UK economy beats expectations in July amid AI boom; four interest rate hikes expected by next summer – business live
Posted on Friday September 11, 2026

Rolling coverage of the latest economic and financial news

Digging into today’s GDP report a little, we can see that the UK services sector had a decent July, with growth in 11 of its 14 subsectors.

According to the ONS, the fastest growth was recorded in:

professional, scientific and technical activities (up 2.1%), driven by growths in scientific research and development (up 7.0%), legal activities (up 3.1%), and advertising and market research (up 3.4%)

information and communication (up 2.5%), which was mainly driven by a growth of 4.4% in computer programming, consultancy and related activities

administrative and support service activities (up 1.3%), driven by growths of 6.1% in rental and leasing activities, and of 2.8% in services to buildings and landscape activities

The 0.4% rise in U.K. GDP in the second quarter was slightly stronger than we expected and suggests the economy has remained resilient to the surge in energy prices.

Adding to the positive news, growth was driven by solid gains in household consumption and business investment, and included a healthy 0.3% monthly rise in output in June, suggesting momentum was sustained as the quarter progressed.

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Speed up electricity grid upgrade or else face higher bills, warns UK watchdog
Posted on Friday September 11, 2026

National Audit Office says failure to implement £70bn modernisation would also hold back economic growth

• The ‘great grid upgrade’ is off track – ministers should spell out the risks for bills

Consumers will pay higher energy bills unless the UK government speeds up work on a vast programme of upgrades to the electricity grid to enable the switch to renewables, the public spending watchdog has warned.

The National Audit Office (NAO) said that without faster action the extra costs associated with managing the ageing power network, which are ultimately passed on to the public, could reach £7.8bn a year by 2030.

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New battery-powered trains to ‘bring faster journeys to the north’
Posted on Friday September 11, 2026

No 10 says new fleet of trains built in Derby will support 6,000 jobs across UK

A fleet of battery-powered trains is to be built to “bring faster, more reliable journeys to the north”, Downing Street has announced.

The 29 trains, which will be run by TransPennine Express, will be built at Alstom’s Litchurch Lane works in Derby from 2028, supporting 350 local jobs, and nearly 6,000 across the UK, according to the government.

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‘Just worry upon worry’: Europe faces a bleak winter as supply shock pushes factories to the brink
Posted on Friday September 11, 2026

From Shropshire to Hamburg, depleting reserves and spiralling costs are spawning a continent-wide energy crisis

Bridgnorth Aluminium has faced down Brexit, Covid and repeated energy shocks in recent years. But this winter is bringing extra “stress and pressure”, says its head of sales, Adrian Musgrave.

Musgrave’s company makes rolled aluminium, used in packaging, construction and the manufacture of items such as cars and batteries. Like many stretched industrial businesses across Europe, Bridgnorth Aluminium faces a looming threat of soaring energy bills, which Musgrave describes as “just worry upon worry”.

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More Anthropic researchers warn of AI’s perils but Musk dismisses ‘psyop’
Posted on Thursday September 10, 2026

Insiders at the firm fear tech’s advancement could cause human extinction, while others are calling their declarations of concern a ‘setup’

A day after a former researcher at Anthropic made an apocalyptic declaration about artificial intelligence, more researchers and staff members at the AI startup publicly agreed with him and posted their own dire warnings.

In response, Elon Musk and other conservative figures on X, formerly Twitter, called the chorus of concerns a “setup” and a “psyop”.

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I turned off my algorithm for 24 hours. Is this how social media used to be?
Posted on Thursday September 10, 2026

Thanks to a little-known feature in Instagram, I try to travel back to 2012 – before everything on the internet was an ad

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I have a confession. I love my social media algorithm. It is a perfectly curated window into my insane and inquiring mind. It knows precisely which videos will tickle me and which memes will gently distract me from the slow collapse of humankind.

On Tuesday the Australian government announced “world-leading” reforms that would force social media platforms to allow users to opt-out of algorithms, dubbed “my feed, my way”. On the same day, I was delighted to be confronted with a video on Instagram of a woman accidentally spilling a bucket of eels on a Chinese train. Dozens of eels slithered among the passengers, who appeared not as surprised as I would have expected.

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England v Pakistan: third men’s cricket Test, day three – live
Posted on Friday September 11, 2026

Updates from Friday’s play at Edgbaston, 11am BST start
Ashes legal dispute led to lack of 2027 Test in the north
A day at the Knight-Stokes Cup | Sign up for The Spin

Pakistan are averaging 15.90 runs per wicket in this series. That’s the lowest against England, in a series of three matches or more, since New Zealand were spun into oblivion by Tony Lock and Jim Laker in 1958.

Weather watch The sun is out at Edgbaston and play should start on time. The forecast is pretty good all day, so England should have plenty of time to get the job done and begin their end-of-series celebrations. Lime cordials all round.

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Solheim Cup golf 2026: Europe v USA, day one – live
Posted on Friday September 11, 2026

⛳️ Solheim Cup updates from 6.40am BST at Bernardus Golf
⛳️ Live scores | And send any thoughts to Scott via via email

Europe do indeed escape from their travails on 1 with a half. Alison Lee leaves her birdie putt short, and Nanna Koertz Madsen tidies up. But the USA strike back on 2, Nelly Korda wedging close with her approach on the par five, and Lottie Woad can’t save the day with her 15-foot right-to-left putt. All square in the opening two matches.

Corpuz/Korda A/S Hull/Woad (2)
Koerstz Madsen/Boutier A/S Coughlin/Al. Lee (1)

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