Happy Monday. Astronomers have been glued to their telescopes over the weekend hoping to catch a glimpse of Arsenal defender Gabriel’s penalty kick, after it launched from Budapest on Saturday evening - the miskick saw his team crash out of the Champions League final against PSG.

Now you’re up to date for that tearoom chat, you can proudly ask your colleagues “see the match?”, before heading back to your spreadsheets. Enjoy!

Notable UK earnings this week: Sirius Real Estate (SRE), SSE (SSE).

Notable US earnings this week: Dollar General (DG), Broadcom (AVGO), Crowdstrike (CRWD), Lululemon (LULU), Docusign (DOCU).

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🔌 CRP Subsesa wins Seaway7 contract in East Anglia for cable protection systems (CPS). Read more

🏠 Sheffield looking for developers for Moorfoot £300m housing regen. Read more

🤖 £100m+ Data centre contract win for Glencar. Read more

London wins top European competition (*tech - not you Arsenal)
London has nudged Paris off the top spot to reclaim its title as Europe’s leading tech ecosystem, according to new Dealroom data. In a year when everyone and their nan seems to be talking about AI, the capital has pulled in a record $7bn in AI investment, up from $3.9bn in 2024, helping it swagger back to the summit with all the subtlety of a Tube delay announcement.

That rebound has been backed by a banner year for funding more broadly. London tech companies raised $17.8bn in 2025, up 45 per cent on the year before, while the city now counts 138 unicorns — including Wayve, Granola and ElevenLabs. Not a bad showing for a place that still occasionally needs a prayer, a rail replacement bus and a strong coffee just to get through the morning.

The city is also drawing heavyweight global players. OpenAI is set to make London its largest research hub outside San Francisco, while Anthropic has announced plans for a major new London base with room for 800 staff. That kind of commitment says plenty about Britain’s place in the global AI race — and, unlike some political promises, it comes with actual building plans.

Buy British! Reeves gives critical industries a domestic boost
Rachel Reeves has told ministers to put British suppliers at the front of the queue for contracts in shipbuilding, steel, energy infrastructure and artificial intelligence. In plain English: if the work is critical to the country’s future, the government wants it done at home, not shipped off abroad like a forgettable parcel nobody asked for.

The Treasury and Cabinet Office will now keep a closer eye on procurement in these sectors, with the power to step in if departments drift towards overseas bidders. That comes after irritation in Whitehall over deals such as the £200m Royal Navy support vessel contract awarded to Dutch firm Damen and a £9m refit of the research ship David Attenborough by Danish yard Orskov. Nothing says “industrial strategy” quite like discovering your own kit is being fixed by someone else’s shed.

Reeves is said to have written that ministers must “lead this agenda” and act in the wider national interest, rather than just ticking the operational boxes and calling it a day. The message is clear enough: British industry is not meant to be the awkward guest at its own dinner party.

The shift could funnel billions into domestic firms, helping support skilled jobs and shore up supply chains at a time when resilience has become the new black. It also nods to a more protectionist playbook seen in the US and EU, where governments have long used procurement to nurture homegrown capability. Of course, that can mean higher costs and a few tutting trade partners, but then economics has rarely been a realm of pure saintliness.

Border botchery
The Home Office is giving border officials a new colleague: AI. From next year, facial-analysis software will help estimate the ages of asylum seekers who claim to be children, after figures suggested many age disputes end with applicants being reclassified as adults. Ministers say it will stop people gaming the system and protect resources for genuine.

Penny pudding
Four heavyweight chefs — Tom Kerridge, Yotam Ottolenghi, Ravneet Gill and Simon Rogan — have united over something rarer than a perfect soufflé: tax policy. They want hospitality VAT cut from 20% to 10%, arguing pubs and restaurants are being squeezed by rising costs, staffing expenses and fragile customer spending. The government notes that tax cuts cost money; restaurateurs note that insolvency does too. The industry says survival, not luxury, is now on the menu.

Licence limits
Scottish ministers want tougher rules for newly qualified drivers, including possible restrictions on late-night driving and young passengers. The push follows concerns over high casualty rates among younger motorists and comes as Northern Ireland prepares to introduce graduated licences later this year.

Blew Origin? Bezos rocket explodes on launchpad in new space race
Blue Origin has suffered a spectacular setback after its New Glenn rocket exploded in a fiery blaze during a late-night test at Cape Canaveral, shaking nearby homes and giving the local skies a brief moment of unnecessary drama. No one was injured, and officials say there is no danger to the public — though the launch pad itself may need a stern word and a rebuild.

Footage from the site showed flames licking up the side of the 97-metre rocket before the whole thing went up in a fireball, because apparently “stress test” was being taken rather literally, and concluded there was indeed some stress. If you haven’t seen it, it may be the most explosion-looking explosion you’ve ever seen - 10/10.

NASA had recently handed Blue Origin a contract worth hundreds of millions of dollars to launch a pair of moon buggies as part of the Artemis programme — so there’s still plenty at stake, even if this particular test went off with all the grace of a Black Friday queue at a village post office.

AUKUS pact to start underwater drone era
The AUKUS defence pact is getting a fresh burst of momentum, with US defence secretary Pete Hegseth saying the trio will develop unmanned undersea vehicles to strengthen their military edge. Defence chiefs from the US, Britain and Australia met in Singapore on Saturday to fast-track plans for advanced technologies — because apparently the modern arms race now needs a software update as much as a submarine.

The agreement, launched in 2021, remains centred on Australia’s future fleet of nuclear-powered submarines, intended to help patrol the Pacific and keep a watchful eye on China’s expanding influence in the region. Under the pact’s “pillar two”, the countries are also working together on quantum computing, hypersonic systems, artificial intelligence, cyber capability and other high-tech kit that sounds straight out of a Bond film, only with more paperwork and fewer martinis.

Mr Healey said the uncrewed vehicles would improve all three nations’ ability to respond to threats, including attacks on underwater cables and pipelines — the invisible infrastructure that keeps modern life from descending into chaos. He also said AUKUS had spent too long talking and not enough delivering, a fairly brisk summing-up for a project meant to deter strategic rivals and not merely generate handsome conference backdrops.

Betting buffoonery
A Google engineer allegedly discovered the oldest rule in markets: insider information is useful right up until the authorities notice. Michele Spagnuolo is accused of using confidential search data to place prediction-market bets, turning obscure guesses into a reported $1.2m payday.

The standout wager backed musician D4vd to become Google's most-searched person of the year — a prospect the market considered about as likely as finding a quiet WhatsApp group. US prosecutors now say the house wasn't beaten; it was peeped at through the curtains.

Tech tangles
Europe spent the week wrestling with technology from two directions. The EU fined Temu €200m after investigators found dangerous toys and faulty chargers on the platform, accusing the online marketplace of failing to tackle consumer safety risks. Temu says the penalty is excessive and points out the findings relate to older systems. Brussels, however, appears to have adopted the parenting approach of "I'm not angry, just €200m disappointed".

Silicon steering
Elsewhere, Tesla's Full Self-Driving system gained approval in Estonia, its third EU country after the Netherlands and Lithuania. The software can handle lane changes, city navigation and other driving tasks, though regulators are keen to stress that drivers remain fully responsible and must keep paying attention. In other words, the car may now do more of the driving, but it still can't take the blame when you miss your turning.

Monk mayhem
The former boss of China's legendary Shaolin Temple has discovered that inner peace and financial audits are not the same thing. Shi Yongxin, once dubbed the "CEO monk" for turning the 1,500-year-old kung fu monastery into a global brand, has been jailed for 24 years after being convicted of embezzlement and bribery.

Prosecutors said he misappropriated more than £30m in temple assets and improperly profited from construction projects. It's a dramatic fall for the man who helped export Shaolin culture worldwide - proof that not every martial arts master can dodge consequences.

Values verdict
Ghana's parliament has passed a sweeping anti-LGBTQ+ bill that would criminalise identifying, supporting rights, or failing to report prohibited activity to police. Supporters, including the bill's sponsor Reverend John Ntim Fordjour, say it protects traditional family values. Human rights groups argue it threatens basic freedoms and encourages surveillance between citizens. The legislation still requires presidential approval, but with President John Mahama signalling support, opponents fear it may soon become law.