In this GB News interview on 18 February 2026, Liz Barclay warns that falling inflation does not mean falling pressure for the UK’s small and micro businesses. While the headline inflation rate has dropped to 3%, Liz explains that small firms are facing a very different reality. Their costs are driven by wages, rent, insurance, business rates and borrowing – many of which are still rising sharply. Some businesses are seeing double-digit increases in core costs, leaving little choice but to absorb losses or raise prices. Drawing on examples from businesses contacting Business111, Liz highlights how demand remains fragile.

            Inflation Falls, Unemployment Rises – And Small Businesses Are Still Paying the Price On paper, this week’s economic figures look like progress. Inflation is easing, wages are rising and interest rates may soon fall. But for the UK’s 5.6 million small and micro businesses, none of this feels like recovery. Their costs are still climbing, hiring is becoming unaffordable, skills are harder to find and demand remains fragile. What the headline numbers mask is a growing gap between economic theory and everyday reality – and it is being felt most acutely by the businesses that employ millions, support local communities and quietly keep the economy on its feet.

            I had a distress call first thing yesterday morning. It came from a wonderful business adviser I know who cares passionately about the clients she works with. This one though, had her foxed. A small business with 8 employees and a full order book had run out of working capital. The huge household name business they supplied owes the small 8-person business money. That’s not unusual. Nor is there anything unusual about the fact the small business asked their bank to extend their overdraft to keep them going until the money owed came in.

           

           

              GB News    @GBNEWS 'Surely the lesson of history is Britain needs America's help?' GB News Political Correspondent  @OliviaUtley asks Former British Army Officer Lt Col Stuart Crawford about Britain's relationship with the US and its defence capabilities. Lt. Col. Stuart on GBNews says: -  * Rubio softens the tone, not the message: Europe must pay more for its own defence. * Clear reassurance: the US is not walking away from Europe. * Audible relief in the room as Washington rules out decoupling. * Starmer’s speech: strong rhetoric, limited substance.

            Copyright and all rights reserved - .gov.uk This story has been provided by the Defence and armed forces division of www.gov.uk and does not necessarily reflect the views of Lt. Col. Stuart Crawford or www.defencereview.UK The UK will lead the multinational defensive cyber exercise Defence Cyber Marvel (DCM) 2026, a multilateral cyber defence exercise conducted by the British Army Cyber Association. More than 2,500 personnel from 29 countries to combat borderless cyber threats in a simulated environment. Demonstrates international collaboration, essential for effective cyber defence in real world scenarios. Exercise tests ability to coordinate international responses in a realistic operational environment, with scenarios mirroring genuine cyber threats.

            0.1% ‘Growth’? Britain’s Small Firms Left on Economic Life Support My take on our bloodless (never mind anaemic) growth The UK economy essentially flatlined in the last quarter. 0.1% growth may technically be ‘growth’ but in effect it’s stagnation. For small and micro businesses that means they’re on life support. There’s no growth in the services sector. We’re a services sector lead country and services is the sector most small businesses operate in. Manufacturing is doing the heavy lifting, not services and that’s not saying a lot. Construction experiencing its worst performance in over four years…

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              Venezuela After Maduro: What Britain Must Learn from the Chaos A new documentary released this week — Venezuela: A Month After Maduro’s Capture — lays bare the turbulence now gripping Caracas. What began as a dramatic U.S. operation to remove Nicolás Maduro has not produced stability, but uncertainty and strategic risk. For Britain, thousands of miles away, the lessons are both immediate and uncomfortable. The film makes clear that ousting a regime head — however justified that action might seem — is only the first chapter in a much longer, messier story.

             Two award-winning novelists Sally Gardner and Francis Spufford talk about their latest works, The Bride Stone, the story of a late 18th-century marriage of convenience, and Nonesuch, the story of an ambitious woman who must thwart an occult plot. Gardner’s debut novel, I Coriander, won the Nestle Gold Award. She is also author of The Weather Woman and a writer of children’s books, including the Carnegie Medal-winning Maggot Moon. In her latest, The Bride Stone, Duval Harrington returns from prison in France to find Muchmore in chaos and his despicable father dead.

            Copyright and all rights reserved - .gov.uk This story has been provided by the Defence and armed forces division of www.gov.uk and does not necessarily reflect the views of Lt. Col. Stuart Crawford or www.defencereview.UK During a visit to meet Royal Marine Commandos at Camp Viking in the Arctic Circle in northern Norway, the Defence Secretary will today confirm that the number of British troops deployed to Norway will double over three years from 1,000 to 2,000 personnel. British troops deployed to Norway to double over three years from 1,000 to 2,000 personnel.

             This article was originally produced here - When the Centre Stops Thinking: How the Mutual Admiration Society Imploded by Frederick Lauritzen  The mutual admiration society is in shock and fear. They appear like sheep in a circle turned inwards and trembling. The combined news of the Epstein and Mandelson scandals has opened Pandora’s box. It has let out the beast hidden before our eyes: ideology. The fall of communism in Europe in 1991 was interpreted as the end of the far left and the far right in politics. The golden middle ground ('aurea mediocritas') was king.

            LT COL STUART CRAWFORD: We cannot afford complacency. The Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty between the USA and Russia, commonly known as “New Start”, and which aimed at limiting the number of nuclear warheads held by both states, has come to an end. To be honest it has been on life support for the last few years, ever since Russia suspended its participation in the furore over the invasion of Ukraine. Nonetheless, both sides were believed to be abiding to its terms, which limited the USA and Russia to ‘only’ 1,550 nuclear warheads each and made provision for mutual information transfer and site inspections.

            Small business owners will be watching the Bank of England at midday with growing frustration. Many rely on borrowing just to keep trading, and with margins already squeezed, they need interest rates to come down. Instead, a cut now looks unlikely after inflation ticked up again last month. Hopes that rates might fall from 3.75% following the Budget are fading fast. Mortgage holders will still be crossing their fingers, while savers — many of whom have already received letters warning of lower returns — will be hoping rates are held where they are.

            As the Middle East once again awaits a possible US strike on Iran, American and Israeli navies have recently carried out a joint exercise in the Red Sea. A US Navy destroyer docked in Israel for a routing, pre-planned visit and trained thereafter alongside Israeli vessels as part of an ongoing collaboration with the US Navy’s 5th Fleet. According to CNN, over the past few weeks the USA has gathered a sizeable military force around Iran as negotiations over Iran’s nuclear and programmes are prolonged to the point of stalling altogether.

            Last month in the House of Lords, we debated an issue that should worry every serious policymaker in this country: the rapid advance of superintelligent artificial intelligence, and the alarming lack of urgency from government in dealing with it. This was the second debate on the subject in a matter of weeks. That is not a coincidence. It reflects a growing unease that Britain — and much of the world — is drifting towards a technology that could outpace our ability to control it. This is not science fiction. Real harm is already happening.

            to help businesses as rates relief is phased out. E-invoicing: what is it and what will it mean for me? One of the announcements in the budget that you might have missed was the one about e-invoicing. It’s going to happen by 2029. If that doesn’t excite you, let me tell you more. E‑invoicing is short for Electronic Invoicing. It is the direct digital exchange of structured invoice data between a supplier’s finance system and a buyer’s finance system. It is not emailing a PDF, Word document, scanned image or HTML invoice which may well be perfectly acceptable at the moment as methods to invoice the customers you work with.

             This article was originally produced here - Trump’s target is Cuba. The dusty history books must be taken down from the shelf.  The island is central to North American geopolitics. Three British brothers conquered the island in 1762, George, Augustus, and William Keppel. The conquest and their occupation of Havana defined the place of Cuba in the Caribbean. The Spanish Empire did not allow the island to trade with any other country other than Spain. When the Keppels returned it to Spain, it was on condition that Cuba could also trade with other countries.

              I have long struggled to reconcile Sir Keir Starmer’s approach to national defence with the responsibilities of the office he now holds. That unease has only deepened with today’s revelations about his past willingness to use the European Convention on Human Rights as a vehicle to pursue British service personnel through the courts for alleged war crimes. This is not a marginal or academic concern. It goes to the heart of whether the Prime Minister understands, respects and is prepared to discharge the first duty of any government: the defence of the state and the security of its people.

            Pubs and Music Venues Get Rates Freeze in Cost-of-Living Lifeline Pubs and music venues in England will be given a 15% discount on their business rates bills from April and will not see increases for two years, the government has announced. There’s nothing in the bank for any other hospitality businesses, and many pubs will still face increased business rates bills despite the discount. After weeks of being told that they would get help this feels very much like a sticking plaster which is only likely to delay disaster. The pub may just stay open a little longer.

            Last night I stood in the House of Lords to move Amendment 450 to the Crime and Policing Bill. I did so because the United Kingdom has reached a dangerous point: terrorism can be publicly praised, romanticised and sanitised, while the law struggles to respond. That is not a theoretical concern. It is a lived reality for victims, and a growing risk for our society. For twenty years we have had an offence of “glorification of terrorism” on the statute book. In practice, it is close to toothless. Under Section 1 of the Terrorism Act 2006, prosecutors must prove not only that terrorism was praised, but that the person doing so intended others to emulate it.

            For two decades the United Kingdom has nominally outlawed the glorification of terrorism. In practice, the law has failed. I am putting forward an amendment to the Crime and Policing Bill  because Parliament must confront an uncomfortable truth: we have allowed the public celebration of terrorist violence to become normalised, sanitised and, in some quarters, fashionable. The current offence under Section 1 of the Terrorism Act 2006 sets the bar so high that prosecutions are vanishingly rare. It requires proof not merely that terrorism is being praised, but that the speaker intended others to be encouraged to emulate it.

Once upon a time…. It was a dark and stormy night but I was thrilled to be judging again for the Elite 100 Business Awards so I hunkered down and snuggled up. I spent a large part of the weekend reading about a group of wonderful businesses: how they were set up, what they do, how they support their communities and charities; their ambitions for the future and how they embrace technology and innovate. I came away from reading each application wishing I’d been the brains behind that creative firm.

            Copyright and all rights reserved - .gov.uk Defence talks in Copenhagen today will bring the UK and Denmark together to discuss High North security, industrial cooperation, and vital support to Ukraine, with Defence Secretary John Healey MP meeting Danish Defence Minister Troels Lund Poulsen. UK and Denmark to hold defence talks today as Defence Secretary John Healey travels to Copenhagen. Ukraine support, industrial cooperation and the Joint Expeditionary Force (JEF) will be discussed, as well as how European nations can step up on security in the High North. Comes as planning continues for major JEF exercise activity taking place in 2026.