UK pets and Brexit: a new certificate for every EU trip
Since Brexit, taking a dog, cat or ferret from Great Britain to the EU needs an animal health certificate for each trip, at around £100 to £150 a time.
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City of London approves twin towers to replace Fountain House
The City of London Corporation approved two new towers on Fenchurch Street, joining a pipeline of new skyscrapers due by 2030.
Bank of England rate rises squeeze debt before they cool prices
A rate rise makes debt dearer months before it slows prices, and the squeeze lands on borrowers and renters long before it reaches anyone else.
The Earl of Sandwich didn't invent the sandwich
John Montagu gave the sandwich its name at a card table in 1762, but bread wrapped around food is thousands of years older than his title.
Comparing universities properly takes more than a league table
A league table averages a whole institution. The course you want, its entry threshold and your own circumstances decide more than that average does.
Mary Austin opens the trunks that held Freddie Mercury's lyrics
Mary Austin packed Freddie Mercury's handwritten lyrics into four trunks in the 1980s. In the week he'd have turned 80, she is publishing them.
London's driverless taxis still carry a human safety driver
Waymo and Wayve are testing driverless cars in London, but a trained safety driver still rides along until regulators sign off.
Homebuyers sue UK housebuilders over alleged price collusion
Law firms want up to £4.5bn from Britain's biggest housebuilders, on behalf of 700,000 buyers, over alleged collusion on new-build prices.
Cryptic setters build most clues to work two ways at once
A typical cryptic crossword clue is a straight definition and a wordplay puzzle folded into the same sentence, each pointing at the same answer.
James Martin cooks every dish on camera unrehearsed
James Martin's Saturday Morning cookbook collects dishes he cooked on ITV for the first time, with no rehearsal. He still never watches the show back.
British law entitles staff to every penny of a service charge
British law bans an employer from keeping any part of a card or cash tip, including a service charge added to the bill before a worker sees it.
What a blue plaque costs in England, and who decides
A blue plaque has cost about £1,000 to make and install, but no national body sets that fee. Each scheme runs its own rules and its own price.
Ryanair is cutting seats to Spain's cheapest city to fly to
Which? found Santiago de Compostela the cheapest Spanish city to fly to from London. Ryanair has since said it is closing its base there.
TV Licensing knocks on 2m UK doors, and fewer answer
UK licence fee dodgers face a doorstep visit and, at worst, prosecution. Visits rose by half in 2024 while prosecutions fell, MPs found.
UK and US mortgage rates climb again as war unsettles markets
Mortgage rates rose again on both sides of the Atlantic in 2026, with US 30-year fixes past 7% and UK two-year fixes averaging 5.63%.
Giles Gilbert Scott's red phone box, which he wanted silver
Architect Giles Gilbert Scott won a 1924 competition to design Britain's standard phone box, and originally wanted it painted silver.
UK National Cinema Day came back in 2026 as a £4 weekend
After a year off in 2025, the UK's National Cinema Day returned on 5 and 6 September 2026 as a two-day weekend of £4 tickets. Here is why it changed.
Office conversions crowd the UK's 2026 reuse awards shortlist
So many office conversions entered the AJ Retrofit & Reuse Awards 2026 that the category split in two. The V&A East Storehouse leads the mixed-use list.
Amazon MGM has yet to cast a new James Bond
No actor has been named as the next James Bond. The Guardian put Amazon MGM's control deal at $1 billion, and the BBC at $20 million on top of $8.5 billion.
One cost of living figure never fits every household
A cost of living figure prices a fixed basket, and whose basket it is decides the answer. UK private renters saw 3.0% inflation to June 2026, retirees 2.5%.
Every UK employer must auto-enrol staff earning £10,000
UK employers must put staff aged 22 or over who earn at least £10,000 into a workplace pension. You can opt out, but you are re-enrolled every three years.
UK installers fill cavity walls through the outer brickwork
Installers drill through a UK home's outer brick and inject insulation into the cavity. A typical job costs about £2,200 and could save up to £370 a year.
No new UK cost of living payment, and where help comes from
The DWP plans no more Cost of Living Payments. English councils now run Crisis Payments, and Winter Fuel Payment is worth up to £300 for 2026 to 2027.
A UK power of attorney passes your decisions to someone you trust
A power of attorney lets a chosen person act for you if illness or injury stops you deciding. Scotland lets you grant one at 16, the rest of the UK at 18.