Happy Monday. Friday last week marked the 250th anniversary of the United States (with a big old birthday party of debated attendances - you can do your own research on those numbers).

At 250 years old, that’s about as old as the Guinness company - they’d already been making the black stuff for seventeen years before America decided to go it alone.

Notable UK earnings this week: More notable earnings expected from next week.

Notable US earnings this week: PepsiCo (PEP), Delta Air Lines (DAL), Levi Strauss (LEVI).

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🌊 Second export cable installation complete at Scotlands Inch Cape offshore wind. Read more

🏗️ Northern Trains to launch £300m construction framework. Read more

⚡ 8 contractors chosen for National Grid cable framework. Read more

Barclays locks in Canary Wharf premises for £750m
Barclays has taken control of its global headquarters in Canary Wharf in a £750m deal, with the bank hailing it as a “strong endorsement” of both the Docklands and London itself. The agreement gives Barclays a long-term leasehold interest at One Churchill Place for up to 999 years — which, frankly, is about as close as property gets to immortality without a Dracula cameo.

Barclays chief executive CS Venkatakrishnan said the move reinforces the bank’s confidence in London as one of the world’s leading financial centres. Shobi Khan, chief executive of Canary Wharf Group, called it a strong endorsement of Canary Wharf and the capital — a timely bit of cheer for an area that has spent the past few years proving it is not, as some doom-mongers once muttered, all empty towers and takeaway coffee.

Private proposal for 14 UK nuclear SMRs
A private consortium has put forward plans to build 14 small modular nuclear reactors across three UK sites, in a scheme that would add 4.2 gigawatts of nuclear capacity and, in theory, help power nearly eight million homes.

If all goes to plan, it would be a tidy chunk of Britain’s electricity demand — about 11% — and the reactors are expected to run for at least 60 years. Not exactly a quick win, then. More a long-game, like Britain and its relationship with decent infrastructure: always promising, occasionally late.

Chalk and cheese
Teachers are getting a rare classroom treat: pay rises expected to beat inflation. From September, salaries go up 3.5%, followed by another 3% in September 2027, making a 17% rise since Labour took office in 2024. With inflation last seen at 2.8%, ministers are hoping this gives teachers a gold star morale boost. Schools get £1.8bn to help, though they must find the first 1% themselves. Colleges get £485m too, while academy bosses face pay curbs. Detention, but for execs.

Walk this weigh
The NHS is turning a daily stroll into a prize draw with trainers. Early next year, England will launch a “marathon a month” challenge: walk 30 minutes a day, log it digitally, and clock roughly 26 miles. Complete the streak and rewards may follow, though not from NHS coffers. Sir Brendan Foster is fronting the push, aiming for 100,000 sign-ups and fewer sofa-based marathons.

Ford rehires old engineers after AI not up to task
Ford has discovered, rather belatedly, that artificial intelligence is brilliant right up until it isn’t. The US carmaker says it has hired back more than 300 veteran engineers and quality inspectors after automated systems failed to match the judgement, experience and plain old common sense of the humans they replaced.

Like plenty of firms swept up in the current AI frenzy, Ford had been leaning on the tech to cut costs, lift productivity and generally look very modern in front of Wall Street. It rolled AI across parts of its operation, including quality checks, even deploying 900 AI-powered cameras in its plants to spot faults at source. Useful, in theory. In practice, not quite the industrial equivalent of a biscuit tin that always opens.

Charles Poon, vice president of vehicle hardware engineering, said AI is “a fantastic tool” but only as good as the data used to train it. He admitted the company had not paid enough attention to the knowledge held by its most experienced engineers, many of whom had left before their expertise could be properly fed into Ford’s systems. A familiar corporate tale, really: fire the wise old hands, then act surprised when the shiny new kit can’t tell a bolt from a banana.

The veteran workers are now back in the fold, helping train the systems and mentor younger staff too.

Trump’s crypto windfall
Donald Trump has reported more than $1.4 billion in income from his family’s crypto ventures last year, according to his latest financial disclosures. In a neat little plot twist, the president now appears to earn most of his money from digital assets — a sector that has, rather conveniently, benefited from his own policy decisions. Democracy, but make it blockchain.

The filings for 2025, lodged with the U.S. Office of Government Ethics, show his companies received nearly $800 million from World Liberty Financial, the crypto venture he co-founded with his sons. That total included more than $520 million from token sales and over $250 million from selling interests in the business. He also reported another $635 million from his Trump meme coins, proving that in 2026 even satire can end up with a balance sheet.

Brainy business
Meta’s unveiled Brain2Qwerty a non-invasive system that reads brain signals while people type and turns them back into sentences. No implants, no surgery, just 61% word accuracy and a whiff of sci-fi. It is still research, tested on nine volunteers, but could one day help people unable to speak or move.

Meanwhile, China’s UBTech has launched lifelike AI companion robots, complete with digital skin, emotional responses and prices up to $150k. Cyber boyfriends: now with fingerprints and probably commitment issues.

Orbital orders
NASA’s ageing Swift Observatory, launched in 2004 to spot gamma-ray bursts and exploding stars, is getting a rescue rather than a fiery retirement. Katalyst’s three-armed Link spacecraft will try to grab it and lift it higher, after solar storms dragged it down faster than expected. Back on Earth, Google has lost its EU appeal and must pay a record €4.1bn Android antitrust fine. The charge: nudging phone makers towards Search and Chrome or else. Big Tech, small sympathy.

Pastor passage
Jin Mingri, founder of Beijing’s underground Zion Church, has been freed from prison and has reached the US, a dramatic turn after President Trump raised his case with Xi Jinping in May.

Jin was detained during October raids on unregistered churches, part of China’s tight grip on religion, where worship is meant to stay state-approved and nicely filed. His family called it a miracle; rights groups welcomed it, while noting other believers remain jailed. One shepherd out, many still in the pen.

Checkmate chatter
Former world chess champion Vladimir Kramnik has been banned by the international chess federation, FIDE, after publicly accusing players of cheating, including the late US grandmaster Daniel Naroditsky. FIDE says the issue was not whether the claims were true, but how Kramnik aired them: less subtle endgame, more pawn storm in a teacup. He faces one active year out, with another suspended under probation, and says he will appeal. Turns out, the hardest piece to control on the board is the mouthpiece.