Boris Johnson should bar Bain & Company from lucrative government contracts in light of a judicial commission’s findings about the management consultancy’s “despicable” role in state corruption in South Africa, Peter Hain has said. In a letter shared with the Guardian, the former Labour minister and anti-apartheid campaigner urged Johnson to “immediately freeze all government contracts with Bain” and to advise all public bodies to do the same. – Guardian
The Hunterston B nuclear power station will shut down for ever at noon on Friday after 46 years of service, reducing the UK’s nuclear capacity by one-eighth and prompting calls from the industry for greater government backing for the sector. The plant, on the west coast of Scotland, provided one gigawatt of the UK’s 7.9GW nuclear capacity, enough to power to 1.7m homes. – Guardian
One of Britain’s biggest technology companies is investigating suspicious payments to senior executives at its Chinese joint venture, presenting a potential complication to its $40bn (£30bn) takeover by a US rival. Cambridge-based microchip maker Arm said that “allegations related to the appropriateness of payments” had been made against senior management at Arm China, which it co-owns with a Chinese investment firm. – Telegraph
When Simon Farthing started travelling less amid the pandemic, he traded in his petrol-run Volkswagen Tiguan for an all-electric Tesla Model 3. “If you’re only going from your home to work, and back to your home again, you find you don’t need the convenience of a car that can do longer range,” says Farthing, the manager of a software company. “It’s fantastic,” he adds. “It feels very, very safe and secure on the road.” – Telegraph
More than 50 lenders are caught up in an alleged fraud at Arena Television, which is suspected of inventing thousands of fake assets as it racked up nearly £300 million of loans, administrators have revealed. High street banks and specialist lenders are facing embarrassment and substantial losses as it emerged that only nine of fifty-five lenders to Arena have any verified assets supporting their loans, according to an official filing by insolvency practitioners at Kroll. – The Times
