Happy Monday. Last week it emerged that Anthropic - the AI company behind Claude - have updated their policy to ban accounts that were being ‘cruel’ to Claude.

It raises a host of questions, including both “why would you do that?” and equally terrifyingly “beyond not being nice, why else should you not do that?”. I hope my good manners (grandma googling style politeness) are doing enough to offset whoever is bullying AI.

Notable UK earnings this week: Whitbread (WTB), Bellway (BWY), Softcat (SCT), Bytes Technology (BYIT), YouGov (YOU).

Notable US earnings this week: JP Morgan Chase (JPM), Goldman Sachs (GS), Citigroup (C), Wells Fargo (WFC), Johnson & Johnson (JNJ), UnitedHealth Group (UNH), Domino’s Pizza (DPZ).

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🏠 German group Patrizia confirms £1bn UK affordable homes investment. Read more

🏗️ Wates selected for Penrhys housing estate build worth £209m. Read more

Boots sold for £6.7bn to Canadian billionaires
Boots, the 177-year-old pharmacy and retail chain, has been sold in an $8.9bn (£6.7bn) deal to the Canadian billionaire Weston family. Wittington Investments, the family holding company, confirmed the purchase from US private equity firm Sycamore Partners and the Pessina family — because apparently even a British institution with roots in Nottingham is now doing a grand international handover. Very global, very 2026, very “nothing in retail stays still for five minutes”.

Founded by John Boot in 1849 as a humble herbalist shop in Nottingham, the business has grown into one of the most recognisable names on the UK High Street. From paracetamol to perfume, meal deals to travel plugs, Boots has become the sort of place you duck into for one thing and leave with three bags and a receipt long enough to wallpaper a small flat.

Despite the usual High Street headaches — lower footfall, falling office crowds, and the slow death of the “pop out at lunch” era — Boots has held up reasonably well. It now has about 1,800 stores and 51,000 employees across the UK, after closing hundreds of branches in recent years. Its latest annual results showed sales of £7.5bn, up 3.2% on 2024, which is no small feat when retail has been getting kicked around like a soggy football in a November downpour.

ASOS hacked by phishing
ASOS has revealed that the group behind a threat to leak customer data gained access by impersonating a “trusted contact” and duping an employee into handing over login credentials. In other words, not a glamorous cyber heist in a film noir sense, but the more depressing modern version: someone pretending to be legitimate and getting let in through the front door. Apparently even in 2026, phishing still works. Humanity, as ever, is a bit of a mug - so yeah, maybe do that mandatory phishing training today after all.

The online fashion retailer was thrown into the spotlight on Tuesday after an unknown group used a push notification on the ASOS app to claim it had hacked the company and threatened to leak data. That prompted a swift sell-off, with shares tumbling more than 13 per cent and investors briefly looking as if they’d swallowed a particularly sour mince pie early. By Thursday morning, ASOS had issued its first direct update to shoppers, saying it had launched a “detailed investigation” and apologising for the uncertainty.

Clause for concern
Andy Burnham wants to loosen employers’ grip on workers after they leave, promising legislation to curb non-compete clauses. These restrictions, which can stop staff joining rivals or launching their own businesses, cover an estimated five million UK jobs.

Burnham reckons they’re stifling innovation; recruiters warn a sweeping crackdown could put confidential information and client relationships at risk. Details are expected alongside the October Budget, where tax changes and regional investment funds may also feature. The ambition? Keep Britain’s brightest ideas — and the businesses built around them — from emigrating in search of cash.

Weather or not
Meanwhile, Britain is preparing for a winter that could make its summer heatwave feel like a distant, damp dream. A new government taskforce will bring together weather experts, emergency agencies, councils and industry to prepare for potentially severe storms and flooding.

Around 6.3 million homes and businesses in England are already at risk, while forecasters warn autumn and winter could bring wetter-than-average conditions. After last winter’s storms and a record-hot summer, the weather is keeping everyone on their toes. The government has pledged £10.5bn for flood protection through to 2036; households are advised to check their risk, sign up for alerts and make a flood plan. Best dig out the wellies and stock up on brew.

Trump in trouble for midterm ads
In a tricky one for Brits to get our heads around, Donald Trump has pivoted to confirm he and his super PAC will now pay for campaign-style adverts promoting his administration, rather than using federal funds. The announcement came on Truth Social after sharp criticism from lawmakers on both sides of the aisle, who plainly weren’t in the mood to bankroll what looked rather a lot like electioneering with a government cheque.

In short, in the build up to the midterms in the US next month, Team Trump have been running a number of tv ads promoting the administration in an effort to get voters on side but have been using taxpayer money to pay for it. It is worth noting that the timing of the Russian diesel deal is likely with an eye on gas prices ahead of the mid-terms too. NBC News reported last week that the money came from funds intended for US Customs and Border Protection, with senior agency leaders cut out of the decision.

AdImpact estimated the government has spent at least $10 million on the ads, which reportedly included disclaimers saying they were paid for by the US government. One spot was said to be virtually identical to a Trump campaign advert from 2024, which is either efficient messaging or recycling with a very expensive label on it.

Paramount and Warner Bros finally do the deal
The long-running media mash-up has finally landed: Paramount Skydance and Warner Bros. Discovery have completed their $110 billion merger, after US Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan turned down a last-ditch attempt to block the deal. So, after months of corporate brinkmanship, legal wrangling and enough boardroom drama to fill a premium cable slot, the transaction is done.

The new company will operate under the Skydance name, bringing HBO Max and Paramount+ under one roof and, over time, folding their direct-to-consumer streaming businesses into a single service. In the grand tradition of media consolidation, that means fewer logos, more spreadsheets and one very expensive headache for anyone trying to remember which app has the thing they want to watch.

For UK viewers, the scale is familiar enough to feel positively Monopoly-meets-Boxing-Day-sales: the combined roster stretches from The Sopranos and SpongeBob SquarePants to Euphoria and Harry Potter. It also gathers CBS, CNN, TNT, TBS, Nickelodeon and MTV into the same stable — a proper television super-mix, if you like your content served with a side of overlap and corporate synergy.

Maths of mass destruction
OpenAI has unleashed 372 full or partial solutions to outstanding mathematical problems, leaving researchers scrambling to check 722 papers’ worth of proofs. The “mathpocalypse” follows a proposed solution to the legendary Navier-Stokes problem, one of seven Millennium Prize challenges. Some mathematicians see a scientific leap; others say dumping hundreds of files isn’t scholarship.

Botched bot
Anthropic’s AI has been less impressive elsewhere, sending Philadelphia police a bogus tip about an unsolved murder during a website test. The message was caught as spam, but the company took over two months to discover the mishap and nine more days to notify authorities. The same report described incomplete visa applications submitted by its agent. Apparently, artificial intelligence isn’t as super intelligent as superintelligence (the new name for AI says Trump) says so.

Petrol prices, please
Google Maps is now displaying UK petrol and diesel prices, giving motorists a chance to dodge the most expensive forecourts as fuel costs soar. The figures come from the government’s Fuel Finder scheme, though experts warn some stations’ updates remain unreliable. At around £110 to fill an average diesel tank, checking the price before driving off is no longer just prudent — it’s practically a financial strategy.

Bobbies’ bots
Staffordshire Police has launched Bobbi, an AI chatbot trial designed to answer routine, non-emergency questions and free human call handlers for urgent cases. It cannot take crime reports or replace 999. After all, when trouble’s brewing, the public needs a copper, not a chatbot cuppa chat.

Ape-solutely wild
Eight orangutans have returned to the forests of Borneo after wildfires destroyed their habitats, forcing rescuers to take them into captivity. The group includes three mothers and their daughters, alongside two adult males, now released into a reserve with food, water and links to other forests.

Around 104,000 orangutans remain in Borneo and Sumatra, fewer than half the number estimated a century ago. With climate change and plantation clearing worsening fire risks, it’s a welcome homecoming — but the forest still needs rescuing, and realistically, a palm oil ban.

Renoir and shine
Two paintings by French impressionist Auguste Renoir have been recovered a month after thieves raided a museum in Cagnes-sur-Mer. Six suspects have been arrested following the break-in, during which four paintings were taken, though two were dropped in the garden during the escape.

The recovered works, dating from 1886 and 1910, are part of the town’s cultural heritage. France’s art thieves have been busy lately, but this time the masterpieces have enjoyed a happier ending.

School of hard shocks
Hundreds of thousands of French students have taken to the streets over overcrowded classrooms, staff shortages and crumbling school facilities. The unrest has turned violent, with thousands detained and accusations of heavy-handed policing adding fuel to the fire.

The government has promised 3,000 extra supply teachers, but young protesters want deeper change. With next year’s presidential election approaching, the education crisis is becoming a political flashpoint — and France’s tradition of revolution is getting another lesson.

Beer today, bust tomorrow
Japan’s biggest beer makers — Asahi, Kirin, Sapporo and Suntory — have been raided by competition officials investigating alleged price-fixing. All four confirmed their premises were searched and say they will cooperate.

The inquiry centres on price rises in 2022 and 2025, which the companies attributed to rising costs. No wrongdoing has been established, but with share prices already dipping, Japan’s brewing giants may find this particular round rather hard to swallow.