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Advertised roles dropped 3% last month to 695,000 – first dip below 700,000 since January 2021, job site Adzuna saysThe number of job vacancies in the UK has tumbled to the lowest level in five years, research suggests, falling to levels not seen since the pandemic.The number of jobs being advertised slid by 3% in January to 695,000, according to the job search site Adzuna, marking the first time advertised vacancies have dropped below 700,000 since January 2021. Continue reading......

Johnny Rich proposes a sustainable funding model for higher education. Plus letters from Henry Malt and David GleaveOn the subject of student debts (Student debt is a generational injustice. Why are we squeezing graduates harder than the super-rich?, 16 February), Gaby Hinsliff writes: “If the government has better options, then let's hear them sooner rather than later.” Any better option must address the problem that the courses that universities offer – brilliant though they mostly are – aren't what the economy needs and so aren't maximising returns.Universities are funded to offer the courses students want to study, not what society and employers value most. Understandably, young people pursue choices based on their ambitions rather than the national interest. This creates an oversupply in forensic science, for instance, and skills shortages in engineering. Continue reading......

Financial difficulties at one of the UK's most prestigious institutions are a sign of the times. But maintaining free access to great art must be a priority“The National Gallery is doing a great job isn't it?” David Hockney reflected in 2024. “Everything in the collection is good, every single picture is good.” Judging by recent performance, the artist would seem to be right. The gallery's blockbuster Van Gogh exhibition closed in January last year after a record-breaking 335,000 visitors. Its 200th anniversary celebrations, including the opening of the newly designed Sainsbury Wing and rehang, attracted a 60% rise in visitors since May.But barely 10 months later, the art world is digesting the stark news that the National Gallery will face a deficit of £8.2m in the coming year. Proposed cuts could include fewer free exhibitions, higher ticket prices, less international borrowing and job losses. Two huge cash donations of £150m each are ringfenced to build an ambitious new wing for ...

Company will shift focus to hybrids, citing drop-off in EV demand among sports car lovers who 'miss the noise'The Italian supercar manufacturer Lamborghini has abandoned plans to make all-electric vehicles, and will instead focus on making plug-in hybrid cars, after a drop-off in demand for EVs among its wealthy clientele.Lamborghini unveiled its first all-electric concept car, the Lanzador, in 2023, but it is no longer planning to put it into production. Continue reading......

The long-running series in which readers answer other readers' questions on subjects ranging from trivial flights of fancy to profound scientific and philosophical concepts• This week's question: what would happen to the world if computer said yes?I've always thought it would be good to acquire an old warehouse in every town throughout the land and convert it into low-rent community workspaces for artists, local charities and small businesses getting off the ground. A kind of people's WeWork. What would others do with a humungous, but not unlimited, pile of dosh to benefit society? Roland Freeman, West YorkshireSend new questions to nq@theguardian.com. Continue reading......

In the world being ushered in by Trump, power will prevail over cooperation. We will come to rue having taken this pathThe Canadian prime minister, Mark Carney, inspired a wave of enthusiastic nodding among the cosmopolitan crowd gathered in Davos last month when he took to the podium and proclaimed that the world order underwritten by the United States, which prevailed in the west throughout the postwar era, was over.The organizing principle that emerged from the ashes of the second world war, that interdependence would promote world peace by knitting nations' interests together in a drive for common security and prosperity, no longer works. The US blew it up. Continue reading......

Battle-tested Ukrainian startup that advertises a 'Killbox' drone recruited Prince as non-executive chairAfter multiple sources previously told the Guardian that Erik Prince – Maga ally and founder of the now defunct mercenary company Blackwater – was looking to work with Ukraine's invaluable drone sector, recent Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) documents confirm he now is.Swarmer, which bills itself as a battle-tested Ukrainian startup specializing in autonomous drone software, filed for an initial public offering and has recruited Prince to help sell the company as non-executive chair. Continue reading......

Business leaders expect UK to 'double down' on deal announced by Donald Trump and Keir Starmer in 2025Graeme Wearden: Trump's trade war risks undermining his hopes of hefty US interest rate cutsHigh-level talks with the US administration over the threat of increased tariffs are under way as the UK government says it wants “the best possible deal” for UK companies.Business leaders also said they expected the UK to “double down” on the existing Economic Prosperity Deal (EPD) – announced by Donald Trump and Keir Starmer in May last year – rather than walk away. Continue reading......

Education secretary Bridget Phillipson suggests priority is grants for poorer students rather than cutting interestKemi Badenoch has said the Conservatives would scrap the “unfair debt trap” of high interest rates on student loans, piling pressure on Labour ministers to tackle the growing outrage over the high costs.The education secretary, Bridget Phillipson, admitted the system of plan 2 loans had “problems” but suggested the government's priority would be maintenance grants for poorer students, rather than tackling the high interest rates. Continue reading......

US president calls for removal of Susan Rice as streaming platform pursues takeover of Warner Bros DiscoveryDonald Trump has told Netflix to remove the Democratic foreign policy expert Susan Rice from its board or “face the consequences”, while the streaming platform is locked in an extraordinary corporate battle to take control of Warner Bros Discovery (WBD).In comments posted on his Truth Social platform, the US president described Rice – who served as national security adviser to Barack Obama and UN ambassador and White House adviser under Joe Biden – as a “political hack” and accused her of having “no talent or skills”. Continue reading......

Exclusive: Police Federation condemns deployment of US firm's tech to analyse behaviour as 'automated suspicion'Scotland Yard is using AI tools supplied by the US tech company Palantir to monitor staff behaviour in an attempt to root out failing officers, the Guardian has learned.The Metropolitan police has previously declined to confirm or deny whether it used technology supplied by the company, which also works for the Israeli military and Donald Trump's ICE operation. It has now confirmed that it is using Palantir's AI to analyse internal data about sickness levels, absences from duty and overtime patterns in an effort to identify potential shortcomings in professional standards. Continue reading......

Upping tariffs may have lifted the president's mood but it is a headache for the Federal Reserve and its next chairDonald Trump and Denis Healey don't have much in common. One of the greatest prime ministers Britain never had shares little of his famous hinterland with what some historians see as one of the worst occupants of the White House.But Trump would be well advised to remember Healey's first law of holes – when you're in one, stop digging. Continue reading......

Welsh Rugby Union is to cut number of professional teams from four to three, with Ospreys the likely choiceFor Ian Gough, a lock forward who had been dropped by the Wales national rugby union team, signing with Swansea's Ospreys in 2007 was life-changing: he credits his time at the club with resurrecting his international career.“It was great fun playing for the Ospreys,” he said. “They did it the hard way, ground their way up, and the supporters embraced that identity and went with them on that journey to becoming a good side. Continue reading......

Friedrich Merz to meet Xi Jinping in Beijing as China overtakes US as country's leading export destinationChina has overtaken the US as Germany's top trading partner, figures have shown, as the chancellor, Friedrich Merz, prepares for his first visit to Beijing since taking office.Merz will head to China on Tuesday and will be welcomed with military honours on Wednesday in Beijing by the prime minister, Li Qiang, before later meeting the president, Xi Jinping, for talks over dinner, his spokesperson, Sebastian Hille, said. Continue reading......

Insurers say cases of scammers manipulating people into staging crashes and filing bogus claims are under-reportedRomance fraud typically evokes images of people being tricked out of their life savings by partners they meet on dating sites, but some scammers use a different tactic: recruiting unsuspecting victims into fake insurance claims.The scam involves a fraudster convincing their partner, or a person they are dating, either to say they have witnessed a car accident, or to take out an insurance policy and file a bogus claim in order to secure a payout. Continue reading......

Indoor growers warn April price jump will hinder sector's competitiveness and drive up costs for consumersOutside, it's an overcast and blustery February day in Kent – hardly the ideal conditions for growing tomatoes, cucumbers and peppers. Yet inside the enormous glasshouses run by grower Thanet Earth, the climate has been optimised to a humid 20C, perfect for the regimented rows of small pepper plants poking out of raised trays.Growing fresh produce indoors in the south of England year-round requires plenty of energy to provide light, warmth and carbon dioxide. But the site's energy bills are about to grow too, when a significant increase in electricity standing charges comes into force on 1 April. Continue reading......

CBI and Energy UK report finds 40% of firms have cut investment as electricity costs remain far above pre-Ukraine levelsThe UK is at risk of losing its status as a major manufacturing centre after a sharp rise in energy prices that has forced about 40% of businesses to cut back investment, according to a report by the CBI and Energy UK.In a stinging message to ministers, the report said British businesses – from chemical producers to pubs and restaurants – were being undermined by a failure to cap prices and upgrade the UK's ageing gas and electricity networks. Continue reading......

Major chains agree to halve default sweetness, but street vendors and cafes remain outside sugar tax rulesA crowd of customers, holding phones aloft, watch intently as Auntie Nid mixes up her bestseller: an iced Thai tea.Condensed milk is poured into a glass, followed by three heaped tablespoons of sugar, and then freshly strained tea. The end product – a deep orange, creamy treat – is poured into a plastic bag filled with ice. Continue reading......

President announced increase from 10% using different authority from mechanism that supreme court struck down on FridayDonald Trump announced on Saturday that would raise a temporary tariff rate on US imports from all countries from 10% to 15%, less than 24 hours after the US supreme court ruled against the legality of his flagship trade policy.Infuriated by the high court's ruling on Friday that he had exceeded his authority and should have got congressional approval for the tariffs, the US president railed against the justices who blocked his use of tariffs, calling them a “disgrace to the nation”, and ordered an immediate 10% tariff on all imports, in addition to any existing levies. Continue reading......

Families are navigating the tough choice between unimaginable riches and the identity that comes with landWhen two men knocked on Ida Huddleston's door last May, they carried a contract worth more than $33m in exchange for the Kentucky farm that had fed her family for centuries.According to Huddleston, the men's client, an unnamed “Fortune 100 company”, sought her 650 acres (260 hectares) in Mason county for an unspecified industrial development. Finding out any more would require signing a non-disclosure agreement. Continue reading......