Happy Monday. Science has gone designer dogs again, with sniffle-free beagles on the table this time.

Scientist Matt Walker founded the company Kindred Companion Sciences in 2020 and made it his mission to make an allergy-proof dog. Using ‘CRISPR‘ gene editing tech, they’ve managed to snip the genes that create the allergy-causing protein found in pets dander. Tests have proven beagles Alfie and Bailey to be 100% allergy-free with none of the allergy protein present at all. So far they are said to be totally healthy too - I suppose that’s one way to ‘make’ friends…

Notable UK earnings this week: Aviva (AV.), Prudential (PRU), Hiscox (HSX), International Hotels Group (IHG).

Notable US earnings this week: Cisco Systems (CSCO), JD.com (JD), Applied Materials (AMAT), Ferguson Enterprises (FERG).

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🌊 Vattenfall tender out for seabed surveys covering UK. Read more

🏗️ Extreme environment centre fo subsea testing set to be built in UK. Read more

🏗️ Plans lodged for 53-storey tower in Birmingham. Read more

BP more than doubles profit
BP has more than doubled its profits once again, after the war in Iran helped shove fossil fuel prices higher and kept the energy market in one of its more chaotic moods. The oil giant posted underlying earnings of $5.7bn (£4.2bn) for the quarter, up from $2.3bn (£1.7bn) a year earlier and comfortably ahead of the $5bn analysts had expected. Not bad for a company reporting from the eye of a geopolitical storm, though hardly a comfort to anyone opening an energy bill.

The jump follows a similar pattern to BP’s previous results, when profits also rose sharply as crude prices climbed on the back of supply disruption in the Middle East. This time, attacks effectively curtailed traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, a route that normally carries around a fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas. When that choke point sneezes, the global energy system catches a cold - or in BP’s case, a nasty financial wind - and rivals have been enjoying the same rather awkward windfall.

US private equity firm to buy easyJet
EasyJet is set to be sold to private equity firm Apollo in a £5.7bn deal. The deal still needs shareholder approval, but if it gets the all-clear, easyJet is expected to delist from the stock market in the first quarter of next year. That would mark a big shift for one of Europe’s best-known airlines, founded by Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou in 1995 as a budget alternative to British Airways - a very British bit of commercial rebellion, really.

The US buyer has agreed not to slash jobs for at least a year, the very nature of which gives you a feeling a clock is ticking down in a boardroom somewhere.

Pint-sized politics
Westminster’s plans to tighten nightlife licensing have poured petrol on a pint glass. The council wants more seating and less “vertical drinking”, while proposing tougher rules for new pubs, bars and venues in Soho and the West End. No 10 says busy pubs are “British life”, not a nuisance, and Sadiq Khan has urged the council to scrap what he calls overly restrictive measures. Everyone agrees pubs need help - they’re just arguing over who gets to pull the pint.

Khan says treating nightlife like a “luxury” risks London’s economy and culture, while Westminster argues it must balance residents’ concerns with a booming evening scene. Proposed rules could favour earlier closing times, prompting fears that Soho might become rather less Soho. The council insists there is no ban on standing up with a drink, but with politicians now passionately debating the correct posture for enjoying a pint, Britain has clearly reached peak pub policy.

Govt deal for RWE to swap wind for oil and gas
German energy company RWE has reached a $1.22 billion deal with the Trump administration to cancel three offshore wind leases in US waters, rerouting the money into LNG and natural gas power projects instead. It is the fifth-and by far the biggest-such arrangement this year, as Washington continues its rather vigorous campaign against offshore wind. Subtlety, apparently, has been left on the offshore platform somewhere off Long Island.

The administration has made no secret of its view that wind farms are costly, ugly and not especially compatible with its “drill, baby, drill” worldview. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said the deal reflected “common sense” energy policy rather than dependency on subsidies and technologies that, in his view, cannot meet current demand. A neat phrase, though as ever in energy politics, common sense tends to arrive wearing steel-toe boots and carrying a very expensive invoice.

RWE, one of the world’s biggest offshore wind developers, had already paused its US work last year after a series of federal moves to freeze multibillion-dollar projects under construction. The company holds leases off New York, Louisiana and California, but said the projects were at an early stage and would not have come online until the 2030s anyway. In other words, this was never a quick fix for the grid-more marathon than sprint, and politics has once again tripped over the starting blocks.

Disney x TikTok deal
Disney and TikTok have struck a first-of-its-kind deal allowing creators to use characters and scenes from Disney films and TV shows in short-form videos. It’s a neat little crossover between old-school entertainment royalty and the algorithmic carnival of modern social media - because apparently no corner of the media industry is too sacred to be chopped into 9:16.

Under the agreement, a curated selection of videos will appear on TikTok and also on Disney+ via a new Verts tab, aimed at younger viewers who consume their content vertically on their phones, as nature herself clearly intended. It’s the first time TikTok videos will be shown on another platform, which feels like the digital equivalent of a guest crossover episode, but with more copyright lawyers involved..

Robotic rides
London is getting robotaxis, with Uber and Wayve winning licences for electric Ford Mustang Mach-Es. Humans still sit behind the wheel for now, because apparently even robots need a chaperone. More than 100,000 people have already registered to try them, while unions warn about the impact on drivers. Full driverless approval will come later, if safety checks give it the nod.

Lunar luggage
A discarded SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket stage was expected to smack into the Moon at 5,400mph, creating a crater roughly 20–30 metres wide. There’s no danger to Earth, but scientists are keen to study the impact and what space junk means for future missions. Confirmation is pending satellite pictures, proving that even in space, the important thing is getting a decent photo.

Meta money
Meta has been ordered to pay $567m over claims it harmed children through Facebook and Instagram, taking its total penalties in the New Mexico case to nearly $1bn. Most of the latest award will fund treatment and prevention services for young people. Meta denies the allegations and plans to appeal. The judge called the company a “public nuisance”, which is rather less flattering than a blue tick.

Ancient amphorae
A 2,000-year-old Roman shipwreck has been discovered off Sicily, carrying hundreds of remarkably well-preserved amphorae - ancient ceramic jars once used for wine, olive oil and grain. Specialist Italian police divers found the 21-metre vessel about 46 metres underwater after fishermen reported something suspicious. For free-diver Giacomo De Mola, it was rather more exciting than finding a rock: he called it the most incredible discovery of his life. Archaeologists now get to rummage through history, while the fish retain that rome has been rehoused.