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Dip in credit card spending in April, particularly on travel, suggests Britons preparing for harder times amid Iran war falloutHouseholds cut back on their spending in April at the fastest pace in 18 months, as the conflict in the Middle East provoked fears of another cost of living crisis, a report from one of the UK’s biggest banks has suggested.Barclays, which processes nearly 40% of the UK’s credit and debit card transactions, said its data showed there had been a 0.1% fall in card spending last month compared with a year earlier. This was the first year-on-year fall since November 2024. Continue reading...

Owner-occupier mortgage growth slowed under growing costs while investor loans grew by $42bn in the year to March, a 9.6% increaseGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastProperty investor borrowing rose at its fastest rate in a decade in March, according to the Reserve Bank, despite higher interest rates and speculation about property tax changes.Owner-occupier loan growth slowed under the weight of growing mortgage costs but investor lending is continuing its record surge. Continue reading...

Survey by global economic forum shows ‘tax wedge’ in Britain increased to 32.4% of income in 2025Business live – latest updatesTaxes on workers in Britain rose at the fastest rate among the world’s richest economies last year, according to the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development.With Labour under pressure on the economy amid the Iran war, the OECD said a key measure of the total tax paid by workers and their employers rose by the most in the 38-member club of rich nations in 2025. Continue reading...

• Human-driven climate change is lengthening Earth's day by 1.33 milliseconds per century, the fastest rate in 3.6 billion years, due to melting ice redistributing mass toward the equator. • ETH Zurich researchers Mostafa Kiani Shahvandi and Benedikt Soja used foraminifera fossils to confirm this anomalous effect outpaces historical changes, including El Niño winds. • Projections show a 2.62 milliseconds-per-century increase by 2080 under high-emissions scenarios, impacting precise timekeeping in spacecraft, computing, and geodesy instruments.