Jaguar Land Rover’s decision to cut thousands of jobs comes after years of dealing with some extremely tough terrain in the world of car sales. Tough obstacles have included weakening demand from China, a shortage of vital semiconductors and the US slapping new tariffs on imported vehicles.

Then in Aug 2025, a major cyber attack caused production at Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) to grind to a halt for five weeks, losing the firm millions of pounds of revenue every day.

But these external shocks were just part of JLR’s recent journey. They also coincided with a period during which the business was becoming increasingly unbalanced.

For over the last decade or so, some of the company’s products (Range Rovers and Land Rover Defenders) have done exceptionally well, while other elements (electric vehicles) were being developed much more slowly.

And that focus on certain models has been an entirely understandable option in some instances.

During the semiconductor shortage that started in 2020 for example, JLR could not obtain enough chips to build enough vehicles to satisfy demand. So management made the commercially obvious choice – to prioritise the most profitable models.

The response reinforced what was already working best. As chip supply improved, JLR increased production of the Range Rover, Range Rover Sport and Defender, which it described as its three most profitable models. Strong demand supported high margins and high margins justified production priority. By 2026, those three models accounted for over 75% of of JLR’s wholesale volumes.

But this is where a competitive strength can also become a resilience problem. A company does not have to make a bad decision to become more exposed, but repeatedly backing its strongest products can gradually reduce the importance of other elements.

And certainly for a while, JLR’s electric efforts appeared to be less of a focus.

That said, the I-Pace model, launched in 2018, was a genuine innovation. It became the first Jaguar to win European Car of the Year in 2019 and also won World Car of the Year that year. JLR’s then chief executive Ralf Speth called it “a true game-changer”.

But being successful and quick to build one type of electric car is not the same as building an entire EV ecosystem capable of producing a succession of competitive models. Research on EV business models shows that successful scaling depends on complementary capabilities around the vehicle itself, including production, batteries, charging infrastructure and the wider business ecosystem. Tesla has been very good at this.

And while JLR invested heavily in battery, electric propulsion and manufacturing capability, it took a while to bed in. Eventually I-Pace was discontinued in 2024 and in September 2026 they launched electric Range Rover – again focusing on the car that was already the strongest.

For the Jaguar brand, a different and more radical route was chosen towards all electric and luxurious cars with a focus on value. Existing Jaguar models were progressively withdrawn while replacements were prepared.

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That may still prove to be the right strategy. But in the short term, Jaguar vehicles contributed relatively little to the business, as JLR was becoming ever more dependent on Range Rovers and Defenders. And by the time a cyberattack halted production in 2025, JLR had much less room to manoeuvre. Jaguar cars were between product generations and the EV transformation was still a work in progress.

The US tariff shock exposed another limitation. Unlike BMW and Mercedes-Benz, JLR had no substantial US manufacturing base through which to absorb the change in trade conditions.

Shocks and strategy

Responding to reports of major job losses JLR said in a statement: “As we deliver the next phase of our strategy we need to adapt to evolving global market conditions while targeting approximately £1.7 billion of savings over the next two years.

“To achieve this, we must further simplify our organisation, improve efficiency, and build greater resilience.”

Chief executive PB Balaji added: “The automotive industry faces significant challenges, with technological change amidst intense competition and ongoing geo-political uncertainty.”

This does not mean JLR management should have predicted every shock, or that every earlier decision was wrong. The Jaguar F-Pace was successful, and the I-Pace showed real innovative capability. Prioritising profitable vehicles when chips were scarce was rational.

The problem is that individually sensible decisions can gradually narrow a company’s alternatives. Research on “success traps” shows how past success can reinforce investment in existing capabilities at the expense of developing new ones. JLR shows how this can create strategic vulnerability even while parts of the business are performing exceptionally well.

Success comes not just from foreseeing what might happen if a certain strategy fails. It’s also about not becoming too reliant on specific parts of the business, which can leave the whole enterprise exposed to shocks.

Last week I turned 69. And I don’t think I’m middle-aged.

I understand why people use the term. We are living longer, many of us are healthier for longer, and people in their sixties and seventies often feel very different from previous generations at the same age. But extending midlife further and further doesn’t seem to me to be the answer.

The long-running MIDUS study asked people when they thought midlife ended. The average answer was 59. That feels much closer to my own sense of it.

When I turned 60, nothing happened. Nobody treated me differently. I didn’t feel a shift in my body. If anything, I was the healthiest I had ever been. There has been research done in the past that suggests most of us feel younger than our years past 40, so perhaps this isn’t unusual.

But I’m less interested in feeling younger than in simply being 60, or 69, and having that be enough of an answer on its own.

So I was fascinated to read research from Stanford suggesting that ageing may not happen at a slow, steady pace. The researchers found dramatic molecular changes at two particular points in adulthood, around the ages of 44 and 60, involving everything from immune function and cardiovascular health to the way we metabolise carbohydrates and alcohol.

Yet I didn’t recognise myself in the idea of some great physical shift at 60 at all.

And that interested me. Because perhaps part of the problem is that we still don’t have very good ways of talking about this stage of life. We seem to move from midlife to old age without much language for what comes between. And I don’t want to pretend that 60 is really 40, or that 70 is really 50. I’d rather acknowledge that these years are different.

What would it actually mean to name this stage properly?

The phase from 60 to 80 feels to me like a distinct period of life. It isn’t simply an extension of midlife, and it isn’t necessarily old age as most people imagine it either. It has its own possibilities, limitations, changes and questions.

My own life since 60 certainly hasn’t looked like winding down. I divorced, completed a doctorate, bought four acres of woodland, wrote more books and eventually stepped back from much of the work that had defined me for decades. In many respects my life has expanded. But I am also more aware of my body, of people around me becoming ill or dying, and of the simple mathematical fact that there is more life behind me than ahead. Both things are true.

Work can look different here, not necessarily less of it, but differently motivated. The question shifts from: what am I climbing toward? to: what is actually worth my remaining time? Relationships can become more selective too, while creativity may intensify once there is less need to build a career or prove something to anyone.

None of this requires the dramatic “reinvention” we’re so often told later life should involve. Simply continuing, doing work you value and ageing without a headline-worthy transformation attached, is good enough.

There is loss in these years too, and pretending otherwise is its own erasure. Parents die, friends die, capacities narrow in places even when health holds up in others. A stage of life that can’t hold both the loss and the freedom honestly isn’t being named. It’s being marketed.

I’ve been trying to find a name for it. The one I keep coming back to is: olderhood, roughly the years from 60 to 80.

Not because everyone between those ages is the same, or because something magical happens on a particular birthday, but because it gives us a way to acknowledge that this is a life stage of its own.

For me, olderhood is less about a number than a shift in orientation. Your career stops being the organising principle of identity, and something else moves into that space: a clearer sense of who you actually are, alongside an honest reckoning with the fact that time is now finite in a way it wasn’t at 40.

That’s not decline. It’s focus.

This didn’t happen to me because some biological alarm went off at 60. It happened because I stopped organising my life around who I was supposed to become and started paying attention to who I already was.

I notice how rarely that’s the picture we’re given of ageing.

Too often, age itself is treated as something to be afraid of, something to be managed out of sight rather than lived through. Look at photographs of older celebrities, women in particular. Nicole Kidman is a good example, styled and retouched in the photos for her recent Vogue shoot until it’s genuinely hard to tell how much of what you’re seeing is her face and how much is the work done to it. The message underneath is simple: you are allowed to be this age, as long as no one can actually see it.

And the flip side is just as damaging.

If the only publicly visible image of being old is frailty, then everyone who is older but not frail has to keep proving they’re the exception.

I’m 70, but I can still do this.

I’m 65, but I can still…

That “but” is doing a lot of work, and it’s exhausting, because it means the only way to be seen as vital at this age is to distance yourself from your own age group. And if we keep doing that, younger people only see frailty when they picture old age. They also need to see that being 70 or 75 can mean being active, curious and engaged with life. That is part of what living longer actually looks like.

I’d rather say it plainly. Old and active. Old and curious. Old and, some days, tired.

Olderhood shouldn’t need a disclaimer. It should just be visible, ordinary, and allowed to look like what it actually is.

Dr Denise Taylor is a chartered psychologist and author of ‘ThriveSpan: Walking Gently Into What Matters Now’. She writes about ageing and later life at denisetaylor.co.uk

An avid golf fan, in July Trump said he hoped to travel to Doonbeg to watch the Irish Open.

In a special video message, he told the US Embassy’s Fourth of July celebration event that he wants to see “Rory [McIlroy] and all the great players”.

“There’s nothing better than Irish-American friendship and I have a beautiful place over there – it’s one of the best, most beautiful golf courses anywhere in the world,” said Trump in his message, which was broadcast on a large screen.

“We have a place that’s so top and we have the Irish Open going to be there.

“They call it Trump National, we sometimes use the name of the location, but it’s Trump National Golf Club, and we’re looking forward to it.

“We’re going to have a tremendous celebration. I think I’m going to come over and I’m going to see it and watch. It’ll be something very, very special.”

President Connolly, an outspoken Gaza activist who has been critical of the US and said Trump is acting “like a bully” over tariffs, has come under pressure to raise issues in the Middle East during her brief meeting with the US president.

Sinn Féin and a series of other parties in the Republic who backed her in the Irish presidency campaign last year have called on her to raise Gaza during her meeting with Trump.

Ireland is one of the most pro-Palestinian countries in the European Union and has been criticised for its stance by Israel.

Police Scotland have issued a warning ahead of rival demonstrations at Glasgow Green this Saturday

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Police have vowed a “strong response” to any violence or disorder in Glasgow, as competing demonstrations are set to converge on the city this Saturday.

A Pink Ladies protest is expected at Glasgow Green at 1pm, with a number of anti- immigration groups encouraging their followers to turn out.

Opposition groups, including Stand Up to Racism Scotland, will hold a counter demonstration at the same location, kicking off at midday.

Trouble flared around Glasgow Green on July 25 when an anti-immigration rally was met by counter protesters, resulting in more than 20 people being charged in connection with the unrest.

Ahead of Saturday’s events, Police Scotland made it abundantly clear that disorder would not be tolerated, reports Glasgow Live.

Chief Superintendent Stevie Dolan said: “People have a right to peaceful protest.

“We perform various functions at protests but our main role is to prevent crime and disorder, whether that criminality is from people who are part of a protest group, counter protesters or passers-by disrupting a protest.”

He went on to say: “You will see officers in uniform as well as police horses, police dogs, police drones and the police helicopter.

“We have specially trained hate crime advisers to help assess what may constitute a hate crime.

“Officers wearing a light blue vest are called Police Liaison Officers (PLOs) and they act as a point of contact for the organiser to speak to the police.”

He continued: “If you are attending on Saturday, live nearby or just visiting the area, speak to us. We’re there for your safety.

“Any violence or disorder will get a strong response.

“There is no tolerance for people pretending to be part of a peaceful protest who are intent on causing disorder.”

Irish premier Micheál Martin said he looks forward to welcoming Mr Trump to Ireland and “discussing the many issues of mutual interest and reaffirming the strong economic, cultural and people-to-people ties between Ireland and the United States”.

“His visit comes during a remarkable sporting summer for Ireland, and the United States and this weekend’s Irish Open at Trump International Doonbeg will be a fitting conclusion to an outstanding season of sport, and I hope we will see an Irish winner lifting the trophy on Sunday,” he added.

The Daily Telegraph highlights the record donation given to Reform UK, external by cryptocurrency billionaire Ben Delo. It says the £36m gift “has the potential to transform Reform’s fortunes in the next election” by enabling the party to hire campaign managers in every target constituency. Writing in the paper, Delo denies supporting Reform for personal gain – and says his conclusion from the party’s recent troubles is that it should spend more time preparing for government, rather than trying to raise funds to compete on equal terms with Labour and the Conservatives.

Yesterday’s decision by MPs to reject assisted dying in England and Wales is featured on several front pages. “Agonising”, says the Daily Mirror, external – after the legislation to legalise the practice fell short by just 16 votes. The Guardian argues the defeat was in part the result of “lower motivation” among supporters of assisted dying, external – and suggests the failure of the latest attempt “is likely to scupper the idea for a political generation”.

A former Labour cabinet minister has told the Times that young people who are on benefits must be treated with “tough love”, external as part of efforts to get more of them into work. Alan Milburn – who has been asked by the government to write a review on youth unemployment – says young people should be given more help to find a job in exchange for a new “duty to engage”.

The Daily Mail says Andy Burnham has been accused of “running scared” of the Green Party, external after delaying a key decision on new gas drilling in the North Sea until after the Holborn by-election. Green leader Zack Polanski – who is standing in the seat – has said he will use the campaign to make clear that fossil fuels should stay in the ground. The Department for Energy says the North Sea “remains a vital national asset”.

The FT Weekend says a military jet was responsible for disrupting the travel plans of thousands of passengers earlier this week, external – after “spurious” data from its flight plan triggered the shutdown of Britain’s air traffic control system. The Ministry of Defence has declined to comment.

The highly anticipated Seafront Kitchen will welcome its first customers to Saltburn House on Sunday, September 20.

More than a week before opening, the restaurant has already attracted over 10,000 Facebook followers and 250,000 views.

Owners Kel Allen and Behnam Azadi said they had been overwhelmed by the response.

They said: “The response already has been absolutely incredible, with over 150k views on Facebook in just five days and we’d not even opened the doors yet.

“We honestly can’t thank everyone enough for getting behind us.”

The duo said Saltburn House’s prime seafront location would provide the perfect setting to expand their offering, blending familiar favourites with new dishes and ingredients sourced from local businesses wherever possible.

The Seafront Kitchen are working with local suppliers to find the best fresh ingredients for its new menu. (Image: The Seafront Kitchen)

The menu will feature the popular Teesside-style parmesans, seafood, loaded fries, glazed brioche rolls, fried chicken and fresh salads.

Kel and Ben said: “Our menu has a little bit of everything, because we believe that sharing a meal together is what matters most.

“It’s a brand new chapter for us, but we’re bringing the flavours you love with us along with some amazing new dishes we can’t wait for you to try.”

Kel and Ben recently left The Poverina in Normanby after the venue changed hands and new management announced plans to turn the pub into a sports bar.

Their attention now turns to preparing the Seafront Kitchen for the grand opening later this month.

Saltburn remains one of the region’s most popular seaside destinations, particularly during the summer months.

The owner of a bakery that is being banned from Borough Market for being ‘too successful’ has said that Britain is becoming ‘less attractive’ for businesses.

Bread Ahead founder Matthew Jones alleged that his bakery was asked to leave Borough Market because his goods are so popular with visitors. 

He told the Daily Mail that the decision was indicative of the challenges faced by business owners in Britain. 

He said: ‘It’s tough enough running a business in London at the moment without having a big landlord come and shut you down. 

‘It gets less attractive to run a business [in Britain] by the day.’ 

The bakery has served doughnuts, sourdough, pastries and coffee to its customers in the world-famous Borough Market since 2013.

After entering a renewal process for its lease, the bakery was told that it had been ‘too successful’ and was told to leave the market, according to Mr Jones. 

He alleges that Borough Market told him opening new chains abroad went against its policy. Representatives of the market also told him that they do not have the space to house such a popular stall – because it attracts so many customers. 

Bread Ahead is preparing to open a bakery in New York in November, which will be its first location in the US.

The company also has a number of sites across Asia and the Middle East – including in Bangkok, Dubai and Saudi Arabia.

‘Does that mean that every business in the market that gets successful has to leave?’ said Mr Jones.

‘If you don’t run a business well you are going to fail, but if it is successful – like mine has been – then you will be punished for it. What’s the motivation for anybody to be entrepreneurial?’ 

Mr Jones founded Bread Ahead in 2013 after leaving school at 15 and going on to work as a chef.

The company has become an online sensation thanks to visitors’ glowing reviews of its baked goods. 

The bakery owner told the Mail that it could cost up to £800,000 to move the shop out of Borough Market and into another London location. 

The bakery has become an online sensation thanks to visitors’ glowing reviews of their products

He previously said that it could put the jobs of its 83 employees at risk. 

‘We are doing everything we can within reason and then I’m being told I’m too successful. So they are ripping away half of my business. I can’t replace that,’ he said. 

In 2014, the company opened its own bakery school to ‘show the public just how easy baking good bread can be’.

Mr Jones said that he had just launched an initiative to teach a million children how to bake for free. 

He has now accused Borough Market of engaging in ‘tall poppy syndrome’ – an idea that those who stand out through success are cut down. 

Mr Jones previously said: ‘I left school at 15 and was a chef, I worked for 30 years and built a business from nothing.

‘I’ve never borrowed a penny in my life. I’ve built this, I’m bootstrapped to this business. It’s unbelievable, the devastating effect. 

‘If they pull this through it would mean the loss of 83 jobs in London, it would mean the loss of a business there.

‘It’s incomprehensible, the stress that I’m under right now.’

He said that the market had given him a year to ‘wind down’ operations. 

Bread Ahead is set to open a bakery in New York in November, which will be its first location in the US 

A spokesman for Borough Market said: ‘Our relationships with traders are really important to us, whether they’re actively trading or as part of our alumni of success stories. No matter how long businesses are with us for, we value their contribution to making Borough Market what it is.

‘As a responsible landlord, our decisions around lease renewals are made through a formal process and communicated to the trader well in advance of the expiry date. We continue to be in contact with the Bread Ahead team about their future at the market, but as discussions relating to individual tenancies are confidential it would not be appropriate to comment on the specific details of this case.

‘Our approach is to apply these processes fairly and consistently, while ensuring Borough Market continues to evolve and thrive as one of London’s leading food destinations where independent businesses can thrive.’

Meanwhile, one of the oldest businesses that operates in Borough Market is also facing closure. 

Maria’s Market Café, which has been trading for 65 years, is facing closure after the market also said their lease would not be renewed. 

Emma Leyton, who helps run the café, said: ‘The future’s looking quite bleak. There’s already a sense of loss, remorse and confusion.’ 

Hospitality owners have been beset with challenges in the past few years. 

Former chancellor Rachel Reeves increased the employer National Insurance contribution rate from 13.8 per cent to 15 per cent and reduced the secondary threshold to £5,000.

This caused fury among hospitality firms because it dragged many part-time and lower-paid staff into the tax for the first time.

Allen Simpson, the chief executive of UK Hospitality, said that the NICs change was ‘the single biggest contribution to job losses we have seen in hospitality over the last two years’. 

Now, ministers are laying out plans for a massive ‘tourist tax’ in England – as fears grow that it could fuel a jobs bloodbath.

Mayors and other local leaders will get powers to impose charges on accommodation in Labour’s latest move to raise revenues. 

That could add hundreds of pounds to the costs of holidays, with businesses warning that tens of thousands of roles in hospitality are at risk. 

The trip has been described as one of the biggest security operations ever implemented by gardaí.

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US President Donald Trump is due to land in Ireland this morning.

He will touch down on Saturday morning amid what has been described as one of the biggest security operations ever implemented by gardaí.

Mr Trump will take part in engagements in Dublin as well as at his golf resort in Doonbeg, Co Clare, which is hosting the Irish Open.

Taoiseach Micheál Martin has said he looks forward to welcoming Mr Trump to Ireland and “discussing the many issues of mutual interest and reaffirming the strong economic, cultural and people-to-people ties between Ireland and the United States”.

“His visit comes during a remarkable sporting summer for Ireland, and the United States and this weekend’s Irish Open at Trump International Doonbeg will be a fitting conclusion to an outstanding season of sport, and I hope we will see an Irish winner lifting the trophy on Sunday,” he added.

He is expected to meet President Catherine Connolly, a long-standing critic of the US president, at her official residence Áras an Uachtaráin in Dublin’s Phoenix Park, before a nearby engagement with Mr Martin, the Taoiseach at the Farmleigh Estate.

He will also attend a series of events at Deerfield, the residence of the US Ambassador to Ireland. A number of protests against Mr Trump’s visit have been planned.

Garda Commissioner Justin Kelly said peaceful protest would be facilitated as much as possible, but there will be “no tolerance” for public disorder or attempts to impact “critical movements” of the US president.

“We have robust policing plans in place and will arrest and prosecute those committing offences”, he said, adding that water cannon will be “on standby” but said he hoped they would not be needed.

Ireland’s deputy premier Simon Harris will welcome Mr Trump as he arrives off Air Force One at Dublin Airport early on Saturday morning.

Speaking ahead of the moment, the Tánaiste said the visit offers an “opportunity to mark and reflect on the deep and enduring links between Ireland and the United States”.

“I am looking forward to getting a chance to meet again with President Trump following a brief engagement on the margins of the UN General Assembly in New York last year,” he said.

“Ireland and the US have deep and enduring political, economic, cultural and historical links that transcend the administrations on both sides of the Atlantic.

“There are clear benefits from high-level visits such as this as they offer an opportunity to engage on the deep economic relationship between our two countries which creates prosperity, jobs and opportunity for large numbers of people here and in the US.”

Mr Harris said Mr Trump’s visit will be an opportunity for the Irish Government to engage substantively as the US remains Ireland’s largest trading and investment partner.

“More than 900 US companies directly employ 245,000 people in Ireland, while more than 200,000 people are directly employed by almost 800 Irish companies in the US,” he said.

“Our economic partnership delivers for both countries. US firms present in Ireland have contributed to an economic ecosystem that has driven improvements in productivity and encouraged Irish companies to scale and grow in the US and internationally.”

The visit will cause significant disruption and road closures around Dublin Airport and across the capital city as well as in Co Clare and Shannon Airport which will also be used by Mr Trump.

For all the latest news, visit the Belfast Live homepage here and sign up to our daily newsletter here.

The church, which holds Grade II listed status, was rebuilt in 1862-63 by architect Samuel Sanders Teulon, one of the most distinctive church designers of the Victorian era.

It replaced an earlier church dating from 1781, which itself stood on a medieval site thought to have served the village for centuries.

Historic records also trace a church at Hunstanworth back to at least 1311.

Its Grade II* listing places it among the country’s most important historic buildings, a designation reserved for particularly significant structures of more than special interest.

A Victorian masterpiece in the Durham Dales

St James’ sits at the heart of tiny Hunstanworth, a historic village in the North Pennines countryside west of Consett.

Unlike many ancient parish churches that evolved gradually over hundreds of years, St James’ is notable for its bold and largely complete Victorian design.

Teulon created a dramatic Gothic Revival church built from sandstone, using a mix of colours and textures to give the building a distinctive appearance.

One of its most unusual features is its patterned roof, made from purple and green slates arranged in decorative designs.

The church’s north-west tower rises above the village skyline and is topped by a pyramidal roof and weather vane, while a round stair turret adds to its fairy-tale appearance.

Large traceried windows, steep rooflines and carefully crafted stonework reflect the confidence of Victorian church architecture at its height.

Medieval roots beneath the stone

Although the present building dates from the 1860s, the site itself has a much longer religious history.

Historic England records that the church was rebuilt on a medieval site, preserving the long-standing connection between Hunstanworth and Christian worship.

That heritage means St James’ represents several centuries of village life, from the medieval parish through to the ambitious Victorian rebuilding that created the church seen today.

Inside, visitors will find stone arches, an arcaded chancel and a richly detailed interior that showcases Teulon’s craftsmanship.

A church at the centre of village life

Despite its historic significance, St James’ remains a working parish church within the Diocese of Newcastle.

Surrounded by a collection of listed buildings and historic stone walls, it forms the centrepiece of the Hunstanworth Conservation Area.

Its rural setting, dramatic Victorian architecture and centuries of history make it one of County Durham’s hidden ecclesiastical treasures.

Visiting St James’ Church

St James’ Church is in Hunstanworth, near Blanchland, in west County Durham.

Visitors exploring the Durham Dales and North Pennines will find a church that combines Victorian Gothic splendour with a much older medieval story.

Whether admired for its architecture, history or peaceful setting, St James’ remains one of the most distinctive historic churches in the county.