Car finance: Barclays becomes first big lender to offer payouts for mis-selling of loans
Posted on Tuesday November 03, 2026

Bank to make ‘early settlement’ offers before outcome of legal battle, with those who accept likely to get money before Christmas

• Business live – latest updates

Barclays will this month start offering compensation to tens of thousands of people who claim they were mis-sold car loans, with some of those who accept likely to see the money land in their account before Christmas.

Amid an ongoing legal battle over an industry-wide compensation scheme for victims of the UK’s car finance scandal, Barclays has become the first big UK lender to break cover and begin offering payouts to some customers who have complained.

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Primark brings forward home deliveries plan by two years as profits slide
Posted on Tuesday November 03, 2026

Retailer acquires robot-assisted warehouse and intends to have UK service up and running before end of 2027

Primark is to begin making home deliveries by the end of next year as it aims to win new shoppers after a slide in profits.

George Weston, the boss of the cut-price fashion chain’s owner Associated British Foods (ABF), said it had brought forward the launch of Primark’s home delivery plans by about two years.

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Protect Poundland from predatory capitalism, MPs tell government
Posted on Tuesday November 03, 2026

Budget retailer and 12,000 jobs at risk after US owner fails to accept buyout offers

MPs have called on the government to protect Poundland and other high street stores from “predatory capitalism” and asset-stripping.

The fate of the retail chain and its 12,000 staff remains uncertain after it filed a notice of intention to appoint administrators at the high court last Thursday. The US restructuring specialist Gordon Brothers, which controls Poundland, has lined up the advisory company AlixPartners to run the process.

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John Lewis Christmas ad stars Kristin Scott Thomas as glamorous granny on a gift hunt
Posted on Tuesday November 03, 2026

Company tugs at heartstrings with Pickles the talking toy dog as it celebrates 20 years of blockbuster festive ads

• Review: Kristin Scott Thomas v Pickles the evil AI overlord puppy

John Lewis has turned to a celebrity best known for playing aristocrats to put a playful but rather upmarket spin on the countdown to Christmas with this year’s festive ad, which features a toy dog called Pickles and a glamorous granny.

Kristin Scott Thomas, known for playing upper-crust characters in films such as Four Weddings and a Funeral and the Apple TV show Slow Horses, is cast as Gloria, a grandmother searching for gift inspiration, with the tagline “don’t give up on giving”.

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Food suppliers in UK hit by cyber-attacks after freezers targeted in Europe
Posted on Tuesday November 03, 2026

Cybersecurity experts say national impact ‘minimal’ but incidents may represent the ‘foothills’ of a wider threat

Food suppliers in the UK have been hit by cyber-attacks after hackers raised the temperatures of supermarket freezers across Europe.

The UK’s National Cyber Security Centre said it was working with the affected companies but the national impact was minimal.

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Binance battles to save its brand after record $6.3bn crypto hack
Posted on Tuesday November 03, 2026

World’s largest crypto exchange faces fallout from angry customers, and Lula wins with WhatsApp

• This was originally published in TechScape, a newsletter about how technology shapes our lives. Sign up to receive it here

This week in tech, we’re discussing the fallout from the multibillion-dollar hack of Binance and the significance of Lula’s political mobilization on WhatsApp.

And if you’ll be at Web Summit in Lisbon next week, drop me a line! I’ll be there moderating panels on open-source AI and human agency in the age of AI agents.

Tell us: have you been affected by the Binance hack?

Polymarket temporarily suspends trading on international platform due to security incident

How crypto hacking funds isolated North Korea’s nuclear programme

Ghost in the machine: how AI is haunting the search for the supernatural

Computerized clairvoyance: psychics push back against AI-generated readings

The staggering $446m Elon Musk has spent on the US midterms – visualized

Billionaire tax: how a union leader’s ‘crazy’ idea became the defining issue of California’s midterms

How tech became the villain of the US midterms

The ultra-rich are spending one million dollars a day fighting California’s proposed billionaire tax

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Falling revenues, bigger losses, higher wages: Prem Rugby clubs’ debt climbs to £366m
Posted on Tuesday November 03, 2026

• Six clubs found to be balance-sheet insolvent

• Spending restraint urged despite investment

Prem Rugby clubs’ collective losses and debt levels are continuing to increase despite growing interest from global companies and financiers shown by the recent investment of Red Bull, Sir James Dyson, and the Black Knight group which owns AFC Bournemouth.

The third edition of the Leonard Curtis Rugby Finance Report published on Tuesday shows that the financial losses of the 10 Prem clubs rose from £34m to £36.5m over the 2024-25 season and combined debt levels increased from £342.5m to £366.1m, while the top flight’s total wage bills grew from £125.9m to £129.8m, 80% of revenues.

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Tenerife footballer Jesús de Miguel dies aged 30 after on-pitch collision
Posted on Tuesday November 03, 2026

• Police homicide division opens judicial proceedings

• He was struck in the chest when challenging for ball

Spanish football was in shock on Tuesday after the Tenerife striker Jesús de Miguel died after a collision with the Andorra goalkeeper Jesús Owono during a match in the second division. The homicide division of the national police has opened judicial proceedings into a possible involuntary manslaughter, a routine procedure after any death not by natural causes. The chief public prosecutor in Santa Cruz de Tenerife told the state news agency EFE that it was “very difficult” for a case to come to court.

Tenerife announced that De Miguel had died at 8am on Tuesday after he had been taken into intensive care on Monday afternoon. He did not regain consciousness after a cardiorespiratory arrest.

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