Monday 17 July 2023

LONDON’S BUSINESS NEWSPAPER

SRI LANKAN DREAMS

THE LITTLE-VISITED ISLAND WITH A BIG HEART P14

NO END TO LONDON RAIL STRIKE CHAOS

CITY GROUPS CALL FOR ALL SIDES TO GET BACK TO THE TABLE

GUY TAYLOR

BUSINESS groups have called on all sides to negotiate and bring the ongoing strike chaos on the capital’s rail and tube network to an end.

Commuters are currently bracing for two more weeks of misery as members from the RMT and ASLEF unions launch coinciding strikes, hitting both tube and rail networks. Rail strikes are scheduled for Thursday, Saturday and Sunday, with the Tube all but shutdown throughout next week. Action short of a strike, including an overtime ban, will occur throughout much of the fortnight.

Ahead of the walkouts, RMT general secretary Mick Lynch (pictured) hit out at the government, revealing that the union had not met with officials since January saying there had been “no contact”.

BT

“They seem to pick out the RMT as a special category where they can’t negotiate on a reasonable basis,” he told Sky’s Sophy Ridge on Sunday programme yesterday. “We’re available to talk to them but I don’t think I’ve met a government minister since January and even the employers now have stopped negotiating.”

The year-long dispute on Britain’s railways has bruised London’s businesses, which are already struggling to adapt to a new-normal of lower commuting levels.

Lynch’s comments prompted frustration from business groups at the “inaction” from all sides in seek-

“In business, we get around the table to find solutions to burning issues and it is our expectation that the RMT and the government must do the same,”

Richard Burge, chief executive officer of the London Chamber of Commerce and Industry, told City A.M.

Muniya Barua, deputy chief executive at BusinessLDN, told City A.M. that strikes were “playing havoc” with the economy, with the retail and hospitality sectors hit the worst.

“It’s vital that all sides get around the table and reach an agreement to prevent this summer being a damp squib for London’s businesses,” Barua said.

Kate Nicholls, chief executive of trade body UKHospitality, told City A.M. that strikes continue to be a “hammer blow” for the sector as restaurants, bars and pubs enter their peak summer seasons, adding that it is “imperative” that the government, rail operators and unions “reignite negotiations and get back round the table as a matter of urgency”.

In May, the trade body for the hospitality sector estimated that a short strike wiped out £132m-worth of sales from the sector.

MATT HARDY

World No1 and top seed Carlos Alcaraz beat defending champion and 23-time Grand Slam winner Novak Djokovic last night to claim his first Wimbledon title.

The 20-year-old Spaniard and the 36year-old Serbian put on a five-set thriller which will go down as a modern classic at the All England Club with Alcaraz winning 1-6, 7-6, 6-1, 3-6, 6-4. A packed Centre Court watched on as

the sprightly Spaniard ended Djokovic’s 10-year unbeaten run on Centre Court, dating all the way back to Andy Murray’s triumph in 2013. Alcaraz said it was a “dream come true” to lift the Wimbledon trophy. The tournament continues to be the highlight of the Grand Slam tennis circuit, providing the capital with a fortnight of bubbly, Pimm’s and strawberries each summer.

£ FULL COVERAGE ON P18

boss Philip Jansen pins share price slump on ‘short-term’ London investors

JESS JONES

BT’s outgoing boss Philip Jansen has blamed London investors’ “shortterm” outlook for his firm’s lengthy share price slump in a defence of his tenure at the telecoms giant. Jansen (pictured) said he was “not perfect” but believed the strategy he put in place was not adequately

rewarded by equity markets.

UK investors “seem to have a focus more on the short term and find it harder to look at the longer term”, especially when compared to the US, Jansen told The Sunday Times. Jansen, whose key call was a major, long-term investment in the transformation of the copper network into fibre, said the short-

term focus was always a “challenge for BT when you’re investing in initiatives and infrastructure that takes 10 to 12 years to build and will be used for many, many decades –it was 100 years or more in the case of copper”.

“Inevitably you have to take a long-term

view of it and public markets seem to find it hard,” he added.

However, one analyst pushed back on Jansen’s read of the market.

“I don’t think that’s a completely fair assessment given that foreign investors own

around two thirds of listed UK shares, so reticence towards UK companies is coming from overseas as well,” Susannah Streeter, head of money and markets at Hargreaves Lansdown, told City A.M. She added that investors also had a “cautious response to BT’s big cost cutting initiative” as it underlined the “scale of the challenge ahead”.

SW19 EPIC Alcaraz beats Djokovic to take home his first Wimbledon title

Our politicians must go beyond taking selective responsibility

AHOST OF politicians

tweeted out statesmanlike congratulations to Carlos Alvarez yesterday after his victory at Wimbledon, basking in some kind of reflected glory. These elected members were keen to rub up against success, but what about taking responsibility when things are going wrong?

STANDING UP FOR THE CITY THE CITY VIEW

Take the ongoing strike chaos engulfing our railways and underground network. Whilst the lion’s share of the blame for the

misery inflicted on commuters falls on militant union leaders, there is plenty left over for those on the other side of the table. For months last year the government handed off responsibility to the rail companies; the rail companies, in turn, said they

couldn’t move without the government. Per Mick Lynch’s comments yesterday, it appears this rather absurd stalemate has continued into 2023. At some point, government ministers –no matter whose responsibility a contract or an agreement suggests a pay dispute might be –are obliged to sit around the table, bang heads together, force some union concessions and, yes, occasionally dig into the coffers and solve seemingly intractable

disputes. This model, extremely British in its fudginess, has worked for years. It is hard then to dodge the conclusion that the reason it’s not happening this time is not some principled stand but cold, hard political calculus. In short, the government must surely believe that by allowing rail strikes to continue, thereby guaranteeing Corbynite blowhards like RMT leader Mick Lynch more airtime, they are reminding the public of what we

FOURTHLY, YES I DID FORGET THE SOAPBOX Shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves addresses a crowd of Labour activists in Uxbridge ahead of Thursday’s by-election

Sunak faces crunch by-elections this week as ULEZ dominates in Uxbridge

DOMINIC MCGRATH

BY-ELECTIONS this week threaten to cause misery for Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, as the Conservatives battle to save seats in three crunch local polls.

All eyes in Westminster will be on the by-elections in Uxbridge and South Ruislip, Selby and Ainsty as well as Somerton and Frome on Thursday, with Labour and the Liberal Democrats both hoping to inflict blows on the Conservatives.

It could be a drama-filled end to a parliamentary term not short on political theatrics, with the Uxbridge and Selby

polls triggered amid the fall-out of Boris Johnson’s furious reaction to the Privileges Committee investigation and the row over his resignation honours list.

The economic outlook is difficult too, with households still struggling with stubbornly high inflation and mortgage holders pitched into misery by rising interest rates.

Combined with NHS pressures and the impact of months of industrial unrest, it could be a difficult start to summer recess for Sunak.

In Uxbridge, the former prime minister has held the west London constituency since 2015, securing it with a

7,000 majority at the last general election in 2019.

Local councillor Danny Beales is the Labour candidate.

But Tory councillor Steve Tuckwell and the Tories are hoping that the Sadiq Khan-backed Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ) scheme is enough to sway voters away from the opposition.

Lord Hayward said it will be the first time a local issue has dominated a campaign since 1983.

The Uxbridge poll, the Conservative peer, suspects, could turn out to be a de facto referendum not on the Government itself but on the ULEZ scheme.

might one day see under a Labour government. Don’t hand the power to the crazies, they’ll argue, in a similar way that some Tory strategists appear to believe that the fact Labour have taken cash from a Just Stop Oil funder will persuade the public that Sir Keir has an orange tie saved up for his first day in Number 10. It’s infantile and it’s pathetic. It’s time for ministers to prove their worth –and get Britain running again.

WHAT THE OTHER PAPERS SAY THIS MORNING

MUSK: TWITTER CASH FLOW STILL NEGATIVE AMID 50 PER CENT DROP IN AD REVENUE Twitter’s cash flow remains negative because of a 50 per cent drop in advertising revenue and a heavy debt load, Elon Musk said, falling short of his hope Twitter could be positive by June.

THE FINANCIAL TIMES STARMER UNDER FIRE OVER VOW TO STICK WITH TORY CHILD WELFARE CAP

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer was criticised on Sunday after insisting he would not scrap the current cap on welfare support payments for children if his party wins the next general election.

THE TELEGRAPH

DESANTIS CUTS CAMPAIGN STAFF AS DONATIONS SLOW IN FALTERING CAMPAIGN

Ron DeSantis’s 2024 campaign is cutting staff as it burns through cash and struggles to gain on Donald Trump less than two months after he announced his White House bid.

Businesses hail Indo-Pacific trade deal as boost for City

CHARLIE CONCHIE

BUSINESS groups have hailed the UK’s membership of an Indo-Pacific trade bloc as a boost despite analysis showing a meagre growth bump from the deal over the long term.

Business and trade secretary Kemi Badenoch formally signed a treaty in New Zealand yesterday for the UK to join the CPTPP trade bloc, originally agreed in 2018 between 11 countries.

Membership strips back trade barriers and comes amid a push from the government to forge stronger trade ties with the region.

The deal was hailed as a “great achievement” by lobby group The City UK, which said the pact will deliver a boost to the UK’s financial and professional services sector.

The bloc has swelled to a scale of £12trn but analysis given to the government suggests the deal will boost UK exports by just £1.7bn, imports to the UK by £1.6bn and GDP by £1.8bn in the long term.

The UK has bilateral trading terms with nine of the 11 members –so Malaysia and Brunei will be of “particular interest”, noted William Bain, head of policy at the BCC.

THE GUARDIAN

Supermarkets must explain fuel price hikes

GUY TAYLOR

SUPERMARKET bosses are set for showdown talks with the government this week over soaring prices at the pumps. Energy secretary Grant Shapps will meet with chiefs from Asda, Sainsbury’s, Morrisons and Tesco, with the minister vowing to slam “the brakes down on the mistreatment of motorists”.

Writing in The Sun yesterday, Shapps said he would call on the supermarket CEOs, as well as oil giants BP, Shell and Esso, to “explain themselves”.

It follows the damming conclusions of an investigation from the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) earlier in July, which found that increased supermarket profit margins led to drivers paying almost £1bn more for fuel last year.

The CMA’s findings, following a yearlong investigation, concluded that average supermarket fuel margins rose by 6p per litre between 2019 and 2022 amid weakening competition. Shapps said: “I want to now hear how they are going to fix this. I will be telling them to do the right thing and immediately end any attempt to overcharge at the pumps.”

Asda came under particular scrutiny in the CMA’s investigation, receiving a £60,000 pound fine for failing to provide relevant data to the regulator when

Asda’s co-owner Mohsin Issa (pictured) will be grilled by MPs on Wednesday over “discrepancies between statements” given in previous parliamentary evidence sessions and the CMA’s findings.

UBS to retain EY as auditor after CS takeover

JUBY BABU

UBS GROUP has decided to retain EY as its external auditor, enlarging its role to include Credit Suisse‘s accounts from 2024, the Financial Times has reported, citing people with knowledge of the decision.

The average asking price for a home in Britain is £371,907

Average price tag on a home fell £905 in July as house sales slow

VICKY SHAW

THE AVERAGE price tag on a home coming to market fell by £905 or 0.2 per cent month-on-month so far in July, according to new data. Rightmove, which released the figures, said rising mortgage rates are biting, with house sales now lagging behind the more “normal” market seen before the coronavirus

pandemic, in 2019.

While buyer demand remains resilient, the choice of available properties for sale is 12 per cent lower than it was at the same point in 2019, Rightmove said.

Across Britain, the average asking price for a home is £371,907, with average asking prices still 2.6 per cent higher than in January, it added.

The size of the contract will require the Big Four accounting firm to call in staff from other countries to work on the audit, two people told the paper.

PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), which has been Credit Suisse’s auditor since 2020, will audit the acquired bank’s accounts for 2023, according to the report.

UBS agreed to buy Credit Suisse for CHF3bn ($3.48bn) in March.

PwC in Credit Suisse’s 2022 annual report included an “adverse opinion” on the effectiveness of the bank’s internal controls but said its statements “present fairly, in all material aspects” the financial position of the bank from 2020 through 2022.

UBS and EY did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the report, while PwC declined to comment. PA Reuters

Easyjet hopes to quell shareholder fears after strikes and cancellations

GUY TAYLOR

EASYJET is set to unveil its third quarter results on Thursday as shares have plateaued following a flying start to the year. Easyjet is expecting booming revenues on the back of a strong summer surge –it reported a £120m improvement year-on-year in its half year trading update in April but now

strikes and cancellations loom.

But concerns were raised last week after an announcement that nearly 2,000 of its flights would be cancelled over the busy summer period.

Michael Hewson, chief market analyst at CMC Markets UK, said: “Travel disruption continues to be a factor determining, as well as deterring, a return to normal. Nonetheless optimism remains high

that Easyjet will be able to see a return to profit this year.”

Hewson said forecasts of £2.27bn in revenue for the third quarter for Easyjet may need to be revised “given the amount of disruption seen so far this year due to French industrial action”. There are also fears within the sector that rising airfares could hit capacity figures.

Gatwick Airport prepares to avoid another summer of travel chaos

GUY TAYLOR

GATWICK’s boss has said the airport is not expecting further flight cancellations over the summer season.

Speaking to the Sunday Times, Stewart Wingate said: “I haven’t had any discussions with any other airlines [about cancellations].”

His comments come despite news this week that Easyjet has ditched 2,000 flights for the period, mostly from Gatwick, on the back of ongoing French

Air Traffic Controller (ATC) walkouts and disruption in Ukrainian airspace. Baggage handlers and check-in staff have also announced strikes in July and August, but Wingate said the West Sussex hub is well prepped to avoid repeating its past failures.

“We’ve put an awful lot of effort into making sure that the experience is going to be a good one, with a particular focus on getting passengers through security quickly,” he told the paper.

Uber reveals UK profit for the first time: £32 million

GUY TAYLOR

UBER booked £3.4bn in revenue from the UK segment of its business last year, it has been revealed.

According to its most recent companies’ house filing, Uber made £2.6bn in sales revenues from its taxi business, whilst its fast-growing food delivery platform, Uber Eats, brought in £700m.

The firm’s UK holding company also saw pre-tax profits of £32m, up from £5m the year before.

The numbers provide insight into the performance of Uber’s UK operation for the first time since it restructured its business model last year.

That restructuring came as a result of a landmark ruling from the Supreme Court in 2021, which determined that Uber drivers should be legally classed as workers.

Uber now receives all its revenue from taxi fares, as opposed to just a segment.

It also prompted a raft of other shifts to the business, including that 20 per cent VAT would be applied to rides booked via the app

– which resulted in a hike in Uber’s fare charges.

Drivers now receive holiday pay and a minimum wage for time spent working.

Uber’s accounts show the full year 2022 period, with the changes first coming into place at the end of the first quarter, meaning it is difficult to draw conclusions about the companies’ performance.

In its filings, the ride-hailer noted its brand and reputation –dented following the highly publicised court case –would be “critical to our business prospects.”

The firm said “attracting drivers” to its platform was particularly important, warning that numbers could decline as a result of “dissatisfaction with our brand, pricing models, ability to prevent safety incidents” or the “passage or enforcement of local laws limiting our products”.

The firm also noted the “highly competitive” nature of the mobility industry in London, with its biggest rival currently Bolt. City A.M. recently revealed Bolt has reached 9m users on its app.

In 2022, the airport experienced a “summer of chaos” mainly due to staffing issues

Account sharing rules focus of Netflix results

JESS JONES

NETFLIX’s password-sharing crackdown could bolster revenues for the streamer as it gears up to post second quarter results on Wednesday, analysts have suggested.

With Netflix subscription sign ups having been on the rise for the past three quarters, AJ Bell analyst Danni Hewson said they are expected to come in [even] higher in the latest quarter compared to the previous one, although this "would be unusual for the seasonality shown by the business to date”.

AJ Bell predicts Netflix revenues could rise by three per cent to $8.2bn. Subscriber numbers dropped everywhere bar the Asia Pacific region, which made up for the fall with a gain

of 1.46m new sign ups.

In May Netflix announced it was putting an end to the over 100m households using others’ accounts. Users can now pay £5 a month to share.

JP Morgan analyst Doug Anmuth estimated last month that the move could generate extra revenues of $3.5bn (£2.7bn) by 2025 as it monetises 33m of the password sharers.

Which? slam plans to shelve BNPL rules

CHARLIE CONCHIE

TOP CAMPAIGN group Which? has sounded the alarm after it emerged the government is preparing to shelve plans to clampdown on the buy-now pay-later (BNPL) sector.

Seraphim Space predicts lower valuations will continue to attract investors in 2023

Britain ranks third globally for investment deals in space tech

JESS JONES

Netflix first announced the new rules on account sharing in 2022.

The crackdown has already caused new subscriber counts to spike 236 per cent spike in the US between May and June this year, according to Bloomberg Second Measure.

OVERALL startup activity and later-stage funding within the UK space tech industry are at higher levels than ever before, according to Seraphim Space’s half year investment index.

Globally, the UK ranks as having the third-highest number of space deals in the past 12 months with 39, behind the

US with 165 and China with 64. The UK holds the third spot in terms of investment too, at $311m (£238m).

“The space investment sector is starting to show encouraging signs of recovery from the lows of 2022,” Maureen Haverty, Seraphim’s vice president, said, adding that the next six months would likely offer exceptional opportunities for the industry.

The Treasury has been pushing ahead with plans to bring BNPL products offered by firms like Klarna and Clearpay under the remit of the Financial Conduct Authority amid fears that shoppers are landing themselves in mounting piles of unregulated debt. Plans to bring the sector under regulation were first tabled in 2021 and formalised last year with regulation intended for late 2023. But ministers are now planning to shelve the plans due to concerns over the accessibility of low interest products and fears some of the biggest players in the market will quit the UK, Sky News reported. Rochio Concha, director of policy and advocacy at Which?, said the news “incredibly concerning... especially as more people may be using credit options to make ends meet during the cost of living crisis”. The Treasury declined to comment.

‘Stranger Things’ is one of Netflix’s most popular shows

Goldman and Morgan Stanley to be hit by investment banking slump

CHRIS DORRELL

GOLDMAN SACHS and Morgan Stanley will likely report another slowdown in profit this week amid a continued slump in global dealmaking.

JP Morgan analysts reduced their earnings per share estimates for Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley on “lower IB [investment bank] revenues…with limited cost offset”. The analysts cut Goldman Sachs’s EPS for the full year by 14 per cent and Morgan Stanley’s by 12 per cent.

“We expect the focus of Q2 results for US IBs to be on the outlook for IB fees, planned cost measures in the event of continued revenue weakness and the outlook for capital returns with Basel 3 finalisation uncertainty,” the analysts said.

In 2022 dealmaking faltered. Overall global M&A value is down 44 per cent in the first five months of 2023.

Last week Citi’s results saw profit fall 36 per cent year on year as it was hit by the global decline in dealmaking.

Citi boss Jane Fraser noted “the long-

FTSE firms slash charitable giving as profits rocket

CHARLIE CONCHIE

BRITAIN’s biggest companies have slashed their charitable donations by nearly a quarter over the past decade despite pre-tax profits rocketing in the same period, research has showed.

Firms listed on London’s flagship index, FTSE 100, donated £1.85bn last year, 26 per cent lower than the £2.51bn donated in 2012, according to research by the Charities Aid Foundation.

The slowdown comes despite corporate profits surging over the past seven years. The total amount donated in 2022 is the same as in 2016, the last time the analysis was carried out, while the cumulative profits of the FTSE 100 have trebled over the same period.

The number of firms donating the equivalent of one per cent of their pretax profits has also stayed roughly constant, with 24 firms giving one per cent or more last year, compared to 26 in 2016.

Charities Aid Foundation has now called on top firms to step up and more generously spread their cash around as the country feels the pinch of inflation and rising costs.

“As many households are squeezed and many charities struggle to survive

in the current climate, it is essential that those who have the capital and resources step up and lead,” Neil Heslop, chief executive of Charities Aid Foundation, told the Financial Times.

“Had the FTSE 100 continued to donate the same proportion of cumulative pre-tax profits as they did in 2016, we would have seen a total of £5.59bn of charitable donations from these businesses,” he said.

Corporate donations dropped below pre-Covid levels “seemingly to offset some of the additional –and unexpected –charitable expense during the pandemic”, the report from Charities Aid Foundation added.

Firms in the healthcare sector have dished out more cash than any other sector with 2.95 per cent of pre-tax profits funnelled into charities funnelled into charities, the paper reported.

Industrials and consumer staples sectors were also at the more generous end, donating an average of 1.76 per cent of pre-tax profits. All other sectors gave less than one per cent of profits on average. GSK was the most generous firm, donating more than five per cent of profits, while energy giant Shell gave 0.28 per cent last year, six and half times less than they did in 2016.

awaited rebound in investment banking has yet to materialise, making for a disappointing quarter.”

The two Wall Street giants will report alongside Bank of America, which will likely follow the example of JP Morgan and Wells Fargo for whom rising interest rates continued to be a strong tailwind, with both banks performing ahead of expectations Bank of America’s revenue is expected to grow by 10 per cent to $25bn with an EPS of $0.84 in the second quarter.

Deloitte’s research showed CFOs now think interest rates will remain elevated and sit at 4.5 per cent in a year’s time

Rates rises and inflation knock C-suite confidence

JACK BARNETT

RATCHETING up interest rate expectations and intense fears about sticky inflation has hobbled FTSE finance chiefs’ optimism, a closely watched survey out today shows. Confidence among chief financial officers (CFO) of FTSE-listed companies has tumbled over the last quarter, according to consultancy Deloitte.

Optimism among money managers at Britain’s largest businesses has

eroded to net -10 per cent, signalling they are deeply concerned about their firm’s and the UK economy’s health. It is a big drop from last quarter’s reading of positive 25 per cent.

The survey of 69 CFOs –including those at FTSE 100 and FTSE 250 businesses –which manage firms with a combined market value of £317bn indicates the recent surge in interest rate bets is chilling the UK economy.

Markets think the BoE is on track to lift the UK’s official interest rate to a

peak of around 6.25 per cent from its current level of five per cent.

Deloitte said 45 per cent of CFOs think high borrowing costs and their impact on GDP is a very high risk to their business, up from 39 per cent in the first three months of the year.

“Tight monetary policy is seen by CFOs as the top threat to their business, outweighing the concerns around geopolitics and energy prices that have dominated for the last two years,” the report said.

Reports of stress among financial services employees drop 36 per cent

CITY A.M. REPORTER

THE NUMBER of cases of stress among financial services employees reported to the Health and Safety Executive dropped 36 per cent from 44,000 in the first year of the pandemic to 28,000 last year, according to new research.

The study, done by law firm

GQLittler, suggests that financial services firms have made real progress in supporting mental health.

Sophie Vaneghan, a partner at GQLittler said: “It’s encouraging to see stress reports drop as we put the pandemic behind us and see mental health being talked about more widely in both the workplace and broader society, but many employers

are anxious that the current economic downturn and cost of living crisis does not see a reverse in this downward trend for their staff.”

She added: “Within a still-tight labour market, firms that advocate for better mental health awareness and which take a proactive approach may have a competitive advantage over firms that do not.”

The drop suggests financial services firms are taking mental health more seriously

In 2022, political and economic volatility lead to a slump in dealmaking

THE NOTE BOOK

Our education system separates pupils. That’s wrong

Sir Keir Starmer recently made headlines with his ambition to “shatter Britain’s class ceiling” by reforming the education system. While less radical than Corbyn’s manifesto pledge in 2019 to abolish private schools altogether, defence of the creaky UK education system has come from far and wide.

I grew up in the state school system, hated my time and learned little. I have always been a strong advocate for reform. The impact of the pandemic makes this need greater now. Persistent lockdowns have exacerbated differences in the quality of education received between the two systems, and even within the state school system, official research from this year shows the attainment gap between disadvantaged pupils and their peers is now widening for the first time since 2007.

Our current education system is most harmful in that it preserves social bubbles. The elite go from the privileged halls of private schools to the cloistered universities of Oxford and

SCHOOL’S OUT –ALICE COOPER ALBUM

Cambridge –before often going straight to the cloisters of the legal profession. They lead the country without having ever stepped a foot outside a cloister. We talk about the importance of diversity in making good decisions, but our political class often have no contact with the people they are elected to represent.

Starmer’s plans are a good starting point but radical social change takes time. My wife Julia and I have seen this through our support of Mansfield College at Oxford University, where we managed to increase the number of state school pupils attending the college to 96 per cent over two decades. With an education system so dependent on who is running the country at any given time, sustainable reform is difficult. I hope for the sake of the Covid generation that necessity will trump party politics and we will create an education system fit for modern Britain where we mix pupils from different backgrounds for the greater good of all.

This album is very nostalgic for me as the school summer holidays approach. I was nearly 13 when the title song of the album was released and was in one of the least happy periods of my life. I was struggling at the all-boys grammar school I attended and had come 98th out of 100 in the year. I got help from a Kent educational psychologist, but none of my friends at the time made it to sixth form. This period played a big part in shaping my desire to succeed in business but it is not an easy time to look back on, and I feel enormously for those teenagers who get no benefit from schooling and for whom their dream is “School’s out forever”.

£ When people interview for jobs at Terra Firma education and experience are only a tiny part of what we’re interested in. We run psychometric tests to decipher what kind of people may join us. Thinkers and those driven by passion are critical, but you also must have “closers” and “doers” to reach the goal. There is a tendency to see ‘ideas people’ as glamorous –the exciting part of businesses and the reason things get done. But ideas alone are but dreams –someone must execute them.

CAN I QUOTE YOU ON THAT?

Iwas reminded recently how much perception can cloud reality. One of the most emotional things I’ve seen was when the charity I support, Engage Britain, had a session to listen to real people talking about their views of the political system. During the session an elderly woman met a gang member from her community. She had been terrified to go outside because of the gang’s presence but upon meeting, their shared humanity shone through and she said: “He’s just like my grandson.” This was a facilitated session and that’s a rare situation, but the principle remains the same: dispelling hatred and mistrust comes from understanding that we have more similarities than differences. It’s true that social norms can often encourage division rather than harmony. However, history will judge us by standards that do not yet exist, just as we judge the past by today’s standards. We are all a product of our time but empathy is transcendent: good people will stand the test of time by treating others with humanity and compassion while standing up for what is right.

Where the City’s movers and shakers get a few things off their chest. Today it’s Guy Hands, founder of Terra Firma Capital

Alan Turing

Sometimes it is the people no one can imagine anything of who do the things no one can imagine.

EMPATHY IS EVERYTHING

Green transition could help unlock £57bn in growth

JACK BARNETT

BRITAIN could unlock as much as £57bn of economic growth by turbo charging the journey to decarbonising production, a new report out today has claimed.

Calculations by the Confederation of British Industry (CBI), who until recently was embroiled in a fight for its survival amid a string of sexual misconduct claims, found the UK is primed to benefit from the global race to net zero. The business lobby group said the UK needs to create an industrial strategy akin to the US’s Inflation Reduction Act and Europe’s green support scheme to avoid losing out on tens of billions of pounds of growth.

“Other nations have recognised the prizes on offer and are rapidly ramping up their own plans and spending to attract the green industries of the future,” Rain Newton-Smith, director general of the CBI, said.

“Businesses believe that the US’s Inflation Reduction Act, the EU’s Net Zero Industry Act, and other nations’ ambitious incentive packages developed in their wake, have changed the game.” Among

Tax advisors want AI to perform manual tasks despite ‘trust gap’

CITY A.M. REPORTER

MORE THAN half of UK tax professionals want to use artificial intelligence (AI) tools to help with their work tasks, new survey data has revealed.

the lobby group’s recommendations was forcing the Treasury and Office for Budget Responsibility to estimate the impact on the climate from government tax and spending decisions.

Mandating government departments to test policies against the UK’s climate commitments could also curb emissions, the CBI said. The economy legally must reach net zero emissions by 2050.

A root-and-branch examination of the tax system to identify areas that could be tweaked to stimulate high-potential green industries, like electric vehicle manufacturing, would accelerate growth.

Done right, there is a range of £37£57bn of additional economic output –or 1.6 per cent-2.4 per cent of further growth –available for the UK from the transition to Net Zero, the CBI claimed.

Britain’s economic growth has slowed sharply since the 2008 financial crisis, mainly caused by a lack of business investment and slumping productivity.

International Monetary Fund officials think the economy will expand one per cent next year and then at an average of two per cent in 2025 and 2026.

The study, conducted by Thomson Reuters, found that 12 per cent of UK tax professionals surveyed were either using or

planning to integrate ChatGPT or other forms of generative AI into their work. Of those that are planning to apply ChatGPT to their work, 39 per cent said they could see a widespread rollout of the technology at their firms within the next six months.  The tax experts backing the technology said generative AI could be used to help with a number of

tasks including tax research, compliance as well as tax return preparation.

However, there was still a “trust gap” among some tax experts, who cited concerns around privacy and reliability of information given.  A total of 13 per cent of UK tax professionals reported that their workplace had banned ChatGPT altogether.

be unable repay debts –report

UK firms are most likely in Europe to

JACK BARNETT

BRITISH companies are the most likely in Europe to be unable to repay their debts, a new report has warned.

Corporate distress in the UK is much higher than France, Spain and Italy, some of the continent’s major economies, according to research by law firm Weil, Gotshal and Manges.

Germany has the second highest level of corporate default risk in Europe, the study said.

Comparatively higher default risks in the UK have been manufactured by financial markets stepping up their bets on how high the Bank of England will lift interest rates.

Over the past month, traders have upped their peak rate expectations to 6.25 per cent from around 5 per cent.

Most UK corporate debt is tied to floating interest rates, meaning changes in interest rate expectations on the financial market feed through to firms quickly.

The British Chambers of Commerce has named the five top business leaders who will each chair one of its Future of the Economy challenges. Baroness Martha Lane Fox (pictured), Baroness Ruby McGregor Smith and Michael Hayman are among the new chairs.

NEW APPOINTEES BCC announces leaders to chair National Business Council

More UK restaurants are making a profit, but rate rises could hurt gains

JESS JONES

THE NUMBER of UK restaurant companies turning a profit has more than doubled, jumping from 35 per cent to 78 per cent in the past year, according to new data from UHY Hacker Young. But the accountancy group warned that rising interest rates could hijack the industry’s gains.

At the end of June, the Bank of England hoisted rates up to five per cent –the highest level since 2008.

The rise will increase borrowing costs for restaurant companies, impacting their financial stability and recovery, the group said.

Peter Kubik, a partner at UHY Hacker Young, said the sector is not in the clear yet and “still faces an exceptional tough trading

environment caused by high inflation and the rising cost of debt”.

“It will be a delicate balancing act to implement cost-cutting measures while also providing a service good enough to attract and retain customers,” Kubik added. But he said that “the majority have done exceptionally well to generate a profit in 2023”.

Shoplifting spike tied to cost of living crisis, warns John Lewis boss

CITY A.M. REPORTER

THE BOSS of John Lewis said yesterday that shoplifting has increased over 20 per cent across the high street over the past year –blaming the cost of living crisis for the rise in the crime.

Speaking to the BBC on the Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg show, chair of the partnership Sharon White said she was surprised to not have heard more politicians talk about crime in relation to the cost of living crisis.

“The John Lewis Partnership, we’re a big retailer, 74,000 partners or employees, one of the big issues for them is partner safety,” she said. “Shoplifting has gone up 26 per cent in the last year,” she said, citing sectorwide figures. “It’s a crisis that is hiding in plain sight.”

She said politicians shouldn’t forget issues of crime and safety, “particularly as gangs and shoplifters have become much bolder, to be frank, given some of the cost of living pressures”.

Interest rate hikes trigger record UK wealth collapse

JACK BARNETT

THE BANK OF ENGLAND has engineered the largest contraction in UK household wealth on record by jacking up interest rates in response to scorching inflation, a new report out today has claimed.

Asset values have collapsed by £2.1trn since early 2021, mainly driven by a sharp fall in bond prices in response to UK borrowing costs rising quickly, according to the economic think tank the Resolution Foundation (the Foundation).

UK household wealth as a share of the economy has plummeted 185 percentage points since January 2021, a record drop.

Wealth as a share of the entire economy is now down to 650 per cent, the Foundation said, a huge reversal from the over decade-long boom in property, debt and equity values.

In the years after the 2008 financial crisis and amid the teeth of the pandemic before the inflation surge took off, central banks slashed interest rates to rock bottom levels. That environment lifted UK wealth to a peak of 840 per cent of gross domestic product, or £17.5trn.

Those economic dynamics have now reversed, with the Bank of England and

monetary authorities globally tightening monetary policy to bring down inflation.

As a result, traders have been selling bonds at much lower prices to account for higher official interest rates.

“Holders of UK government debt have seen around a 30 per cent loss in the value of their investments since the Bank of England started raising interest rates [in December 2021], and holders of sterling corporate bonds have lost 20 per cent,” the report said.

“House prices have also started to weaken, with inflation-adjusted prices already down by seven per cent from their peak in mid-2022,” the think tank added.

Ian Mulheirn, research associate at the Foundation, said: “Over the past four decades wealth has soared across Britain, even when wages and incomes have stagnated. But rapid interest rate rises have ended this boom and brought about the biggest fall in wealth since the war.”

The Foundation also said higher interest rates would make it easier for younger people to save for retirement by boosting saving rates. In the lower rate pre-pandemic world, a typical worker would have to save £5,000 a year to achieve a decent standard of living after work.

Sharon White said shoplifting has gone up by 26 per cent across the sector in the last year

ENERGY

ALICE’s Adventures in Wonderland is set for a fresh stage revival later this year within the vaults of London Waterloo, the latest rendition of Lewis Carroll’s literary nonsense staple –where characters boast of impossible things.

Much like the Red Queen, the government seems to be hoping the British public will also believe in at least six before breakfast –at least when it comes to energy policy. It wants us to believe: 50GW of offshore wind generation will be reached by the end of the decade; investor confidence in onshore wind will be revived; the country’s creaking water network can be fixed; nuclear’s role in the energy mix will be restored; North Sea oil and gas projects can be sustained; and that the UK is ready for a vast ramp up of electric vehicles.

Sadly, such wonderful dreams of a more secure, greener energy future powered by renewable generation are for now at least well down the rabbit hole. Here in reality, such ambitions are being hampered by byzantine planning laws, obstinate localism, departmental dysfunction and poorly laid out policies.

ENERGY AMBITIONS STALL

Even the good news comes with an awareness that all is not well. Last week, energy secretary Grant Shapps finally rubberstamped Hornsea Four, a 2.9GW wind farm off the Yorkshire coast, which will represent the UK's second largest offshore wind farm. What should have been a cause for celebration instead is little more than a stinging reminder of the escalating challenge the UK has in achieving energy security following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Hornsea –despite a turgid two-years of hoop jumping through the planning system and then five months sat on a minister's desk –had a relatively speedy time of it through the approvals process.

But more often than not, renewable projects are routinely delayed by as much as a decade amid the wait for local approval and grid connectivity.

Offshore wind’s on-land counterparts are facing an even more challenging time, with only two turbines across England and Wales hooked onto the grid last year, less than wartorn Ukraine.

Industry hopes this will be rectified appear in vain, with the also government closing its consultation period last week, but industry calls for planning laws for new turbines to be brought in line with any other infrastructure project are expected to fall on deaf ears.

Meanwhile, Thames Water’s woes concerning sewage spills, creaking infrastructure and mountains of debt have been worsened by the fact it has been met with persistent opposition for new reservoirs and pipelines despite a looming 1bn litre shortfall. It is now three decades since Carrington, the last major new reservoir, was built in this country.

Alongside planning problems plaguing the energy industry, there also delays around financing.

UK’s energy goals risk being lost in wonderland without urgent planning overhaul

back, despite a generational challenge to revive a declining power source in the country's energy mix.

The government wants to more than treble the country’s nuclear capacity by 2050, yet only two new gigawatt power plants are close to viability – one deep in the planning stages, the other nearly constructed – while it has fudged funding small modular reactors, opening up a competition rather than coming up with a clear pipeline for projects. This comes with 85 per cent of the country’s nuclear generation from its ageing fleet set to go offline in the next decade.

GOVERNMENT LACKS CLARITY OVER STRATEGY

Oil and gas exploration also feature in the country’s energy security strategy, yet further exploration has been severely hampered by

investors in the sector –with the regulators predicting a halving of investment in the region by the end of the decade.

Flagship project Rosebank, meanwhile, looks set for fresh delays – with the UK’s largest undeveloped North Sea fossil fuel project no longer set for approval before parliament closes for the summer recess. The reality is that regardless of energy secretary Grant Shapps’s spin linking climate protestors to Labour, no one has managed to ‘Just Stop Oil’ more effectively than this government.

In the case of electric vehicles, the contrast between rhetoric and reality has never been plainer, with Westminster alone having more charging points than six cities in the midlands and the North combined – putting huge pressure on the government to ramp up infrastructure.

irrespective of a problem’s urgency, little is done.

Before its closure and spin-off into two new panels, the BEIS Select Committee published its own recommendations for decarbonising the energy sector earlier this year. This includes simplifying the vast range of energy strategies, reforming planning laws and stabilising policy so that private sector confidence can be rebuilt and investment unlocked.

There have also been calls for a clearer long- term delivery plan from the National Audit Office and Climate Change Committee. Less than 18 months from the next election, a plausible route to energy security and net zero remains lost in wonderland.

It is time the government came clean with a coherent strategy –where Britain actually supports building things again.

STRINGS ATTATCHED

The UK’s largest water supplier secured a £750m lifeline from its investors last week, which was notably short of its £1bn target. What is also worth mentioning is the stakeholder cash comes with strings attached. In this case, funding is dependent on regulatory changes, a euphemism for higher water bills. Suppliers are pushing for bills to rise as much as 40 per cent to boost infrastructure and improve operational performance, meaning millions of households are on the hook for a crisis they are not responsible for.

GAS CRISIS COSTS EUROPE £555BN

£ EU countries spent £555bn on emergency measures last year to protect civilians and businesses from a supply crunch, according to the latest figures from think tank Bruegel. The bloc warded off blackouts over winter amid Russian pressure on pipelines, with the West depending on costly LNG supplies and vast support packages for customers and businesses to keep the lights on and radiators warm. Watchdog Acer argues the EU has a choice this winter between cushioning retail prices again, or “preserving incentives to reduce demand” –reflecting the pain caused by Europe's dependence on gas.

SEND US YOUR THOUGHTS

What can we do to improve energy security? Email energy editor Nicholas Earl at nicholas.earl@cityam.com

Financially weak energy suppliers warned against paying out dividends

BEN LUCAS ENERGY suppliers that are not financially resilient but continue to pay out dividends could be penalised by the UK’s energy regulator.

Jonathan Brearley, the head of Ofgem, wrote to suppliers last week asking them to ensure that falling energy prices are passed onto

consumers and that they step up their customer service levels.

But he also warned that firms must make sure they have got their finances in order before paying out to shareholders.

“Those companies that are not yet sufficiently financially resilient should not pay dividends until they have the financial resources in place

to deal with future price shocks,” Brearley said writing in the Sunday Times.

“Customers deserve a stable and financially resilient energy market, and we will take action against any company that pays out to their shareholders while taking unnecessary financial risks,” Brearley added.

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

CITY DASHBOARD

ONS figures to show UK inflation fall and retail sales increase

UK INFLATION is on course to drop to its lowest level in over a year, but lingering underlying price pressures will heap pressure on the Bank of England to keep hiking interest rates, new figures are tipped to show. The rate of price growth in Britain is expected to have dropped to 8.2 per cent in June, down from 8.7 per cent in May, the City expects the Office for National Statistics (ONS) on Wednesday to unveil. That would mark a reversal from May when the cost of living remained unchanged despite the Bank and analysts expecting it to ease. It would still be higher than the Bank’s 7.9 per cent forecast made back in May.

Elsewhere in a busy week for traders, ONS figures on Friday are likely to show warm weather in June engineered a 0.1 per cent monthly increase in retail sales

YOUR ONE-STOP SHOP FOR BROKER VIEWS AND MARKET REPORTS

for the month. On the same day, new public finances numbers will likely show another increase in government borrowing, up to £22bn in June from £20bn in May, mainly due to very high debt interest expenditure caused by high inflation. A big chunk of the government’s debt stock is tied to the retail price index, which is above 10 per cent.

The recent sharp rise in mortgage rates is tipped to have corroded consumer confidence in July, with GfK’s long-standing index expected to drop to -26 points from -24 points.

On the corporate front, Wall Street firms lead the docket as US earnings seasons ramp up.

Topping the billing will be financials from investment banking titan Goldman Sachs on Wednesday. Traders will be closely watching to see if it matched rival JP Morgan’s record profits in the second quarter of this year.

Expansion of its product range and penetration into new markets abroad make Mr Kipling-creator Premier Foods a decent bet for clients, analysts at broker Peel Hunt have decided. Consumers trading down to cheaper food items should also yield a healthy revenue bump, the analysts added. Premier Foods will hold its annual general meeting on Thursday.

HERE WE GO AGAIN...

“I imagine traders are getting tired of gearing up for inflation data week every month. Another upside surprise could shudder bond markets, especially if there’s no marked fall to core inflation. The consensus is 8.2 per cent for headline CPI, which would still be a lot higher than the BoE’s forecast.”

JACK BARNETT, ECONOMICS EDITOR

A punchy online summer sale at furniture retailer Dunelm helped it swerve the usual downturn in consumer spending when the British summer heats up. “The initial burst of hot weather is usually bad news for footfall across the home sector,” analysts at broker Peel Hunt reckon. The firm reckons clients should buy the stock. Dunelm updates markets on Thursday.

Powerful 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.

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EDITED BY SASCHA O’SULLIVAN

The Liberal Democrats and the long, hard climb back to political relevancy

of Iraq, opposition to student fees (until they agreed to them), and support for UK membership of the European Union. Now, with Iraq increasingly a generational memory and Brexit here to stay, their cupboard of pleasantries is looking bare.

IF YOU are the betting kind, a wager on Sir Keir Starmer being the next prime minister will not make you a vast profit. A photo opportunity outside the famous black door of Downing Street next autumn seems overwhelmingly likely. However, if you take Westminster watchers to one side, there is a common reluctance to go much further than that. “Labour will be the largest party,” one told me. “Otherwise, God knows…” This horror of overconfidence, of arrogance or taking anything for granted, runs deep in Labour’s soul. Although its genuine significance has been overestimated, Labour still have shuddering memories of 1992, and of Neil Kinnock’s toe-curling quasi-victory rally a week before polling day. 10,000 people packed the indoor Sheffield Arena, looking forward to ending 13 years of Conservative rule and to getting the Labour Party back behind the desks of Whitehall at long last. If Kinnock’s mid-Atlantic cry of “We’re all right!” did not in fact bury the party’s chances, it deserved to, and that is how the event will be remembered.

Starmer has ruled out a coalition with the separatist SNP. But he has made no such definitive statement about forming a partnership with the Liberal Democrats, and it is easy to

imagine a scenario in which the Lib Dems have the parliamentary numbers to push Labour over the line. Given that, it is only right that we should examine who they are and what they stand for.

You remember the Liberal Democrats. Last time they formed a coalition, in 2010, they had a phalanx of 57 MPs. Today they have only 14, though hope to gain considerably at the general election. Sir Ed Davey has been leader for three years now, and has struggled to make much of an impact. Despite by-election victories in Chesham and Amersham, North Shropshire and Tiverton and Honiton, and a decent showing in the local elections, his

party is nationally moribund at around 10 per cent. Where they have done well, it has been, as it usually is with Liberal Democrats, a combination of focusing resources and posing as a nice-enough-person alternative to the Conservatives.

Davey himself has gained little traction. When pollsters mention his name, the “don’t knows” score heavily, and he only makes the headlines when he says something especially controversial, like his declaration earlier this year that “quite clearly” a woman could have a penis. Even so he outstrips his colleagues: some will recognise former leader, now environment spokesman, Tim Farron, a larky evan-

gelical Christian who would look at home supervising a youth group. Very occasionally, sheer persistence will force Layla Moran—Roedean-educated daughter of an EU ambassador—into the public consciousness with a self-declared piece of radicalism such as her pansexualism or support for official recognition of Palestine.

Since their creation in 1988, the Liberal Democrats have occasionally found issues to embrace which extend their appeal well beyond their natural political base. Until the rise of Tony Blair, they subsisted on non-socialist, non-Thatcherite centrism; for the past 20 years, they have identified strongly with opposition to the 2003 invasion

Our legal system is a bastion of Britain but it needs reform and yes, even AI

THE LEGAL services industry has been through a whirlwind year, with AI disruption and fraud dominating boardroom discussions across the UK.

As home to the world's best legal minds and systems in combatting economic crime, the City has a clear competitive advantage.

Rapid advancements in AI bring both risks and opportunities, such as streamlining operations and cutting costs, but careful management is also essential, and to stay ahead of the game, we must adapt to the threats and opportunities of the digital world.

At Mansion House tomorrow, His Majesty's Judges, the Lord Chancellor, and the Lord Chief Justice will gather together for the annual Judges' Dinner to discuss how we navigate this complex landscape.

Central to our strategy is the Salisbury Square Development, which will house a flagship legal facility for the Courts and Tribunals Service and a state-of-the-art headquarters for the

Nicholas Lyons

City of London Police.

Funded by the City of London Corporation, with 18 courtrooms, the City of London Law Courts will bring together magistrates, civil, and crown courts in a first-class facility.

These courts will use new technology and follow modern work practices to tackle economic crime cases – complementing our Central Criminal Court.

The rule of law is crucial for maintaining the City’s global business reputation. It is the foundation of a thriving legal services sector that powers the Square Mile, making London an attractive destination for investment and international talent.

The industry already plays a huge role in the UK economy, generating over £36bn a year in revenue, employing 365,000 people, and showcasing Britain’s global reach. But, for the industry to keep pace in the global race, we must focus on boosting innovation within our growing Lawtech firms.

With 200 businesses already generating two-thirds of a billion in revenue, the Lawtech sector is projected to reach over £2bn in the coming years, with British companies now dominating the Financial Times list of top innovative European law firms.

This country already hosts the largest legal services market in Europe – second only to the US globally - and is supported by world-renowned talent and dispute resolution facilities.

The ability of English law to provide predictable and fair dispute resolution is essential to business-confidence and plays a key role in supporting the UK as an international financial centre.

We will do everything in our power to ensure that we have the right infrastructure to continue to grow the

City’s legal sector. The bond between the Square Mile and the judiciary is also solidified by our stewardship of the Central Criminal Court, where we support the judges and promote the importance of the English rule of law to businesspeople, diplomats, charities, leading arts figures, school children, and university students.

And as we bid farewell to Lord Burnett, who served as the Lord Chief Justice with distinction for six years, we look forward to welcoming Lady Justice Carr as the first female Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales - a testament to the progress the profession continues to make. It is vital that the City's legal sector continues to embody diversity, justice, innovation, and excellence on both local and global scales.

Together, we will uphold the rule of law, safeguard the principles that underpin our society, and propel ourselves into a brighter economic future.

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

The Liberal Democrats are long-term enthusiasts for constitutional reform, that most luxurious of parlour games for the bored bourgeoisie. Elections are not won by the allure of the single transferable vote, yet this has emerged as the price they are likely to demand of an aspirant party of government. If Starmer offers progress towards a proportional system of voting, the Liberal Democrats will do almost anything, because they regard PR as their ticket to real power. Despite the devastating effect of participating in the last coalition, from 2010 to 2015, after which they lost 49 of their 57 MPs, they are still addicted to a system which virtually guarantees coalitions.

Ed Davey should remember that; after all, he was one of the unlucky losers, scrambling back into the Commons in 2017. He knows how coalitions work, as a junior minister for employment relations and consumer affairs, then energy and climate change secretary. If he does end up with the numbers to assist the Labour Party in 2024, he should be cautious. He has seen what can come out of coalitions, so he should think very hard about what he can take in. A ministerial Tesla can seem exciting, but you can never know when the journey will end, nor whether you’ll be let out at the kerb, or thrown from a moving vehicle.

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

STILL WANTED:

Boris

Eliot Wilson

Sir Ed Davey has been the leader of the Liberal Democrats since Jo Swinson lost her seat in the 2019 election

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR On the Hunt for green incentives

[Re: Hunt is right to rest his hopes for growth on the City, July 12]

“We must go further,” Energy Secretary Grant Shapps said last week.

US Envoy John Kerry concurred, ahead of the pair’s meeting with the King and industry leaders. He also said Biden had taken “decisive action to mobilised an unprecedented effort to tackle the climate crisis”, in a bold, but hard to refute claim. Biden has directed almost $1tn in direct infrastructure funding and green incentives to drive the kind of additional investment needed. Among our members – pension, sovereign wealth and independent investment funds with $1.6tn in infrastructure assets under management – four in 10 are planning to invest $5bn or more to achieve net zero emissions across their US assets. In Europe, that is two in 10.

In his Mansion House speech, Jeremy Hunt steered UK investment policy away from new spending and towards regulatory reform.

Hunt’s commitment to give pension funds greater freedoms to invest in infrastructure assets, without being prescriptive, is a positive one. But, with net zero targets closing in, and a general election on the horizon, he must go further. Investment in critical infrastructure can be a vote winner. With the public finances stretched, this government could look to the economic regulation policy paper it published more than 500 days ago - with plans to make long-term investment requirements central to the remits of regulators. You know it’s high time to turn words into action when they were published in the days of the BEIS acronym.

“We must,” as Shapps says, “do it together.”

Jon Phillips Global Infrastructure Investor Association

HOME OF BUDGET TRAVEL London’s Luton airport celebrates 85th birthday

The hot pink Barbiemania sweeping London is a genius way to tap into our nostalgia

Kurt Stuhllemmer

THE hotly anticipated Barbie movie, It’s a Barbie World, premiered in London last week, blazing a trail of pink glory across the city that both delighted and surprised fans. Stars from the movie, and other big name celebs, embraced Barbiemania on the pink carpet while London was doused in shades of magenta with billboards, phone boxes and cars across the city creating a plastic fantastic makeover. While the Barbican tube station was rebranded “BarbieCan”, marketers missed a trick with “Ken-sington”. Though, perhaps the influx of fans suggesting other Barbie-related tube names was exactly what they were after.

The move from toys to entertainment will undoubtedly help Mattel re-engage with a younger audience and boost sales of Barbie and Ken dolls. But they still face widespread criticism that they are neither body positive nor diverse, and doll sales are unlikely to

We’ve all done it: the ungodly 6am Ryanair flight from Luton. We swear we’ll never do it again, and then find ourselves, weeks later, squeezing our carry on back through the same doors. At least there’s now the Luton Express, ferrying you to the airport from King Cross in 30 minutes. At least it’s not Stansted.

EXPLAINER-IN-BRIEF: A ROLL CALL FOR RISHI SUNAK’S PLEDGES IN BY-ELECTION WEEK

With three by-elections this Thursday, Rishi Sunak is under intense scrutiny. His five key pledges, made back in January, leave much to be desired. Inflation, which he promised to halve, was still at 8.7 per cent in May. The economy is not growing, if anything it’s contracting: GDP figures released last week showed the economy shrunk by 0.1 per cent.

The national debt, another item on Sunak’s list, increased in May to the highest in more than 60 years, reaching 100 per cent of

GDP. And with his last two missions, tackling NHS waiting lists and “stopping the boats”, Sunak isn’t on the right track. Last week waiting lists reached their highest ever level for England. The number of people coming to UK through the Channel, meanwhile, has gone down but will likely rise as the weather improves.

Sunak’s appeal to the electorateand his party - was that he was a grown-up who could get stuff done. If he can’t fulfill that, he will struggle to convince voters.

be the sole benefit of Mattel’s marketing artistry.

The movie will also be likely to spur a raft of new franchise opportunities as well as reconnect the 78-year-old brand with wistful kid-dults who want to embrace the nostalgia of their youth by purchasing retro toys. It’s a Barbie World is a very real 21st century update that taps into memories for anyone that owned and played with Barbie. It has also been lauded for giving the “Bimbo” stereotype a feminist rebrand with Margot Robbie.

This isn’t Mattel’s first foreay into modern-day Barbie-mania. First they had the animated Netflix series and now the new Barbie film. The South Californian toy empire is also launching a new series of premium dolls, die-

cast vehicles, games, building sets and a hyper-stylish consumer products line.

When the future is uncertain and the present complex, the past can help brands connect on a more emotional and personal level. Tapping back into specific moments in time can evoke a multitude of consumer memories that become positive anchors for brands, supercharging the creation of familiarity, loyalty and trust.

Even better, since these nostalgic moments are encoded in our long-term memory, they are more likely to influence future behaviour, including purchase decisions. Mattel’s marketing is bringing in the next generation to a famous franchise while reigniting fans of old, many of whom will recall fondly the role Barbie products had in their lives.

Keeping products alive in the hearts and minds of consumers, while their available spend dwindles, is the ab-

solute holy grail for any company.

Nike adopted a similar strategy to relaunch its iconic Air Jordan sneaker. The Air movie chronicled how Nike’s 1991 deal with Michael Jordan set the standard for America’s footwear obsession.

Oreo, the world’s most famous cookie brand, launched its “Stay Playful” campaign last year. AI technology behind the OREO logo on every cookie pack gave direct access to a digital experience including sharing online “mixtapes” with friends and the chance to win a replica cassette player. Using wistful childhood memories to create fame and build excitement means that brands can use the past to create a brighter future. After all, we do tend to look back on the past with pink tinted goggles.

£ Kurt Stuhllemmer is a partner at Hall & Partners

The movie will likely spur a raft of new franchise opportunities for Mattel

The Barbie movie premiered in London last week and is out in cinemas on Friday

TRAVEL

SRI LANKA IS OPEN AGAIN –AND IT’S BETTER THAN EVER

The last few years have been devastating for tourism-reliant countries across the world, but few have had it quite as bad as Sri Lanka. Visitor numbers fell to virtually zero following the 2019 Easter bombings, which were followed in short order by the onset of Covid. Then, just as light seemed to be visible at the end of the tunnel, last year’s economic collapse led to petrol shortages across the country – rationing was still in place until recently –and widespread protests. For the third time in as many years, the UK government advised against non-essential travel.

That advice was lifted months ago and relatively low tourist numbers make this a great time to visit this astonishingly diverse island, a place where you can go from mountaintop tea plantations to dense jungle to coral beaches within the space of a few hours.

Over 12-days I stayed at five properties operated by Thema Collection, which owns a dozen luxury hotels across the country. If you imagine Sri Lanka as a teardrop falling from north to south, I made a circuit around the widest part of the drop, from the airport in the west, up and over the mountainous centre, down to the coral beaches of the east coast before looping back via some ancient ruins.

First up, a public service announcement. This isn’t a small country and any trip will involve hundreds of road miles; unless you’re a rally driver or a psychopath, this is not something you should attempt yourself. The hotel group organised for us a guide/driver, Sam, who stayed with us for the whole trip, picking us up at the airport and bunking in with the hotel staff at each destination. I really can’t overstate how necessary this is: Sam was a one-stop-shop for everything from historical information to translation services to bartering advice.

Watching him gracefully swerve around the island’s wild dogs (population: three million) that like to warm themselves on the tarmac, or negotiate a 45 degree, single-track mountain road in his 10-year-old rented Honda, leaves me in no doubt that this was money well spent.

Sri Lanka is a complicated country, having been passed around by various colonial powers, starting with the Portuguese who laid claim to it at the end of the 16th century, then the Dutch, who took control until the cusp of the 19th century, followed, inevitably, by the British, who finally gave it back in 1948.

Our first destination underlined this colonial history so neatly it almost felt too on the nose: Mountbatten Bungalow, formerly home to Lord Mountbatten. It’s a beautiful, century-old colonial-style house overlooking Kandy, the religious capital of the country and perhaps its most beautiful city. You enter through perfectly-manicured gardens into a cool, wood-panelled room, where Louis Mountbatten and his wife peer down from their portraits on the wall. There are a handful of rooms in the main house, all with four-poster beds, and a series of wooden cabins dotted beneath the trees in the garden. I stayed in a cabin, and being woken on my first morning by macaques dashing across the roof felt like a pretty good introduction to Sri Lanka.

Kandy is one of those destinations that features on every trip here, a beautiful old (yes) colonial town with a huge artificial

THE TRAVEL HACK

Get in the mood for your trip by flying with SriLankan Airlines, which offers traditional Sri Lankan dishes alongside the usual international menu.

If you upgrade to business class you’ll have access to the Serendib Lounge at Colombo Airport –and trust us, you’ll be glad to escape the crowds there. srilankan.com

lake at its centre. Here you can find the Dalada Maligawa, also known as the Temple of the Sacred Tooth, which is said to house a molar from the Buddha himself. Several times a day the special room where the casket is held is opened while monks bang drums and chant; while I was there several hundred school children wearing adorable little cricket vests milled about carrying flowers to leave in offering.

There’s an element of culture shock when you arrive in Sri Lanka – not as intense as touching down in Delhi or Bangkok, maybe, but Sri Lankan cities have that same densely-packed air of organised chaos: shops selling sandals and egg hoppers and spools of fabric stacked on top of other shops, all seemingly held together by sheer force of will. A hundred unfamiliar smells coagulating in your nostrils. Sounds come at you from every direction.

The spaces in between towns, meanwhile, are an endlessly repeating wallpaper of verdant green, paddy fields and stalls selling fruit and veg. As you head into the mountains, tea plantations are added into the mix, another legacy of British rule. Getting to the mountains involves driving up some frankly terrifying roads, and I’m surprised cars aren’t tumbling off left, right and cen-

tre. Sam seemed unfazed, more concerned about dents to the Honda than careening to his fiery doom.

Far above sea level you can find the interestingly named Tea & Experience Factory, a hotel housed in a converted tea factory, located within a 3,000 acre working plantation. Like Mountbatten Bungalow, you can feel the history of the place, with its corrugated iron roof and its pieces of industrial machinery lying around the place.

You’re invited to head into the plantation with a basket to pluck some leaves of your own. Only the top two or three shoots are used in tea-making, with the same plants being constantly harvested. You also can arrange for a guide to take you on a brisk walk through the local villages, places of extreme poverty built upon some of the most breathtaking scenery you can imagine, ending at a waterfall that will make your friends jealous when you inevitably post the picture on Instagram.

Back at the hotel, you can take your leaves to the titular factory, where various pieces of ancient-looking, Rube Goldberg-esque machinery roast and shred and shake them into something recognisable as tea.

The food here nods to the colonial history of the building, an unusual combination

of British and Sri Lankan dishes, with fish curry and poppadoms sitting alongside chicken sandwiches and tomato soup. There are beautiful gardens and a pool, too; perfect for enjoying a cold beer as the sun sets. On our second night there was a huge storm, thunder crashing overhead and rain drumming on the metal roof, which was just about as romantic as it gets.

The diversity of this country was really drilled home by my next change of scenery, descending from the mountains (still terrifying), racing past more paddy fields and fruit sellers and towns made up of shops stacked upon other shops, and ending up, three hours later, in the dense jungle of the Gal Oya national park.

Wild Glamping Gal Oya is a safari-style collection of luxury tents built around acres of farmland, surrounded by dense jungle; electric fences hint at some of the more serious wildlife that lurks beyond: elephants, leopards, sloth bears (don’t let the name fool you – these relatively small creatures are, by some metrics, the most deadly members of the ursus family).

The canvas palaces found at Wild Glamping Gal Oya are to tents what the Ritz is to a Travelodge; each night elaborate towel animals and petal hearts would be left on

It has been a tough few years for this island but Steve Dinneen finds a country that’s ready to welcome tourists

the vast bed, while out the back there’s a cascade shower and a vanity sink. It also has an excellent chef serving traditional Sri Lankan curries.

Gal Oya works with the indigenous Vedda tribe that have lived in these ancient forests since before the 6th century BC, although their way of life is being threatened by the rampant march of modernity. A village elder called Gunasiri took us on a walk through the jungle – technically a semipermanent wet forest – pointing out mimosa that shrink away underfoot, giant orb web spiders suspended between the trees overhead, and the dung of a sloth bear. We waded through streams and clambered over huge, sinewy vines, eventually arriving at a rocky clearing filled with butterflies.

Gal Oya national park is also home to Sri Lanka’s largest lake, Senanayake Samudra, and this is the best place to spot elephants. Jumping into a small motorboat we buzzed off into a surreal landscape; the lake was made when the Gal Oya river was dammed, flooding a huge plain. Evidence of that still remains in the skeletal fingers of trees that poke through the murky water.

After visiting islands populated by thousands of cormorants and a few unlucky families of stranded monkeys, we saw our first elephant, a lone male cooling himself by tossing soil over his

back. Over the next couple of hours we spotted three or four more, all standing nonchalantly a few metres from the water. We also spotted a crocodile, which allowed us to drift within a few feet of it before thrashing its tail, almost causing me to drop my camera in the lake.

En route to the next destination, the Pasikudah seaside resort, we took a detour to check out the Rajagala Temple, which turned out to be a vast network of archeological sites, ranging from perfectly preserved burial chambers to clifftop monasteries dug into the walls of the mountain and covered with symbols written in a forgotten language. We trekked for hours, over boulders, through caves, across clearings filled with the ruins of ancient watergardens and meeting halls and refectories. We’re talking real Indiana Jones stuff here, a place every bit as impressive as its Mexican or Cambodian equivalent. In all that time we saw perhaps three other people.

Maalu Maalu Resort in Pasikuda is a more recognisably “international” hotel. Big pool, open-air restaurants, white sand beaches. All that good stuff. Here we learned how to cook crab curry, snorkelled at dawn to spot lionfish, ate a romantic meal on the beach beneath palm leaves pulled into the shape of a heart.

And before I knew it – fruit stands, wild dogs, paddy fields – we were at our final destination, pulling through the vast gates of Aliya, the most impressive resort of them all.

From the open front of the reception area, beyond the huge pool, lies Sigiriya, also known as Lion Rock, one of Sri Lanka’s most iconic sights. After a night in the absurdly luxurious room, which had its own pool, kitchen and sauna, we woke early to climb Sigiriya, a strenuous hike (past some disturbing signs warning of hornet attacks) culminating in the ruins of an ancient palace, complete with a 1,500-year-old rooftop swimming pool, making this a kind of Unesco Heritage Soho House. Waiting for us at the top, of course, were some wild dogs lounging on the rocks. You would expect queues of people waiting to see somewhere as beautiful as this but we just breezed through. It’s a sign of how tough things have been in Sri Lanka, but you can do your bit by booking now and taking advantage of this relative lull, which is sure to be short-lived.

NEED TO KNOW

Steve organised his trip through Thema Collection. For prices and to book any of their resorts go to themacollection.com. He flew with SriLankan Airlines, for prices and to book, go to srilankan.com

Opposite, left to right from top: The pool and view of Lion’s Rock from the Aliya resort; The Gal Oya Wild Glamping resort; A map of Steve’s route anticlockwise through Sri Lanka; The Tea & Experience Factory hotel and surrounding plantations; Above: Steve trying his hand at picking tea leaves before the tasting experience

TRAVEL

There’s more to California than Los Angeles and San Francisco – try Monterey, Paso Robles and Santa Barbara, says Richard Franks

America is the land of the road trip, and its Pacific Highway is up there with its most iconic. Hugging some 656 miles of rugged Californian coast between San Francisco and San Diego, the mere thought conjures images of slicked-back haired dudes cruising in vintage Chevrolet Bel Airs to the sound of The Beach Boys. Admit it: California Girls is now stuck in your head.

And while the likes of San Francisco and Los Angeles often take the spotlight –and all the parking spaces too –it’s time we focused on some of its lesser renowned destinations: Monterey, Paso Robles and Santa Barbara, all of which are within a two-hour drive of each other and offer laid-back alternatives to those aforementioned big-hitters.

Let’s begin in Monterey, one of the burgeoning small cities you’ll first encounter when heading south from San Francisco. “Cannery Row in Monterey in California is a poem, a stink, a grating noise,” said John Steinbeck, in his 1945 novel named after this part of town. “[Cannery Row] is the gathered and scattered… chipped pavement and weedy lots and junk heaps, sardine canneries of corrugated iron, honky tonks, restaurants and whorehouses,” he continued.

Once home to those honky-tonks, flophouses and indeed sardine canneries, Monterey’s famed centrepiece Cannery Row has, thankfully, cleaned up its image. Today, it’s a colour-popping stretch of trendy bars, seafood restaurants and trinket shops; its main pull, however, is the world-famous Monterey Bay Aquarium (montereybayaquarium.org) – an attraction very rarely knocked out the top three in any ‘best US aquariums’ lists.

At the south end of Cannery Row is San Carlos Beach, a popular spot for sea kayaking and scuba diving. Monterey’s waters are often calm, so wildlife watching is especially easy –look out for sea otters and sea lions. Or, book a sea view room at Monterey Plaza Hotel (montereyplazahotel.com) for an undisturbed view of that gorgeous Cali coastline – and, occasionally, otters bobbing below your window.

This revitalised street wasn’t originally called Cannery Row. Steinbeck’s work proved so popular that in 1958 the street changed name from Ocean View Boulevard. A film would later be released, followed by a theatre production.

Don’t sleep on the wider Monterey County, either. Drive just ten minutes from Cannery Row for the world’s longest continually-running jazz festival, the Monterey Jazz Festival (montereyjazzfestival.org), which takes place at the end of September. Legendary acts like Louis Armstrong, Billie Holiday, Herbie Hancock and BB King have graced its stage through the years, and the festival continues to attract stars.

IT’S CALIFORNIA –BUT NOT AS YOU KNOW IT

Swing by Carmel-by-the-Sea for boutique shops, a healthy concentration of wine tasting rooms, and an even healthier concentration of quirky galleries – almost 100 are packed into this one square mile town. The village welcomes a much cooler, cloudier climate than many Californian coastal towns, making it a popular summer retreat for those fed up with the heat. It’s also proved popular as a home for celebrities –none more so than Clint Eastwood, former mayor of Carmel, and more recently Brad Pitt.

If wine is your thing, you’ll want to head a couple of hours south of Monterey County and dip off the coast for Paso Robles. This burgeoning wine region –the fastest in California –boasts around 300 wineries sprawling some 40,000 vineyard acres. Once those bottles are empty nothing goes to waste:

Sensorio’s (sensoriopaso.com) Light Towers feature beams shimmering through 17,000 empty wine bottles.

Come for the wine, stay for the light show.

Wineries like Justin (justinwine.com) and Tobin James Cellars (tobinjames.com) are two of the area’s most highest rated; Justin’s Downtown Tasting Room offers perfect food and wine pairings. Meanwhile, Paso’s quirky downtown sprawls around City Park, famed for its buzzy flea markets and food festivals, with craft eateries, farm-to-fork restaurants and hip coffee spots. Irish pub Pappy McGregor’s (pappymcgregors.com) knows how to throw a good party, too. Then, head back to the coast for a two-hour drive towards Santa Barbara, an understated playground for the rich and a beauty spot dubbed The American Riviera. The likes of Prince Harry, Meghan Markle and Jennifer Aniston call this county their home –go for brunch in their trendy neighbourhood of Montecito to enjoy some celebrity spotting.

There’s no better way to see Santa Barbara than by two wheels. Its 18miles of designated coastal cycle path connects Pacific Grove in the south with Castroville in the north; you’ll ride through Montecito, passing Beanie Babies founder H Ty Warner’s mansion, and roll beside the west-facing Butterfly Beach, one of the county’s most popular whale and dolphin spotting locations. Hire bikes from Santa Barbara Bikes to Go (sbbikestogo.com).

Something would be amiss if you were in Santa Barbara and didn’t get on the water. A catamaran cruise with Santa Barbara Sailing (sbsail.com) provides the best view of the city and its mountainous Santa Ynez backdrop, and there’s a bar on board too. Keep an eye out for seal lions clinging on to outcrops, and the magnificent sight of pelican pods flapping above.

While Santa Barbara adopts a chilled vibe by day, it comes alive at night. As

with much of California, craft beer is involved, as is wine. Head to the Funk Zone district for boutique tasting rooms along the Urban Wine Trail (urbanwinetrailsb.com); nearby craft tap rooms like Brass Bear and Finney’s are also local favourites.

Still thinking of a trip to LA or San Francisco? Didn’t think so.

HOW TO GET THERE

Fly with Virgin Atlantic from London Heathrow – daily flights operate to Los Angeles International and San Francisco International airports. Monterey, Paso Robles and Santa Barbara are positioned along the coast between both airports.

WHERE TO STAY

Monterey – Monterey Plaza Hotel & Spa montereyplazahotel.com

Paso Robles – Oxford Suites oxfordsuitespasorobles.com

Santa Barbara – La Playa Inn laplayainn.com

SPORT

KING CARLOS

Alcaraz defeats defending champion Djokovic in five-set epic to claim first Wimbledon title

MATT HARDY

SPANISHsensation Carlos Alcaraz said it was a “dream come true” to lift the Wimbledon trophy after the world No1 toppled seventime winner Novak Djokovic in an epic final at the All England Club yesterday.

The 20-year-old top seed beat 36-year-old and 23-time Grand Slam winner Djokovic 16 7-6 6-1 3-6 6-4 on a raucous — and, for the Serb — occasionally hostile, Centre Court.

Djokovic was bidding to match Margaret Court’s record of 24 Open Era Slam titles having won the Australian and French Opens this year to become the most decorated male player.

But Alcaraz performed superbly in only his 11th top flight grass court contest to beat the pre-match favourite and lift the iconic pineapple-topped golden trophy.

Alcaraz’s win ended a 45-match, 10-year winning streak for Djokovic on Centre Court, the longest run of its kind since it opened in 1922.

“It is a dream come true for me,” he said. “It is great to win but even if I lost I would have been really proud of myself for making history at this beautiful tournament.

“It’s amazing for a boy [like me], 20 years old. I didn’t expect to reach these stages [of slams]. I am really proud of myself.”

Acknowledging his opponent, Alcaraz added: “It is amazing to play against him. You inspire me a lot. I have been watching you since I was born, you were already

winning tournaments.

“I’ve fallen in love with grass right now. I didn't expect to play at this level in such a short period. I have played just four tournaments on grass.”

Having backed up a 2022 US Open win with a second Slam, the 20-yearold is expected to head back to Flushing Meadows in the autumn to defend his title.

“I thought I’d only have trouble with you on clay and hard courts but now obviously on grass [too],” Djokovic, who eventually got emotional when seeing his young son in the stands, said of yesterday’s victor.

“You never like to lose but I guess when all of the emotions are settled I need to be grateful because I have won many tight and close matches.

“Maybe I should have lost a couple of finals I won so this is even stevens.

“I will be [proud] tomorrow morning but today it is a tough one to swallow when you’re so close. These are the moments you work for.

“I have been blessed with so many incredible matches so this is another one in the history books for me. I lost to a better player and I need to move on.”

Alcaraz will net a cool £2.35m for his triumph, up 17.5 per cent on the winnings Djokovic took home last year and more than the Spaniard picked up for his US Open win last year.

Alcaraz will keep his world No1 ranking with his latest title victory.

ALCARAZ ON FIRE: THE WINS THAT MADE HIM

GRAND SLAMS

2022: US Open against Casper Ruud (6-0 2-6 7-6 6-3)

2023: Wimbledon against Novak Djokovic (1-6 7-6 6-1 3-6 6-4)

ATP EVENTS

2023: Queen’s Club (Grass)

2023: Madrid Masters (Clay)

2023: Indian Wells (Hard)

2023: Barcelona (Clay)

2023: Buenos Aires (Clay)

2022: Madrid Masters (Clay)

2022: Miami Masters (Hard)

2022: Barcelona (Clay)

2022: Rio de Janeiro (Clay)

2021: Umag (Clay)

Fan-owned Dons named best run football club in country

AFC WIMBLEDON are the bestrun club in English football, according to a new report on the future funding of the game.

The Fair Game Index rates all 92 teams in the top four divisions in four areas: financial sustainability, governance, fan engagement and equality standards.

Wimbledon achieved the highest score of 73.58 out of 100, with the club scoring highly for sustainability and fan engagement.

Carlisle United, who achieved promotion to League One last season, were next with 71.92 ahead of fellow thirdtier team Cambridge United and division winners Plymouth Argyle.

The best-ranked Premier League team was Brentford in 10th place, with the

Fair Game Index offers incentive-based model for sharing the Premier League’s vast riches, writes Frank Dalleres

shrewd west Londoners rating favourably in all categories.

Hartlepool United, who dropped into the Conference at the end of last term, received the worst score of 14.60 followed by top-flight Nottingham Forest on 17.17. The study, published today, was carried out by Fair Game, a clubled campaign organisation aimed at improving the running of football, and independent experts.

It also recommends that the Fair Game Index be used to calculate how much money teams receive from Premier League.

“The Fair Game Index paints a realis-

tic picture of what our game could look like, a future where football chooses to reward well-run clubs,” said Fair Game chief executive Niall Couper. “Premier League clubs have rejected calls to increase the financial flow through the pyramid because of risky financial behaviour by some clubs in the EFL. Distributing more money through the Index to the better run clubs in the pyramid resolves those concerns.”

Football chiefs are currently in discussions over a new model for distributing the Premier League’s annual £3.19bn revenue from TV contracts.

Currently, just 12 per cent flows down the pyramid to English Football League and non-league clubs; the EFL has asked for this to be increased to 25 per cent. MPs have called for the incoming football regulator to devise a new model if top-flight teams and the EFL do not reach agreement soon. The regulator is also expected to carry out its own state of play survey.

If distributions to lower leagues increased to 25 per cent and a mooted transfer levy was implemented at 10 per cent of top-flight fees, the total passed down would rise from £381.55m to £1.07bn every year.

Scores from the Fair Game Index, published by Fair Game today.

SPORT BUSINESS

England Women lose to Australia in second ODI as tourists retain Ashes urn yet again

England have lost the Ashes but captain Heather Knight is proud, writes Matt Hardy

ENGLAND captain Heather Knight hailed a “massively positive” series for her side despite losing the Women’s Ashes last night in Southampton.

The hosts needed victory in the match to force a decider tomorrow in Taunton but even an unbeaten Natalie Sciver-Brunt century was not enough as Australia won by three runs. Having been 6-0 down in the pointsbased series, England managed to level the series at 6-6 ahead of yesterday’s second One Day International.

But they were unable to reach Australia’s target of 282 and the tourists are now unassailable in the series – an 8-8 draw would still hand the holders the urn.

“I think we’ve played outstandingly,” Knight said.

“We’ve been quite evenly matched cricket teams.

“We’ve maybe lost big moments in the past but there’s been a real shift in this group and how we communicate and get through it.

“It has been a massively positive series for us.

“We’re disappointed,” she added.

“The way we’ve fought back, we thought we had momentum and we had belief we can win. We can draw the [Ashes] series and win an ODI series and that would be a massive achievement against this team.”

England took steady wickets to restrict the Southern Stars to 102-4 after 21 overs but Australia then began to motor.

Ellyse Perry knocked 91 for the tourists while Annabel Sutherland hit 50 off 47 balls. Beth Mooney, Ashleigh Gardner and tailender Georgia Wareham all registered scores of over 30.

The target was looking similar to the total England chased down in Bristol last week – 262 – but the final over went for 26 runs and piled the pressure on the hosts.

GOLF

Buyin’ Munich: Germans fancy Kane chances

FRANK DALLERES

BAYERN Munich chiefs are increasingly confident of signing England captain Harry Kane despite seeing two offers rejected by Tottenham Hotspur.

The Bundesliga champions held negotiations with Spurs chairman Daniel Levy last week and have also had talks with Kane’s camp.

Tottenham dismissed a second bid of £68m last week but Bayern honorary president Uli Hoeness says the striker wants to join them.

“Harry Kane has clearly signalled in all conversations that his decision stands – and if it stays, then we’ll get him, because Tottenham will have to buckle,” Hoeness told German media.

Bayern have been encouraged by Tottenham’s failure to qualify for the Champions League and Kane’s contract status – he can leave for free when his deal runs out next summer. But Spurs chief Levy could hold the club’s all-time record goalscorer, 29, to his final year in the knowledge that his contribution will likely be impossible to replace.

“He wants to play internationally [in Europe] and luckily for us Tottenham will not be active internationally next year. He now has another opportunity to come to a top club in Europe,” Hoeness added.

They got off to a steady start but Sophia Dunkley fell for 12 before captain Knight – a hero last Wednesday in the West Country – was dismissed.

An impressive innings from Tammy Beaumont came to an end a couple of overs later with the opener leaving the crease on 60 before both Alice Capsey (2) and Danni Wyatt (8) fell.

A brilliant stand between SciverBrunt and Amy Jones saw England recover and slowly work towards the total but Jones was dismissed for 37.

Sciver-Brunt and Sarah Glenn between them came within one boundary of winning the match and taking it to a decider in Taunton on Tuesday but the batter’s unbeaten 111, com-

Korda shakes off slump to hold off Hull at Centurion

FRANK DALLERES

WORLD No2 Nelly Korda lived up to her star billing by winning her first title on British soil at the Aramco Team Series - London.

Korda, who led by five overnight, shot a two-under-par final round of 71 to finish on 11 under and hold off a late charge from England’s Charley Hull. Hull made six birdies and a bogey on Sunday to get to seven under but the Olympic champion kept her at arm’s length and birdied the last to win by four.

It was Korda’s first title since claiming the Pelican Women’s

THE 2023 WOMEN’S ASHES SERIES

TEST

Australia won by 89 runs

T20 NO1

Australia won by four wickets

T20 NO2

England won by three runs

T20 NO3

England won by five wickets (D/L method)

bined with Glenn’s 22 not out, was not enough and England agonisingly lost by three runs.

The two sides will play the final ODI

ODI NO1

England won by two wickets

ODI NO2

Australia won by three runs

ODI NO3

Tuesday 18 July, Taunton

tomorrow but England will need to wait until the end of next year before they get another chance at winning the famous urn.

“His advisers are also very pleasant in this case. Up to now, the father and the brother have always stood by what they promised. If it stays that way, that’s OK.

“Levy is clever, he doesn’t name a number. First we have to get him to name a number. Of course he plays for time.”

Real Madrid, Paris Saint-Germain and Manchester United have also been credited with interest in England’s record goalscorer.

Kane was part of the Tottenham squad that flew out to Australia on Friday for a pre-season friendly against West Ham United in Perth on Tuesday.

New Spurs manager Ange Postecoglou said last week that he would attempt to persuade the player to stay in north London.

McIlroy savours Open boost after triumph in Scotland

Championship on the LPGA Tour in November and comes after a slump in form. The 24-year-old missed back-to-back cuts heading into her previous event, the US Women’s Open, where she finished in a share of 64th. This win was a timely lift for the American ahead of the year’s fourth major, the Evian Championship in France next week, and the Women’s Open Championship next month. Hull battled gamely during a topsy-turvy three days at Centurion Club and might have toppled Korda but for a quintuple bogey on Friday.

FRANK DALLERES

RORY MCILROY toasted the perfect boost ahead of the Open Championship after pipping home favourite Bob MacIntyre at the Scottish Open.

McIlroy birdied the last two holes to wrestle the lead back from MacIntyre and win by shot at Renaissance Club in North Berwick.

The Northern Irishman’s first win since January comes just days before the Open at Royal Liverpool, where he lifted the Claret Jug in 2014.

“It feels incredible. It’s been a long six months since I won in Dubai. I gave myself tons of chances. Hopefully this

breaks the seal, especially going into next round,” he said. “It was such a tough day, especially on the back nine. Tyrrell was making a run, Bob had an unbelievable finish. I’m really proud of how I stuck in there.”

MacIntyre’s six-under-par round 64 propelled him to 14 under and the top of the leaderboard on a blustery final day on Scotland’s east coast.

But overnight leader McIlroy recovered from playing the front nine in two over par to birdie four of the last eight holes and card a 68.

World No1 Scottie Scheffler tied for third on 10 under par with Byeong Hun An and David Lingmerth.

GOLF