Labour can win political argument for closer EU ties, says Rachel Reeves
Posted on Wednesday February 11, 2026

Chancellor says stronger alignment with Europe is ‘biggest prize’ for trade and economic growthRachel Reeves has insisted Labour can win the political argument for a closer relationship with the EU, calling it the “biggest prize” for UK economic growth.Some Labour strategists have been wary of making the case for stronger alignment with the EU, believing it could alienate pro-Brexit voters. Continue reading...

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UK being ‘colonised by immigrants’, says Man United co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe
Posted on Wednesday February 11, 2026

Britain’s seventh-richest man, who vocally backed Brexit then moved to Monaco, also hits out at people on benefitsThe billionaire Sir Jim Ratcliffe, who moved to tax-free Monaco in 2020, has claimed that the UK is being “colonised” by immigrants.Speaking in an interview with Sky News, Britain’s seventh-richest man and the part-owner of Manchester United FC took aim at people receiving state support and immigrants. Continue reading...

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US added 130,000 jobs in January, surpassing expectations as 2025 growth is slashed
Posted on Wednesday February 11, 2026

Unemployment rate was 4.3% in January with gains 13,000 less than the 143,000 jobs added a year ago, report showsThe US jobs market added 130,000 jobs in January, according to a highly anticipated labor market report released on Wednesday, a surge of job growth after months of fatigue in the labor market.The unemployment rate was 4.3% in January, a slight cooling since the fall. Economists predicted 70,000 in job gains and an unchanged unemployment rate for January. Continue reading...

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The big AI job swap: why white-collar workers are ditching their careers
Posted on Wednesday February 11, 2026

As AI job losses rise in the professional sector, many are switching to more traditional trades. But how do they feel about accepting lower pay – and, in some cases, giving up their vocation?California-based Jacqueline Bowman had been dead set on becoming a writer since she was a child. At 14 she got her first internship at her local newspaper, and later she studied journalism at university. Though she hadn’t been able to make a full-time living from her favourite pastime – fiction writing – post-university, she consistently got writing work (mostly content marketing, some journalism) and went freelance full-time when she was 26. Sure, content marketing wasn’t exactly the dream, but she was writing every day, and it was paying the bills – she was happy enough.“But something really switched in 2024,” Bowman, now 30, says. Layoffs and publication closures meant that much of her work “kind of dried up. I started to get clients coming to me and talking about AI,” she says – some even brazen enough to tell her how “great” it was “that we don’t need writers any more”. She was offered work as an editor – checking and altering work produced by artificial intelligence. The idea was that polishing up already-written content would take less time than writing it from scratch, so Bowman’s fee was reduced to about half of what it had been when she was writing for the same content marketing agency – but, in reality, it ended up taking double the time. Continue reading...

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Apple and Google pledge not to discriminate against third-party apps in UK deal
Posted on Tuesday February 10, 2026

Critics brand deal with regulator as ‘lightweight’ with ‘no legal bite’ as tech giants avoid legally binding measures Apple and Google have committed to avoid discriminating against apps that compete with their own products under an agreement with the UK’s competition watchdog, as they avoided legally binding measures for their mobile platforms.The US tech companies have vowed to be more transparent about vetting third-party apps before letting them on their app stores and not discriminate against third-party apps in app search rankings. Continue reading...

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Winter Olympics 2026: USA go for gold and GB for first medal in figure skating, and more – live
Posted on Wednesday February 11, 2026

• Medal table | Live scores and schedule | Results | Briefing• Follow us over on Bluesky | Get in touch! Mail TanyaThe riders are having to squint into the sun to see their scores come up. There’s lots of USA support on the slopes, first for 19-year old Bea Kim, who looks happy to settle into fifth, then for the queen of half pipe, Chloe Kim, who is aiming for her third consecutive gold medal in this discipline. Oh and she’s also just finished a degree at Stamford. It’s a cracking start – a big backside 720, frontside 900, and something floaty and turny which the commentators describe as “the penny black” of halfpipe. She immediately settles into first.Women’s halfpipe qualifying: Thinking about my attempts to stand on a skateboard as young women in baggy snow trousers zig-zag and float across the halfpipe. Continue reading...

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Manchester City v Fulham, Aston Villa v Brighton and more: Premier League – live
Posted on Wednesday February 11, 2026

Updates from Wednesday night’s actionLatest scores | Any comments? Email TimAlessia Russo has just scored Arsenal’s fourth goal of the night. Sarah Rendell has the details.That last news item makes this next email even more topical. “The LA Galaxy vs Los Angeles FC derby,” says Marek Wojenski in Connecticut, “is known as El Tráfico.” Continue reading...

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