On those terms it’s a roaring success, approaching the Platonic ideal of what a resort can offer. If “beach holiday” factors in your plans for the summer, look no further.

NEED TO KNOW

Steve travelled as a guest of Andaz Hotels by Hyatt and Untold Story Travel. Rates at Andaz Mayakoba Resort Riviera Maya start from £310 per night (andazmayakoba.com). Untold Story Travel offers bespoke luxury travel experiences to Mexico and destinations around the world (untoldstorytravel.com).

Mayakoba resort on Mexico’s Caribbean coast is a slice of precisionengineered paradise, says Steve Dinneen

CITY

HOURS IN...

Trying to see Mexico City in 48 hours is a bit like being handed the complete works of Shakespeare and being told you have 10 minutes to flick through it: you might stumble across some good bits but it’s really just a tantalising glimpse at something you have no hope of fully comprehending. You can, nevertheless, have a great time, with the world’s fifth biggest city (population 22 million) a cultural and culinary hotspot to rival any in the world.

The most famous tourist attraction is the Blue House where the artist Frida Kahlo lived for most of her life. Located in the Colonia del Carmen area, the house became a haunt for some of the most important artists of the 20th century. Much of it remains as it was when Kahlo died there in 1957, including the bed where she spent her final moments.

It’s a stunning building, part museum, part art gallery, populated by works by Kahlo herself and many of those who passed through. Give yourself enough time to relax in the expansive gardens and check out the new exhibition of Kahlo’s distinctive dresses.

If architecture is your thing, a trip to one of the houses designed by Luis Barragán is a

must. His properties, which pioneered fusing architecture and nature, are recognised as some of the most important examples of their kind in the world.

The most famous is Luis Barragán House in the Miguel Hidalgo district but it sells out quick; I managed to get a ticket for an intimate tour of the nearby Casa Pedregal, a stunning home built over volcanic rocks whose organic shapes are incorporated into the walls and garden. It’s a wonderful, meditative experience, quite unlike anything I've seen before. The area around Casa Pedregal is also worth checking out, including the restaurant-cum-cafecum-record shop next door.

I stayed at the Andaz Mexico City, a stylish, modern hotel that opened earlier this year. The buzzy Cabuya Rooftop restaurant is worth a visit – it has a glass-sided swimming pool if you’re feeling brave – but if you fancy something a little more low-key there are great bars and taquerias in the surrounding neighbourhood of La Condesa, which boasts colonial architecture and an air of nonchalant cool reminiscent of Shoreditch circa 2010.

£ Rates at Andaz Mexico City Condesa start from £350 per night, andazmexicocitycondesa.com

BERGAMO & BRESCIA L’ALBERETA THE LONG WEEKEND

says Sophie Ibbotson

THE WEEKEND

In recent years, the UK has chosen Hull, Derry, and Coventry as its annual City of Culture. Bradford’s turn is next. The Italians seem to take things a little more seriously, and have awarded this year’s cultural crown to not one but two magnificent cities in Lombardy. Together, Bergamo and Brescia make the perfect long weekend.

WHAT TO SEE IN BERGAMO

Climb the mediaeval Civic Tower overlooking Bergamo’s Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore for the best views of the Citta Alta, the Old Town. From this vantage point you will also appreciate how green Bergamo is: there are ample gardens and parks, and also fields in the middle of the city. It is then an easy stroll downhill to GaMEC, the gallery of contemporary art, housed in a 15th century monastery. Join a guided tour to get the most from the often-interactive artworks drawn from what the curator describes as an “impermanent collection”. Paintings by Ai Weiwei and Yayoi Kusama are tucked between those by lesser-known artists.

WHAT TO SEE IN BRESCIA

Peel back more than 2,000 years of history in Brescia, starting with the two Roman temples — one buried in the ground beneath the other — in the Capitolium. Some of the original frescoes and decorative flooring survive in situ, while other buildings have been sensitively reconstructed. Excavations of the Roman theatre next door are ongoing, and if Museum Director Stefano Karadjov is able to realise his vision, it will once again be possible to sit in the lower portion of the theatre to watch a live performance. You can then jump forward a

TOP TIP

Wine lovers should book a tour and tasting at the Bellavista Winery, within walking distance of L’Albereta.

Oenologist

Francesca Moretti creates crisp, dry and sweet sparkling wines which are perfect for an aperitif, especially when paired with a few delicate slices of local cheeses and olives

millennia in time and tour the Pinacoteca Tosio Martinengo, one of Italy’s best small art galleries. Here a recent collaboration with artist and celebrity Anish Kapoor sees 400 years of Italian masterpieces — including two oils by the Renaissance painter Raphael — strikingly rehung on a backdrop of vibrantly coloured velvets, often in unexpected hues.

WHAT’S SPECIAL THIS YEAR?

The 2023 Capital of Cultural programme has something new almost every week, including concerts, shows and art installations. Top of the billing this summer is “Winged Victory in conversation with The Boxer”, the first ever meeting of two of Ancient Rome’s most impressive sculptures. The museum is housed within an extensive monastery complex with extraordinary painted chapels. Its grounds include recently excavated Roman villas with many of their original mosaics and wall and ceiling paintings intact.

WHERE TO STAY The L’Albereta hotel is ideally situated on the edge of the Bellavista Winery in the Franciacorta wine region, almost equidistant between Bergamo and Brescia. The guest rooms overlook gardens and well tended vineyards, with a sparkling glimpse of Lake Iseo on the horizon. The hotel is lavishly decorated and feels like a sprawling private villa, but with the welcome addition of an extensive spa and two excellent restaurants. The chef at Leone Felice Vista Lago has even created a fourcourse tasting menu inspired by Bergamo-Brescia Italian Capital of Culture.

DO IT YOURSELF

Visit albereta.it; rooms from €360 per night

Italy’s dual City of Cultures make a great break,

If you have an extra couple of days to spare, take an internal flight to the amazing Mexican capital

MEXICO

THE PUNTER

Wally Pyrah previews today’s card from Sha Tin Mark The Moment on the way towards a Speedy Fortune

IT LOOKS as though the weather will once again play an important role in determining winners when racing gets under way with an eightrace programme at Sha Tin in Hong Kong today.

The forecast is for rain for most of the day, with one or two thunderstorms thrown in for good measure, suggesting bettors will need plenty of guesswork to find that all-important winner. One galloper who should relish a soft surface, if the rain does materialise, is the John Size-trained SPEEDY FORTUNE who takes his chance in the Tiu Chung Chau Handicap (1.15pm) over six furlongs.

This Australian-bred son of Pariah,

who has a pedigree that includes plenty of soft ground winners, inexplicably lost all chance at the start on his most recent outing over the course and distance last month, after bounding in the air when the stalls opened.

The fact he made plenty of late headway down the home straight to be beaten only four lengths by smart recruit Packing Bole, suggests he would have at least made the frame if getting away on equal terms, and this time he gets an important jockey change.

Connections were obviously not happy about the incident at the start of that race, with poor Matthew Poon now dumped on the sidelines, and Hugh Bowman, who comes here on the

back of riding a double at Sha Tin on Saturday, now takes over in the saddle. Three-year-old Speedy Fortune had previously made all over the course and distance with Poon aboard, and won going away from the opposition in the closing stages to record his first win in a smart time in May.

That form reads well against this opposition, and, if Bowman can bounce him out from a favourable gate of five, and dictate or be up with the pace from the off, he will be difficult to beat.

Bettors may have an edge in the Grass Island Handicap (2.45pm) over six furlongs, as leading fancies Excellent Fighter and hat-trick seeking Pulsar Strider both have good form on a rain-

soaked surface.

The Benno Yung-trained Pulsar Strider has been a different galloper since encountering soft conditions in the last couple of months, and holds a neck verdict over his rival Excellent Fighter on their course and distance form last month.

There should be little to choose between them at the revised weights, but looming large and dangerous is the Zac Purton-ridden MARK THE MOMENT

This four-year-old son of popular sire Snitzel won three times on a soft or heavy surface in Australia before being shipped to Hong Kong, and looks ready to score his first win in his new homeland.

Rookie trainer Pierre Ng has been on fire over the past couple of weeks, and when he and Purton team up it’s been a recipe for success.

The partnership has an incredible 31 percent win strike-rate this season, and it is easy to see why Purton has chosen to partner this progressive gelding, having finished a length behind Excellent Fighter back in March, and now meeting that rival on eight-pound better terms.

POINTERS

Speedy Fortune 1.15pm Sha Tin

Mark The Moment 2.45pm Sha Tin

Crucial low draw can ensure Yip’s Fire leads punters to a Sha Tin Ball

WITH only a handful of fixtures remaining before the end of the Hong Kong season, and connections in the territory desperate to get a win before their horses earn a welcome summer break, it may be worth looking beyond the obvious for potential winners.

Former champion trainer Dennis Yip has had a season to forget with just 21 winners on the scoresheet and

is languishing in the bottom-half of the trainers’ table.

The popular local handler started off the season brightly, but from Christmas onwards has found winners hard to come by, and has suffered long losing sequences along the way.

There has, however, been signs of a revival in recent times, with a couple of winners at the Valley and a double at Sha Tin on Saturday, suggesting the

stable could be ending the season on a high.

With the majority of Yip’s performers now on attractive marks in the handicap, keep a close eye on his runners in the closing weeks, with winners likely to pop up at attractive odds.

It is hard to make a case for FIRE BALL in the opener, the Waglan Island Handicap (12.15pm) over seven

furlongs, but a close look at the formbook suggests he has had little or no chance from a series of high draws in recent times.

Finally, he has now got an allimportant low gate in two and finds himself running off a mark four pounds lower than the one he won off earlier in the season.

With useful claimer Angus Chung taking off another valuable seven

pounds in the saddle, and likely to bounce his mount out and be up with the pace from the off, Fire Ball’s chances looks bright and he could surprise better fancied rivals.

POINTERS

Fire Ball e/w 12.15pm Sha Tin

Speedy Fortune was a winner over six furlongs at Sha Tin in May

IN SW19, there is no mistaking when the Wimbledon Championships are in full swing. Thousands of tennis fans descend on the All England Club; the air is thick with the scent of grass, Pimm’s and strawberries; and you might even bump into a player in the local pub.

Now, organisers are hoping to recreate the Wimbledon buzz 3,500 miles away with The Hill in New York, a fan zone in Brooklyn Bridge Park which will show action from the tournament on a big screen and serve up quintessential British fayre against Manhattan’s iconic backdrop.

The Hill, which debuted last summer and has expanded for this year, is part of a concerted push into the US market which also includes a new sponsorship deal with Barclays, who share similar transatlantic objectives, says Sally Bolton, chief executive of Wimbledon organisers the AELTC.

“As a global brand already, we have an ambition to continue to advance the opportunities for people to enjoy Wimbledon,” Bolton told City A.M.

“We think we’ve got a really good foothold in the US. But we also think there is plenty of untapped potential to invite more people to enjoy the fantastic experience of Wimbledon.

“Of course many of those people will never come here on site, so we took a tiny piece of SW19 to Brooklyn Bridge Park and created a viewing experience with a big screen over the finals weekend to give people in New York a taste.

“That has been really well received. We will look to other markets internationally where we can take a piece of the Championships.”

Pushing Wimbledon’s appeal in the States can drive more value for sponsors and broadcasters. The latter contributes more than half of the club’s £247m revenue, but the £33m received annually from US partner ESPN is dwarfed by the £59m the network pays the US Open.

SANCTITY

The AELTC could rake in far more than the estimated £50m it derives from sponsorships with blue-chip brands which also include IBM, Ralph Lauren and Jaguar. New this year is a tie-up with online game Fortnite, although there is no hurry to expand the suite of partners.

“Part of maintaining the sanctity of a brand not just in the UK but globally is thinking really carefully about the people who you partner with. People are judged by the friends that they keep and I think that brands are no different,” says Bolton.

TENNIS

‘WE HAVE UNTAPPED POTENTIAL IN THE US’

Wimbledon CEO Sally Bolton is looking across the Atlantic to grow the Championships’ brand, she tells Frank Dalleres

real ambition to grow our audience and enhance our brand properties in the US market, so we’re going to work very closely with them to do that.”

PINNACLE

For Wimbledon, expansion in a more literal sense is the priority. Its plans to bring the qualifying tournament on site and build a third show court on land across the road will go before Merton Council later this year. The hope is

that the project will be complete by 2030 or 2031.

“Of course there are some significant benefits for the future of the Championship – it’s about us retaining our position at the pinnacle of the sport,” says Bolton. “But equally important are the community benefits that we want to give back, especially to those who live locally.”

Wimbledon’s status as a member’s club whose profits are mostly reinvested in tennis via a dividend to the Lawn Tennis Association puts it in a unique position. It makes money but none of that goes to shareholders, meaning it is not a target for private equity or sovereign wealth.

“We call them partners for a good reason – it’s not just a commercial transaction for us and them, it’s genuinely a partnership where we have shared goals, a shared set of values,

and we believe that we can work together on particular initiatives. Barclays, which is one of our new partners this year, is a great example of looking at the US market. They and we have a

“It’s a subject that everybody is talking about in sport but it’s not something that we’re engaged with,” Bolton says. “We haven’t had any approaches. We are a successful business and organisation and we have the funds we need to deliver the ambitious plans we have. So it’s not really a consideration.”

Four outsiders to watch out for at Wimbledon

WIMBLEDON is here, and this year without names such as Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer and Serena Williams, there’s a chance to burst onto the global tennis scene. Last year that role fell to Kazakhstan’s Elena Rybakina, who used the elevated platform to push herself into multiple finals subsequently.

But what of this edition of the Championships? Where will the surprises come from? Here are four to watch.

TAYLOR FRITZ

One of the rising personalities on the circuit, American Taylor Fritz will be on a mission to turn Wimbledon into his theatre.

He shushed crowds at the French Open last month and has produced his best Grand Slam finish – a quarterfinal – in south west London, so there’s

Seeds often fall at Wimbledon so which underdogs can pull off a Grand Slam run in south west London, asks Matt Hardy

form to go with the bravado. He holds the Championships in high regard though, saying that “it’s definitely not going to be the same at Wimbledon” when it comes to booing. The British crowd loves a performer, and Fritz could be that this year. He begins against German Yannick Hanfmann today on Court 3.

PETRA KVITOVA

Her only Grand Slam successes came on the hallowed turf of SW19 in 2011 and 2014 but Petra Kvitova is an outsider worth watching this year.

The 33-year-old from the Czech Republic is yet to reach the second week of a Grand Slam since the 2022 US

Open but grass is her home.

The draw favours the No9 seed, and she may face her first fierce test in the fourth round against Ons Jabeur, last year’s finalist.

Seeds are known to fall at the All England Club, and Kvitova will be one of those well placed to take advantage if that does occur.

ONS JABEUR

She captured the hearts of many last year at Wimbledon when she became the first Muslim and Arab player to reach a Grand Slam final but has fallen away slightly since.

Losses to 2023 favourite Iga Swiatek and last year’s winner Rybakina at sub-

sequent Majors were blows for the Tunisian but can offer even more motivation.

“It’s not great going in the locker room at Wimbledon and seeing Elena’s picture, I try to take it off,” she said.

She’s won just one of her four career finals and is yet to win a title on grass. What a time to turn that record around.

The sixth seed faces Magdalena Frech in the opening round and could see herself playing

Rybakina in the last eight.

RYAN PENISTON

We all love a plucky Brit, from Andy Murray’s astonishing titles to Cameron Norrie’s exciting run to the semi-finals

But this time there will be extra focus Ryan Peniston, who faces former world No1 Murray in the first round on Tuesday.

Peniston has nothing to lose against his fellow Brit, while Murray will want a good run at SW19 now that his major injuries are behind him.

The 27-year-old from Southend is the longest of shots to win the slam, but he can cause an upset and keep British men’s tennis interesting by taking out a legend.

People are judged by the friends they keep and I think that brands are no different

‘The Hill’ in New York is part of Wimbledon’s Stateside plans

Stokes rebukes Aussies after tourists go two up in Ashes

want to win in that manner? No.

“I can’t imagine we’ll be having a beer [with Australia] any time soon.”

Stokes can’t be side’s one-man band forever

MATT HARDY

YES, winning matters. It always will. But spare a thought for England captain Ben Stokes who, despite being on the losing side in the second Ashes Test to go down to Australia 2-0 in the series, hit one of the all-time great individual innings yesterday.

at Australia after their controversial stumping of Jonny Bairstow in yesterday’s second Ashes Test defeat at Lord’s.

Stokes, whose heroic 155 proved to be in vain, suggested that he wouldn’t have sought the dismissal – and that he wouldn’t be sharing a beer with the tourists any time soon.

He and Bairstow were at the crease and targeting 371 in what would have been the second highest Ashes chase ever when the flashpoint sparked uproar at the Home of Cricket.

When a Cameron Green ball passed the wicketkeeper-batsman and went through to Australian keeper Alex Carey in the final ball of the over, Bairstow assumed the over was finished.

But the umpire hadn’t called the end and Carey went on to stump Bairstow before captain Pat Cummins refused to withdraw his appeal, a call which would see the batter be given out.

Head coach Brendon McCullum questioned if it had been in the spirit of the game, but it was a key moment in England’s failed run chase, which left them 2-0 down in the Ashes.

“Jonny Bairstow was in his crease and then came out to have a chat in the middle. I’m not disputing if it was out, it was,” Stokes said.

“If it was on the other side then I would have had a harder chat with the umpires about if ‘over’ was called. Do I

Head coach Brendon McCullum said: “I think it was more about the spirit of the game and when you become older you realise the game and the spirit of it is something you need to protect.

“You have to make decisions in the moment and they can have effects on games and people’s characters.”

Australia captain Cummins said: “I thought it was totally fair play.”

The controversy couldn’t, however, take away from a gallant effort from England at Lord’s, where captain Stokes kept hopes alive for much of the day with a knock of 155.

The hosts began the day needing 257 runs with six wickets in hand but opener Ben Duckett fell for 83 after an impressive stand with Stokes.

Bairstow was then stumped as Lord’s erupted into fury; the traditional murmur of 31,000 fans replaced with raucous jeering towards the tourists.

Stuart Broad, once at the crease, got involved himself, winding up the Aussies to the delight of the home fans.

Stokes’s knock, with Broad playing as a fine wingman, saw six after six fly into the Tavern Stand.

But his heroic effort was not enough and the talismanic figure fell with England needing just 70 runs to win.

Ollie Robinson, Broad and Josh Tongue soon fell thereafter.

The third Test starts on Thursday at Headingley, Leeds.

Gooch knocks up third LIV victory of year in Spain

FRANK DALLERES

AMERICAN Talor Gooch sank a birdie putt at the last hole to win his third LIV Golf League tournament in as many months at Valderrama, Andalucia on Sunday.

Gooch, who won back-to-back events in Adelaide and Singapore in April, pipped compatriot Bryson DeChambeau by one shot after reeling in the overnight leader on the final day.

The 31-year-old’s title-clinching putt capped a four-under-par round of 67 that left him on 12 under.

Brooks Koepka was third, two more shots behind DeChambeau.

“To have a chance to beat two major champions on a historical golf course on the last green with the last putt, it’s what dreams are made of,” said Gooch, who has now earned close to $15m (£11.8m) in LIV Golf this season.

“It was special. They played great today – we pushed each other all day – and I’m just glad that last one went in.”

Gooch’s win was not enough to earn the RangeGoats the team title, however, as they finished second to Torque captained by Joaquin Niemann.

Home favourite Sergio Garcia could only finish in a tie for 10th.

With England on the ropes – as they were at Headingley in 2019 – up stepped the middle order all-rounder, a man for all of the big moments. He hasn’t always got it right – one drunken night in Bristol and a crippling over in a World Cup final in 2016 will tell you that – but when he does there’s nothing like it.

The Headingley rescue, the champagne super over in the 2019 World Cup final and yesterday’s fifth day heroics.

His 155 will go down in history as being on the losing side of the scorecard but it said everything about where England want to be at the moment.

Remember pre-Bazball England were on a run of one win in 17? Now they’re on a run of 10 in 14. Yes, they’re losing in the Ashes – where it matters most – but they’re not being humiliated yet.

Stokes is synonymous with Bazball but he is not a one-man team – and neither are England.

And the best in the business see Stokes’ ability. Virat Kohli said: “I wasn’t joking about calling Ben Stokes the most competitive bloke I’ve played against. Innings of the highest quality.”

But sometimes that is not enough and one man cannot save a team.

The Ashes continues on Thursday in Leeds, where the last Ashes Test at Headingley provided one of the great Stokes moments. But for his own sake, we should be hoping it’s not all left to him – in victory or defeat –once again.

Austria win sees Verstappen edge closer to third title

MATT HARDY

MAX Verstappen edged towards a third world title yesterday with a fifth consecutive Formula 1 win.

The Dutchman won a fifth consecutive race yesterday as he crossed the finish line five seconds ahead of Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc at the Red Bull Ring in Austria.

Verstappen now sits on 229 points in the 2023 Driver Standings, 81 points clear of second placed teammate Sergio Perez and 100 clear of Fernando Alonso in third.

McLaren’s Lando Norris finished best of the Brits in Austria, crossing the line in fifth, while Mercedes duo Lewis

Hamilton and George Russell came home in seventh and eighth.

On a fifth win putting the Dutchman in pole position for a third consecutive world championship title, Verstappen said: “I don’t like to think about that yet, I’m just enjoying the moment driving this car, working with the team, I think the whole weekend we have done a really good job.

“The sprint weekend is always very hectic and a lot of things can go wrong and luckily a lot of things went right for us this weekend.”

The Formula 1 circus heads to Silverstone this weekend before going on to Hungary and Belgium ahead of the summer break.

GOLF

FORMULA 1