The Guardian Business

Even if motorists can provide evidence they’ve paid for parking, they are threatened with bailiffs and courtDrivers have accused a leading car park management company of issuing “false” parking fines – leaving one mother to defend herself from multiple debt collection agencies sent by the company.Jane Winder says she was sent letters from five different debt collection agencies each asking her to pay £170 after she was accused of not purchasing a £2.30 parking ticket at a car park in Lancashire

Margaret Sullivan on the the billionaire father and son buying up the US mediaSpeaking at a press conference last month, the US secretary of defence, Pete Hegseth, criticised CNN’s ‘fake news’ coverage of the US-Israel war on Iran.‘The sooner David Ellison takes over that network, the better,’ he told the room of journalists. Continue reading...

Councils urged to crack down on misuse of parking permits that help people with disabilities and health conditionsCouncils in England have been urged to crack down on the misuse of blue badge parking permits – legitimate and counterfeit – as the proportion of people holding them has reached one in 15.The AA called for more to be done to detect offences such as people using fake or stolen badges. Continue reading...

Levy on inherited farms and family businesses worth £2.5m or more comes into force 6 AprilA new inheritance tax regime for UK farms and family businesses comes into force on Monday and will present “significant challenges” for those affected, according to accountants.In October 2024 the government announced plans to levy inheritance tax on farms – prompting an outcry in many quarters. Continue reading...

Readers respond to a letter by the GB News co-owner, in which he argued that calling for an end to fossil fuels is impracticalLast week I was among 120-plus Christian leaders who, in an open letter covered by the Guardian, challenged Sir Paul Marshall – a professing Christian, hedge fund manager and owner or part-owner of prominent media properties, including GB News – about climate misinformation on his news channel (Church leaders criticise Christian owner of GB News over channel’s climate att

Buzzy workplace trends all point to the same thing: avoiding work while still collecting a paycheckThere’s another hot trend in the workplace – microshifting, and it’s about to revolutionize the workday by breaking the traditional 9-to-5 into short, flexible and non-linear bursts of activity rather than a continuous 8-hour stretch. Microshifting allows for a better work-life balance. Why not do a yoga class or pop to the shops during work hours? I mean, what is “work” anyway?Like bare minimum Mo

Jeffrey Stephen Wigand revealed how tobacco companies targeted children; now he sees similar marketing by big techA key whistleblower in the tobacco industry’s landmark trials of the 1990s has been watching big tech’s recent court battles closely. Jeffrey Stephen Wigand, a biochemist who helped reveal how tobacco companies targeted children and hid just how addictive cigarettes were, has been struck with a feeling of familiarity. Last week’s verdict in a major social media trial that Meta and Yo

Exclusive: Animal welfare charities ‘bitterly disappointed’ UK government plans to backtrack on manifesto promisesThis article contains an image of a duck being force-fed that some readers may find upsettingThe UK government is to break a manifesto commitment to ban foie gras imports, and has declined to stop fur imports, after the EU made these red lines in its discussions for a trade deal.Animal welfare charities say they are “bitterly disappointed” that ministers are failing to use powers gra

The energy crisis sparked by the war is making some countries consider ramping up their use of dirty fuelsNot two months in office, as the price of west Texas crude approached $14 a barrel, Jimmy Carter, then president, donned a cardigan to speak candidly about his strategy to face the permanent energy shortage he saw in the nation’s future.His “fireside chat” is mostly remembered for asking Americans to lower the thermostat to 65F(18C) in the daytime and 55F at night, an idea that didn’t go dow

Average traditional funeral now costs £4,623, up 1.3% since January, says report from Pure CremationThe war in Iran is pushing up the cost of living in the UK but it is also driving up the “cost of dying” as higher gas prices feed through to funerals.A report has found the average cost of a funeral in Britain is running ahead of inflation, with the war seemingly partly to blame as it has pushed up the price of gas used in crematoriums. Continue reading...

Industry with business model not yet firmly established and investments financed by huge debts is particularly at riskDonald Trump’s most immediate concern in demanding Iran reopen the strait of Hormuz may be rocketing US gasoline prices, but if the conflict drags on, higher energy costs will be felt far beyond the pumps.Systemically higher power prices and fractured supply chains will squeeze industries and consumers worldwide. For the US, one consequence may be to threaten the fragile economic

Shirine Khoury-Haq and other managers did not receive annual bonus after damaging cyber-attack in 2025The former boss of the Co-op collected almost £2m before her sudden departure last month despite a difficult year when the retailer was pushed into the red by a damaging cyber hack.Shirine Khoury-Haq’s total annual pay package amounted to £1.9m in 2025, including a £165,000 “rewarding growth” bonus that was approved by the mutual’s board despite falling sales and the slide to an underlying loss

From high-end antiques to Dinky Toys and Star Wars, fraudsters have ways to make you believe it’s genuine. Here’s how to avoid being trickedWhen Kayleigh Davies looked at the bottom of what was supposed to be a vase from the French luxury glass-maker Lalique, it was clear the piece was a fake.Etched into the base was the word “Lalique”, but Davies, an experienced valuer of antiques, could see that something was amiss. Continue reading...

Market volatility caused by Middle East conflict exposes energy traders to heavy losses and rumours of insider trading at the highest levelOn the weekend that US-Israeli drones first began to rain down on Tehran, energy traders across the world’s major financial centres began to redraw their strategies.When they returned to their trading desks on that March Monday morning, they found oil and gas prices spiking amid a market nightmare made real: the unprecedented shutdown of the vital trade route

Beyond rising costs of gas and air travel, experts say this is likely just beginning of higher prices amid global volatilitySign up for the Breaking News US email to get newsletter alerts in your inboxAs consumers watch the price of gasoline and airline tickets rise, experts say that the war in Iran will continue to drive up prices across the economy.“The good old days are gone,” said Christopher Tang, a professor at the UCLA Anderson School of Management who studies global supply chain manageme

Amid closures and soaring costs, food halls are booming as a cheaper, lower-risk alternative to traditional restaurantsBeeps chirp through the cavernous Cambridge Street Collective on a busy weekday, as buzzers alert the lunch crowd to collect their sushi tacos, rendang curries or Palestinian chicken musakhan.The Sheffield food hall is Europe’s largest purpose-built venue of its kind, at 20,000 sq ft, and arrived in 2024 as part of a major redevelopment of the city, which has brought in business

Ray Blanchette admits he may be a ‘little crazy’ as he outlines chain’s hopes of building 1,000 outlets globally“I am a little crazy maybe,” admits Ray Blanchette, a former TGI Fridays kitchen manager who has taken on the revival of the bar-restaurant chain’s UK business in the face of blasting industry headwinds.Blanchette’s family investment firm, Sugarloaf, rescued the Dallas-based parent business from administration in 2025. He then went on to pick up its UK arm in January after the local fr

Ripple effects of oil and fertiliser shortage felt by farmers in India and Sri Lanka despite governments saying there is enough stock to go roundGurvinder Singh never thought the war in Iran would touch his quiet corner of Punjab.Yet looking out over his smallholding, where he alternates between wheat and rice crops in the state known as India’s breadbasket, the 52-year-old farmer can barely think of anything else. His anxiety over a conflict playing out thousands of miles away is crippling as h

Grandson of Reese’s cups inventor claims Hershey faked a pledge to switch back to original chocolate recipesThe grandson of HB Reese, the inventor of Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, has accused the chocolate giant Hershey of faking a pledge to investors to switch back the recipes of its popular products – including KitKat – to the original milk and dark chocolate ones.A confectionary-focused dust-up between Brad Reese and the $42bn Pennsylvania-based company began in February when Reese, 70, accused

Residents in at least 10 states are organizing campaigns to tax wealth in order to fund schools and other social servicesKaren Sanchez likes to meet new people at trivia nights or concerts at her local brewery at the edge of Los Angeles county. Her opening line: “How do you feel about taxing the rich?”Sanchez is volunteering to collect signatures to put a contentious “billionaire tax” on California’s November ballot, sponsored by her union, SEIU – United Healthcare Workers West. The proposal wou