Anna Moloney

Victoria Beckham was owed £353,349 by Harvey Nichols when the luxury department store entered administration, and administrators expect unsecured creditors to recover no more than 15% of the £270.5m owed. Frasers Group bought the retailer for £43.3m as it seeks to expand into upmarket retail. Administrators attributed Harvey Nichols’ collapse to the effects of Covid-19 lockdowns, e-commerce competition, the decline of British high streets and the loss of wealthy international shoppers after the UK ended VAT-free shopping. The retailer’s trading continued to deteriorate after shareholder funding stopped. Meanwhile, Victoria Beckham’s fashion label reported its first-ever profit, generating £130m in revenue and a £3.4m pre-tax profit.

Neal Moy, managing director of Paragon Development Finance, argues that excessive regulation, lengthy planning processes and costly delays are suppressing the ambitions of UK developers, particularly smaller housebuilders. Drawing on his career in development lending, he says planning reforms could improve housing delivery, while noting that activity is increasing in later-living and care-home markets. Moy remains cautiously optimistic and says lenders must stay agile as market conditions and demographic demand evolve.

The debate weighs whether university remains worth its rising financial cost. Amy Lawrence argues that student debt, weak graduate employment outcomes, AI-driven changes in employer demand and inadequate guidance about apprenticeships make alternative routes more attractive. Pegram Harrison counters that university provides durable benefits such as broader opportunities, resilience and critical thinking that cannot be reduced to financial returns. The verdict finds Lawrence’s economic concerns persuasive, noting poor earnings for some graduates, but concludes that university retains important value beyond income, particularly in an age of AI.

Fulham owner Shahid Khan is advancing a reported £1 billion redevelopment of the Jacksonville Jaguars’ EverBank Stadium, with completion expected by summer 2028. The Jaguars will temporarily relocate during construction, while the project emphasizes American-made materials and local labor. The development follows Fulham’s reported £120 million Riverside Stand upgrade at Craven Cottage and comes amid major stadium projects involving several other NFL teams.

Rising global bond yields have increased the UK government’s borrowing costs and may reduce Chancellor John Healey’s fiscal headroom from roughly £22.7bn to about £13bn. Economists at Handelsbanken and Pantheon Macroeconomics therefore expect substantial tax increases at the 28 October Budget. Healey also faces pressure to fund defence spending, support households with living costs and potentially remove VAT from energy bills. Jim O’Neill said capital gains tax increases were likely but warned they could discourage investment and undermine economic growth.

Jim O’Neill warns that Andy Burnham and chancellor John Healey may consider raising capital gains tax to raise revenue ahead of their first Budget, after ruling out increases to the three main taxes. He argues that such a move would discourage risk-taking, investment and economic growth. His comments come as UK government borrowing costs rise sharply, with 30-year gilt yields reaching their highest level since 1998. O’Neill also criticizes Burnham’s plans for greater government spending, saying investors want credible action to reduce debt and control expenditure.

Vodafone and Deliveroo are sending representatives to Reform UK’s conference despite public threats from home affairs spokesman Zia Yusuf. Vodafone will host a digital-infrastructure event after Yusuf warned its chief executive of potential criminal liability over donations of SIM cards to Care4Calais. Deliveroo is also attending as Reform promotes a proposed law that could put executives in prison for employing illegal migrants. The companies’ participation reflects efforts to preserve relations with a party seeking broader corporate support, while other firms including Serco, Cadent Gas, Amentum and Heathrow have also faced or maintained varying degrees of engagement with Reform.

Dolly Parton’s career is presented as an unusually successful fusion of entertainment, entrepreneurship and philanthropy. By establishing control over her music rights early, building businesses such as Dollywood and retaining ownership of her work, she turned a rags-to-riches story into substantial creative and financial independence. Although songs such as “9 to 5” can be read as anti-capitalist, Parton has never sought to dismantle capitalism or align herself overtly with either political side. Instead, she has used her wealth to support literacy through Imagination Library, vaccine research, education and employment in Tennessee. The piece argues that her commercialism is not merely self-serving: making money gives Parton freedom and resources to support causes she values.

Rob Walker, Capgemini’s UK managing director, describes his career from EY and Cognizant to leading Capgemini’s UK business and emphasizes the transformative potential of AI and agentic AI. He argues that London must continually renew its strengths by attracting diverse talent, connecting industry with academia, supporting start-ups and scale-ups, and investing in its broader business ecosystem. Walker is optimistic that the UK is well positioned to benefit from the next wave of AI-driven economic change.

Corgi Cafe, a 24/7 Shoreditch venue launched by San Francisco AI insurance startup Corgi, has quickly attracted London's ambitious technology workers. The cafe offers a laptop-friendly community space but is criticized for its shabby interior, unreliable Wi-Fi and limited overnight refreshments. Its popularity reflects the intense, always-on work ethic promoted by co-founders Nico Laqua and Emily Yuan, as well as growing optimism about London's startup and AI scene. Despite its unconventional atmosphere and predominantly male clientele, the cafe appears to have built a strong social-media-driven community.

The London English-language premiere of Death Note: The Musical presents Light Yagami’s supernatural notebook as a vehicle for examining justice, capital punishment and moral choice. The review finds that the musical’s ethical questions remain simplistic and that Light quickly becomes an uninteresting villain, while a hostage sequence involving Misa Misa is criticized as exploitative. The production earns praise for its energetic cast, neon lighting, Tokyo projections and striking brutalist set by Jon Bausor, earning three out of five stars.