Author: SKYNEWS

The price of everyday things – mainly food – is now rising at the lowest level since 2021.   Official data shows inflation eased last month to 3.2% – down from 3.4% – but the fall was slightly less than economists expected.On the Daily, Niall Paterson looks at what’s going on with inflation and what it might mean for interest rates with Sky’s economics and data editor Ed Conway – who’s in the US looking at the situation there. They also discuss how the UK could be importing inflation from America.Plus, Niall talks to Russ Mould, investment director at finance firm AJ Bell, about…

It’s not quite a Mission Accomplished moment – the equivalent of that day in 2003 when George W Bush stood on an aircraft carrier and prematurely declared the Iraq war was over.But Jeremy Hunt’s declaration in our interview in Washington DC that he had achieved a “soft landing” in the economy certainly has a whiff of wishful thinking about it. Economists spend much of their time dreaming that, following a crisis, or a set of crises, they will be able to engineer a slow glidepath, ensuring there is no painful economic catastrophe. Yet it rarely actually happens.Money latest: Tourist tax…

Almost one million private renters in England have been handed no-fault evictions since the Conservative government promised to abolish them, new data has shown.Research carried out by YouGov on behalf of homelessness charity Shelter – and shared exclusively with Sky News – showed that since April 2019 a total of 943,000 people had been given Section 21 notices, which is the equivalent of more than 500 renters every day. Politics live:Sunak and Starmer trade jibes in ‘very personal’ PMQsThe figures also showed unwanted moves were costing private renters in England £550m a year, with 830,000 people having to move in…

Metallica frontman James Hetfield has shared details of his latest tattoo – featuring the ashes of the late Motorhead rocker Lemmy.Hetfield posted a picture on Metallica’s Instagram account, showing a new Aces Of Spades inking on his right middle finger in reference to Motorhead’s biggest hit. The singer and guitarist told the band’s 11 million followers the tattoo is “a salute to my friend and inspiration Mr Lemmy Kilmister”, adding: “Without him, there would be NO Metallica.”He went on to say: “Black ink mixed with a pinch of his cremation ashes that were so graciously given to me. So now,…

The government has agreed to have an independent IT expert review of a Post Office software system predating Horizon, amid claims dozens more sub-postmasters may have been wrongly convicted.The Capture software was rolled out across branches in the 1990s, years before the notorious Horizon system was introduced. Post Office minister Kevin Hollinrake has met with a former sub-postmaster and a lawyer representing 35 people who believe they were wrongly accused of stealing.It was agreed between MPs and the Post Office minister that an independent IT expert would assess evidence claiming to “prove” Capture software was prone to glitches. Image: The…

The Only Way Is Essex stars Joey Essex and James Argent have been forced to hitchhike after becoming stranded in Dubai floods sparked by record rainfall.Essex, 33, said the pair had “decided to hitchhike after hours of trying to get back home” in an Instagram story posted on Tuesday evening. In uploaded videos, the reality TV stars are seen standing and walking barefoot in ankle-deep water after what the state-run WAM news agency called a “historic weather event” in which more rain fell than in any other weather event since records began in 1949. Image: Joey Essex. Pic: Instagram/Joey Essex…

The Co-operative Bank will this week move a step closer to regaining its mutual status when it announces that it has struck a £780m deal to be bought by the Coventry Building Society.Sky News has learnt that the two organisations are expected to announce as early as Thursday morning that they have reached agreement on the terms of a transaction. Insiders said the cash price to be paid by the Coventry would be close to £800m.Their statement will mean that a combination of the two financial services businesses is increasingly probable, more than a decade after the Co-operative Bank first…

The technology behind ChatGPT scored better at assessing eye problems and providing advice than non-specialist doctors, a new study has found.A study led by the University of Cambridge has found that GPT-4, the large language model (LLM) developed by OpenAI, performed nearly as well as specialist eye doctors in a written multiple-choice test. The AI model, which is known for generating text based on the vast amount of data it is trained on, was tested against doctors at different stages of their careers, including junior doctors without a specialism, as well as trainee and expert eye doctors.Each group was presented…

Olly Murs has announced the birth of his first child with his wife Amelia.The 39-year-old singer published a photo on Instagram of the couple walking down the corridor of a hospital holding hands, with the singer carrying their newborn in a car seat. He captioned the picture: “Our mini murs has arrived. Madison we love you so much already x.” Image: Olly Murs and Amelia at Wimbledon in 2021. Pic: Beretta/Sims/Shutterstock The couple announced in December that they were expecting their first child.The singer married 31-year-old Amelia, a bodybuilder, in a star-studded wedding – featuring a festival called Murs Fest…

Chancellor Jeremy Hunt has said that “better times are ahead” but that the fundamentals of the UK economy are “very strong”.Speaking to Sky News in Washington, Mr Hunt pointed to price rise data from today showing a drop in the rate of inflation as well as the latest jobs figures and IMF economic growth predictions. Money latest: Tourist tax warning in 10 European citiesMr Hunt said: “I think the economy, we are seeing, has turned the corner, people are beginning to feel that.””That will continue during the course of this year. But the fundamentals for the UK economy, yes, are…