6:33 am, July 24, 2024
Wind farms help Crown Estate profit more than double to £1.1bn
Profit from the royal family’s land and property holdings more than doubled to a record £1.1bn last year, driven by a short-term boost from offshore wind farms.
The Crown Estate said earnings surged by more than £658m during the year ending March 31, from £443m the previous year.
Profits are paid directly to the Treasury, which then hands on a small portion of the money to the monarchy. The Crown Estate owns the vast majority of Britain’s seabed, stretching up to 12 nautical miles from the mainland, and leases part of it to wind farm operators.
BBC to cut 500 jobs as it tries to save £200m for ‘transformation’
The BBC is to cut 500 jobs as it attempts to save £200m to drive the ‘transformation’ of the corporation.
Chief operating adviser Leigh Tavaziva said it was making the changes to improve its premium video offering and digital capabilities.
It comes as the BBC is already trying to save £500m as part of a plan announced two years ago. It announced in March 2023 that it was to cut 1,000 hours of TV to save money, with half of that coming from sport.
Charlotte Dujardin out of Olympics and provisionally suspended
British Olympian Charlotte Dujardin has been provisionally suspended by equestrian’s governing body with immediate effect.
Dujardin withdrew from the Paris Olympics over a video from four years ago showing her making ‘an error of judgement’, in her words, during a coaching session. The video shows her repeatedly hitting a student’s horse with a whip from the ground, according to Dutch website horses.nl.
The three-time Olympic dressage champion said yesterday she had decided to pull out of all competitions while the International Federation for Equestrian Sports investigates the incident.
Starmer faces PMQs grilling after rebellion over two-child benefit cap
Sir Keir Starmer faces a Commons grilling in his first Prime Minister’s Questions over a vote on the two-child benefit cap that saw him suspend seven Labour MPs for six months.
The PM will be quizzed from the government benches by MPs for the first time since entering Number 10 after stripping Labour rebels of the whip for backing an SNP motion to scrap the welfare measure.
The House of Commons voted 363 to 103 in favour of rejecting the amendment tabled in the name of SNP Westminster leader Stephen Flynn.
Nationwide reintroduces sub-4% fixed mortgage rates
Britain’s biggest building society is reintroducing sub-4% fixed mortgage rates in further signs of competition intensifying.
The move by Nationwide Building Society comes after several lenders have been cutting the rates they are offering, amid expectations that the Bank of England base rate will start to be cut soon.
From today, Nationwide will be reducing rates by up to 0.25 percentage points across its two-, three- and five-year fixed-rate products, with its lowest rate standing at 3.99%. It last offered sub-4% rates in early February.
Bistro that has ‘lit up community’ named Britain’s best local restaurant
A French bistro in Leeds that has ‘lit up the community’ has been named Britain’s best local restaurant by review bible The Good Food Guide.
Bavette beat off competition from across the country to take the prestigious title for 2024, with judges describing it as ‘the model of a perfect local restaurant’.
Owned by Sandy Jarvis and Clement Cousin, Bavette has only been open since February, but it impressed the guide’s anonymous inspectors with its ‘natural ease and warmth of hospitality’ and menu of ‘authentic, beautifully executed French classics’.
British blues pioneer John Mayall dies aged 90
John Mayall, the British blues musician whose influential band the Bluesbreakers was a training ground for Eric Clapton, Mick Fleetwood and many other superstars, has died aged 90.
A statement on Mayall’s Instagram page said the musician died on Monday at his home in California.
‘Health issues that forced John to end his epic touring career have finally led to peace for one of this world’s greatest road warriors,’ the post said.
Secret Service director quits after Trump assassination attempt
The director of the Secret Service is stepping down from her job, according to an email she sent to staff, after the assassination attempt against former US president Donald Trump.
Kimberly Cheatle, who has been its director since August 2022, called the attempt on Trump’s life the service’s ‘most significant operational failure’ in decades.
Gunman Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20, was able to get within 135 metres of the stage where the former president was speaking when he opened fire at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania on July 13, killing one person and critically injuring two others.
Caramac back on sale for ‘limited time’ after discontinuation disappointment
The Caramac – discontinued last year to widespread disappointment – has returned to shelves for a limited time, its makers have announced.
The caramel-flavoured confectionery went on sale again yesterday in the form of the classic single bar, a three-bar multipack and a sharing bag of buttons, Nestlé said.
They will remain available in retailers nationwide while stocks last.
New entry-level models bring down Skoda Enyaq starting cost
Skoda has added two new lower-cost versions of its Enyaq to its line-up of electric vehicles.
The new Enyaq 50 and Enyaq 50 Edition start off from £36,970, undercutting the price of the previous cheapest Enyaq 60 by £2,000.
Both versions get a new 55kWh battery pack that brings a claimed range of up to 234 miles on the standard Enyaq 50, or 232 miles on the Enyaq 50 Edition. With 169bhp, the rear-mounted electric motor allows for a 0-60mph of 8.9 seconds, too. Full story here
Yesterday’s headlines on Car Dealer you might have missed
- Used electric car dealer Estelle Miller to take the stage at Car Dealer Podcast Live – book tickets here
- Big Motoring World completes deal for used car supermarket sites from axed CarShop brand
- Complex of six Motus Group car dealerships goes up for sale for £3.5m
- Podcast: How Joe Betty went from being a plumber to ‘shifting metal’ for 70,000 people on YouTube
- Cazoo’s collapse was ultimately good for the used car sector, says motor finance boss
- Simon Bailes Peugeot bolsters management team with twin appointments
- Tesla will start to use humanoid robots in 2025 and may sell them to other firms from 2026 – Musk
Market movements
The FTSE 100 closed 31.41 points down yesterday to end the day on 8,167.37. The Cac 40 was down 23.39 points at 7,598.63, the Dax was up 150.63 points at 18,557.70, and the Dow Jones was down 57.35 points at 40,358.09.
Weather outlook
Today will see variable cloud and sunny spells to start, says BBC Weather, with a few showers in the east. Later on and into the evening, cloud and showery rain will gradually move in across the west.
Thursday will be cloudy with further spells of rain and showers, largely in the north and west. Later, another area of showery rain will push eastwards across southern England.
