Wage growth hits lowest level since November 2020; unemployment rate unexpectedly falls - business live
Posted on Tuesday April 21, 2026

Rolling coverage of the latest economic and financial news

Royal Mail has promised to invest £500m over the next five years to improve its UK delivery service.

The service is now working towards meeting its new postal delivery targets by May next year, after agreeing a plan to roll out changes to scrap second-class post on Saturdays.

We recognise our service hasn’t always been the standard our customers rightly expect and we’re determined to do better. The plan we’ve set out today shows how we’ll make a step change in performance across the UK, backed by £500 million of investment over the next five years.”

As well as fining Royal Mail £37 million for failing to deliver what customers expect and deserve, we’ve also been calling on the company to publicly set out a credible plan for change, backed by investment. Now that’s published, Royal Mail needs to get on and implement it. Their plan must deliver significant and continuous improvement, with performance getting back on track.”

We welcome any serious proposal that seeks to reverse customer service failings at Royal Mail, but what really matters is what happens on the ground to make that change happen.

Postal workers remain committed to delivering for the communities they serve, but they need the tools to do this.

In campuses, we are seeing accelerating demand from a new wave of AI and innovation-led occupiers, driving strong rental growth in what remains a supply constrained market.

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Primark to split from food business despite warning of Iran war impact
Posted on Tuesday April 21, 2026

ABF, which owns Kingsmill, Twinings and Patak’s, to demerge fashion chain to maximise shareholder returns

• Business live – latest updates

Primark is to break free from its sister food company, which owns Twinings, Kingsmill and Patak’s, next year despite warning that the conflict in the Middle East is likely to hit consumer spending.

The fashion chain’s owner, Associated British Foods (ABF), confirmed the plan to split off Primark from the rest of the food group, first mooted last year. The fashion group operates 486 stores in 19 countries.

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Tim Cook to step down as Apple chief as John Ternus named replacement
Posted on Monday April 20, 2026

Cook, who will stay on as executive chair, praises head of hardware engineering, who will take over on 1 September

Apple announced on Monday that it had named a replacement for Tim Cook as CEO after nearly 15 years, with head of hardware engineering John Ternus succeeding him on 1 September. Cook will stay at the company in the role of executive chair.

“It has been the greatest privilege of my life to be the CEO of Apple and to have been trusted to lead such an extraordinary company. I love Apple with all of my being,” Cook said in a press release.

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Tube strikes: how disruptive will action by London Underground drivers be?
Posted on Monday April 20, 2026

RMT has called action in two 24-hour tranches this week over opposition to four-day working pattern

A strike by London Underground drivers will severely disrupt transport in the capital over the next four days.

The RMT union and Transport for London (TfL) said that the strike would go ahead from midday on Tuesday 21 April, with no last-minute talks planned on Monday.

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Palantir manifesto described as ‘ramblings of a supervillain’ amid UK contract fears
Posted on Tuesday April 21, 2026

Alarm caused by posts of Alex Karp, tech firm’s CEO, championing US military dominance and of AI weapons

The US spy tech company Palantir published a manifesto extolling the benefits of American power and implying some cultures are inferior to others – in what MPs have called “a parody of a RoboCop film” and “the ramblings of a supervillain”.

“Some cultures have produced vital advances; others remain dysfunctional and regressive,” wrote Palantir in a 22-point post on X over the weekend, which also called for an end to the “postwar neutering” of Germany and Japan.

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Tim Cook to step down as Apple chief as John Ternus named replacement
Posted on Monday April 20, 2026

Cook, who will stay on as executive chair, praises head of hardware engineering, who will take over on 1 September

Apple announced on Monday that it had named a replacement for Tim Cook as CEO after nearly 15 years, with head of hardware engineering John Ternus succeeding him on 1 September. Cook will stay at the company in the role of executive chair.

“It has been the greatest privilege of my life to be the CEO of Apple and to have been trusted to lead such an extraordinary company. I love Apple with all of my being,” Cook said in a press release.

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‘I’m not the boss’: Lando Norris is articulate, open and intelligent – when he’s allowed to be
Posted on Tuesday April 21, 2026

F1’s latest world champion speaks with deep candour about overcoming his insecurities but questions about Max Verstappen and regulations? Off limits

There are always complications and difficulties in Formula One, as there are in life and even in this interview. On a beautiful evening at a lavish golf club in Surrey, Lando Norris and I are tucked away in an anonymous yet brightly lit room crammed with a television crew and representatives from his management team and Laureus, the global organisation driven by a belief that “sport has the power to change the world”.

At first Norris talks thoughtfully and honestly about his struggles with profound insecurity before becoming world champion last year. But we reach a low point when a young man from his management company feels sufficiently empowered to answer questions on the 26-year-old’s behalf, as a way of controlling our interview.

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David Squires on … Manchester City, Arsenal and an epic clash of the titans
Posted on Tuesday April 21, 2026

Our cartoonist looks back at Sunday’s top-of-the-table clash at the Etihad as the title race got even hotter

• Buy a cartoon | David’s favourite works of 2025

• And his latest book, Chaos in the Box: get it now

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