Lawyers and doctors assisting the first UK tradespeople diagnosed with a lung disease linked to a material used in kitchen revamps believe the cases could mark the “start of an epidemic”.

The first cases of silicosis among tradespeople who have worked with an artificial stone popular in modern kitchen worktops have been reported in the UK in recent months.

The material – high-silica engineered stone quartz – has already been banned in Australia, where it was described as a modern-day asbestos after hundreds of suspected cases were identified.

...

Daniel Easton, a partner with Leigh Day, is representing the first UK patients to have been diagnosed with silicosis after working with the stone. The long-term lung disease is caused by inhaling large amounts of crystalline silica dust, which is created while cutting the slabs.

He told i: “We may be sitting on an epidemic of silicosis that’s going to become a major issue over the next couple of years. There are signs that we may be starting down a similar road to Australia.

...

It is understood up to 10 cases of silicosis linked to artifical stone have now been identified in the UK, after i revealed in February that three cases were reported last year to the surveillance scheme Sword, used by physicians to log work-related respiratory diseases.

The popularity of quartz kitchen surfaces has exploded in recent years, and it is now the UK’s most popular worktop material.

Specialist water cutting techniques can suppress the spread of dust during manufacturing, but dry cutting can leave workers exposed to harmful amounts of silica dust.

...

In Australia, screening programmes since 2018 found 11 per cent of of 4,743 stonemasons and engineered stone workers received a probable or confirmed diagnosis of silicosis because of workplace exposure to dust known as respirable crystalline silica (RCS).

British computer business Raspberry Pi is finalising plans to float on the stock market this month in a transaction that could value it at up to £500 million.

The Cambridge-based business is best known for selling low-cost, credit-card-sized computers to help children learn to code.

The float could take place within the next ten days, according to City sources, although they cautioned that it could be delayed if market conditions deteriorate.

...

Raspberry Pi’s figures for 2022, the latest accounts filed at Companies House, show it employed 94 staff and made $20 million of operating profit from $187 million of revenue.

If the flotation takes place, it would be the second attempt by Raspberry Pi to list on the market. Upton had aimed to float the company in London in 2021 but ditched the plan when stock markets were knocked by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Raspberry Pi was also hit by a worldwide shortage of semiconductor chips.

Upton, who works at the firm with his wife, Liz, revived talk of a listing last October when he said “when the markets are ready, we’ll be ready as well”. It is understood Raspberry Pi has been telling prospective investors that it can grow the company by selling more of its products to businesses and through international sales.

Archive

The Northern Lights are set to be visible across large parts of the UK overnight as a huge solar storm is going to hit Earth.

America's National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) reportedly issued its first severe solar storm warning since 2005 yesterday as a huge geomagnetic storm races towards Earth - meaning it could be the most powerful experienced in almost two decades.

It's set to hit overnight, and could supercharge the Northern Lights, making them visible in Scotland, northern England and Wales and even further south if conditions are right.

But the impressive Aurora Borealis could also potentially interfere with infrastructure, including the power grid and satellites when it hits.

I'm not 5G enabled yet so theoretically 4G+ should be my fastest connection speed. However, on O2 I find that it's effectively the same as having no connection at all, and often end up shifting down to 3G just to get some connection.

This can't be right, I feel like I've forgotten a setting or something! Has anyone managed to figure it out, or maybe first does anyone else have the same issue?

Clothes rental for children is one of the latest chapters in how “libraries of things” are becoming an increasingly common way to save money, space and waste. The theory is simple: instead of buying a household item or a piece of clothing or some equipment you might use once or twice, you take it out and return it.

The London-based Library of Things opened three new locations across the city this year and are planning two more. Co-founder Rebecca Trevalyan says their mission is to make “borrowing better than buying”.

“We really want to make rental go mainstream, make it more affordable, convenient and socially rewarding than buying something from Amazon,” she says.

There are many success stories of previous borrowers from her locations. One person hired a metal detector to hunt down the wedding ring they lost when camping in Sussex and found it within 20 minutes. Another rented a planer at £11 a day to fix two doors in her flat after being quoted £245 for a handyman to come in and do the three hour job.

In Wales, Benthyg Cymru runs a network of more than two dozen libraries across the country. And Edinburgh’s Tool Library has thousands of options to choose from. In Bath, you can book in a cargo bike delivery and collection to pick up your item from its Share and Repair shop.

All libraries have a selection of items that people may normally find too bulky, expensive or not useful enough to buy. Some are keen to try something to see if it’s worth the investment. The number one most popular thing to borrow is a carpet cleaner, followed by a cordless drill and a hand sander, according to Trevalyan.

...

One in 10 people now chooses to rent rather than buy brand-new, a rising number since 2022, according to figures from Barclaycard Payments and economic analysts Development Economics.

Linda Weston, managing director of Barclaycard Payments, says the rising cost of living and a move towards more sustainable habits are shifting shopping habits. “Our data shows we’re increasingly opting to shop second-hand, or rent items for a short period of time, rather than buying outright. The trend is permeating a range of sectors, from childcare to pet care and from fashion to fitness.”

Full text archive link: https://archive.is/SDX09

Brewer will put £40mn annually into refurbishing its UK estate as pub groups regain confidence

Heineken is reopening 62 UK pubs it had closed in recent years and will put about £40mn annually into refurbishing its estate in the latest sign that pub groups are regaining confidence as cost of living pressures ease.

The move by the world’s second-largest brewer, which owns 2,400 pubs in the UK through its Star Pubs and Bars arm, will restore the number of operating outlets in its estate to pre-pandemic levels.

“Now is clearly a significant moment in terms of the resilience of pubs coming back and showing how they can still work very well for consumers up and down the country,” said Lawson Mountstevens, Star Pubs’ managing director.

Heineken, which leases out most of its pubs, has spent more than £200mn maintaining them over the past five years and plans to continue investing at a similar level.

This year it will put £39mn into the reopenings and makeovers across 94 outlets, mainly in suburban areas where more people work from home. The spending will include increasing kitchen space and improving gardens, as outdoor space has become more popular since the pandemic. A total of 612 pubs will benefit from investment.

“I would envision us investing at around those levels for the next four years or so,” Mountstevens said. Continued investment was Heineken’s “massive vote of confidence in the longevity of pubs in the UK”, he added.

Britain’s hostelries have been hard hit by the cost of living crisis; consumers are spending less money in pubs and bars than at any time since Covid lockdowns ended, according to recent research by Deloitte. Beer is one of the consumer goods they have particularly cut back on, FT research recently found.

Rising operating costs and financing challenges have also affected the sector. But the bullishness of Star Pubs is the latest sign that large players in the industry are shifting to the offensive. The pub sector expects improvements in trading and financing this year.

Greene King announced last week that it would invest £40mn in a new brewery in Bury St Edmunds, with plans for this to replace the existing brewery there in 2027. Punch Pubs announced last week that it had acquired 24 pubs from the Milton Three pub group, which fell into administration in November. The deal is believed to be worth about £15mn.

“Consumer confidence is beginning to return, which is reflected in the tentative signs of an uplift in pub sales,” said Emma McClarkin, chief executive of the British Beer and Pub Association, the industry body. “Investors are making big investments into the UK in our sector and confidence in the beer and pub sector for the long-term is strong.”

The UK has 45,300 pubs but 530 of them shut their doors last year, according to the BBPA. The number of closures was higher than even the height of the pandemic in both 2020 and 2021 when the government provided support.

Peel Hunt analyst Douglas Jack warned that borrowing costs still remained high for many private companies but added: “Confidence is improving as real disposable income is growing and interest rates are forecast to fall.”

Analysis of Home Office data showed the impact of the shift from EU to non-EU migrants. Migrants from the Middle East, North Africa and Turkey aged 25-64 were almost twice as likely to be economically inactive as someone born in the UK.

Spanish migrants typically earned around 40pc more than migrants from Pakistan or Bangladesh, while migrants from countries such as Canada, Singapore and Australia paid between four and nine times as much income tax as migrants from Somalia or Pakistan.

10 years without an increase in funding for SEND pupils is outrageous. Austerity is very much alive and well.