Hey you,
So here we go again, oil prices have jumped up by 8% after the US launched fresh strikes on Iran. But on a brighter note, the Treasury Select Committee officially called the student loan system broken and unfair after 52,000 people submitted evidence (shock horror, tell us something we don’t already know), the FCA revealed suspicious trading happened before 41% of UK takeovers last year (the highest level ever recorded) and Sky is buying ITV, possibly.
It’s also World Cup season, which means millions of us suddenly think we know who’s winning every match. If you’re planning on placing any bets, there’s some gambling news you’ll want to know about first.
A lot to get into, so let’s go.
Brent crude rose above $80 a barrel after Trump declared the US-Iran peace agreement “over” and launched fresh strikes. The escalation has disrupted shipping through the Strait of Hormuz (the route that around 20% of global oil supply travels).
Earlier this year the Iran conflict was already pushing fuel costs higher and driving inflation up, things calmed down slightly, but now we’re back.
Oil doesn’t just run your car, it drives the trucks that deliver our food, the factories that make our products and the ships that carry goods globally. When oil jumps 8% in a week, that cost doesn’t just stay at the petrol pump, it travels through the entire supply chain and lands on the supermarket shelves, our energy bill and eventually our mortgage rates.
After reviewing 52,000 public submissions, a cross-party committee has called for the government to reverse the planned freeze on Plan 2 repayment thresholds. They described the student loan system as “broken and unfair” and said some government communications about student loans amounted to “mis-selling.”
Mis-selling. That’s a serious word and they chose it deliberately.
The freeze on repayment thresholds matters because the threshold is the salary level above which you start repaying. Freezing it means that as wages rise, more graduates get dragged into repayments without the threshold moving to reflect inflation. It’s a stealth increase and it hits people who are already stretched.
Generations of young people were told a student loan wasn’t really a debt, that most people would never pay it all back, that the system was manageable. For many that turned out not to be true, MPs are now formally saying the way it was communicated amounted to mis-selling. That’s a big deal.
Sky has agreed in principle a £1.6bn takeover of ITV’s media business, combining ITV’s channels and ITVX with Sky. They’ve committed £2.1bn over five years to keep commissioning Coronation Street, Emmerdale, Love Island and I’m a Celebrity (all staying free-to-air).
The merger is expected to generate £200m a year in savings and whenever a merger generates savings, jobs follow. The number hasn’t been confirmed yet but it’s coming.
Mergers almost always means less competition, fewer commissioners and a narrower range of voices. Banijay and All3Media also merged this week to become the world’s largest independent TV production company, the entire industry is consolidating at speed and whether that’s good for what we actually watch is a legitimate question.
The FCA has revealed that suspicious share trading took place before 41% of UK takeover announcements in 2025, the highest level ever recorded. Investment fraud losses also hit £1.2bn over the past year.
I chatted a bit about suspicious trading earlier this year and said the playing field isn’t always level and this week’s data proves that point.
41% of UK takeovers, preceded by suspicious trading... in almost half of all major corporate deals last year, someone appears to have known something before the rest of us (and acted on it). When markets aren’t fair, the people who lose out aren’t the traders, they’re ordinary savers.
The £1.2bn statistic deserves attention because it’s real money lost by real people who were targeted and robbed. If you’re ever approached with an investment opportunity promising unusually high returns, pressure to act quickly or requests to keep it quiet, walk away. Check the FCA register at fca.org.uk before putting money anywhere.
People who spend more than £1,000 gambling online in 24 hours, or £3,000 over 90 days, will soon face financial risk assessments. Lower thresholds apply for under-25s and the checks will use credit reference data and won’t affect credit scores.
I know this isn’t universally popular, but personally, I think it’s the right thing to do.
Gambling addictions are very serious, people lose savings, take on debt, hide it from their families and spiral before anyone intervenes. The argument against these checks is that adults should be free to spend their own money however they choose and I understand that, but when an industry is specifically designed to be as addictive as possible, some consumer protection isn’t an overreach.
The thresholds are high enough that casual gamblers won’t be affected, the people these checks are designed to reach are the ones already in serious difficulty. Catching them earlier is better than catching them after everything has collapsed.
The US Federal Reserve kept interest rates unchanged at 3.50-3.75% but rate rises could be back on the table
Microsoft has announced 4,800 job cuts
Samsung expects second-quarter profits of around £43.6bn
AstraZeneca lost more than £20bn in market value after a major trial for its heart disease drug Wainua failed to show it could reduce deaths
23andMe data breach victims are set to receive £35m in compensation
EasyJet has agreed financial terms of a £5.2bn takeover by US investment firm Castlelake
Harvey Nichols has been put up for sale after five consecutive years of losses
Bending Spoons raised $1.68bn in its stock market debut with shares jumping 40% on the first day
E-scooter compensation has topped £110m in the UK, with the largest single payout reaching £20m
The student loan story alone is exactly what happens when financial literacy isn’t treated as a priority. People make enormous decisions about debt at 17 and 18 without the tools to understand what they’re agreeing to and then twenty years later MPs call it mis-selling.
It’s not good enough and it never has been - it’s why I’ll keep doing this every Friday.
Have a wonderful weekend.
Abi x
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