Blockbuster Budget

Hello from the FT newsroom. The UK government unveiled its Budget yesterday, hiking taxes by ￡40bn to repair the country’s public finances. The prospect of extra borrowing and the ￡25bn rise in national insurance that employers are set to shoulder has unsettled markets.

While Reeves’ plans are directed at businesses, it is working people who will pay the price , suggests consumer editor Claer Barrett. She warns that the increased burden on employers will materialise in hiring freezes, pay restraint and a reduction to bonus pools. Here’s a detailed explainer on how the Budget will affect your personal finances.

This Budget will take the country’s tax burden to the highest on record, says our chief political commentator Robert Shrimsley. The Labour party has moved the UK towards proximity with its higher taxed European neighbours — and potentially imperilled its growth ambitions in the process , he writes.

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My choices this week

1. Polls suggest that next week’s US presidential election will be a dead heat. But what exactly would a second coming of Donald Trump mean? Chief economics commentator Martin Wolf has the answers .
2. This week, Volkswagen announced it would shut three plants in its German heartland, for the first time in its 87-year history. The reasons why are mostly made in China. (Free to read)
3. When Elliott Hill joined Nike as an intern 32 years ago, he probably did not expect to one day land the company’s top job. But his new role as chief executive is evidence that such a path does exist. Does it pay to be a company lifer?
4. For more than 500 days, a brutal civil war has raged in Sudan. In this visual investigation, FT satellite analysis demonstrates the deliberate targeting of doctors and hospitals , and underlines the immense human suffering.
5. Scientists have been training giant rats to help curb the illegal wildlife trade. The wily rodents are sniffing out all kinds of contraband — from elephant tusks to pangolin scales .
6. Fiona Golfar’s husband Robert has been living with cancer for nearly 10 years. That is a decade of being shuffled in and out of oncology appointments, blinking and bewildered. But when she walked into the warm embrace of Maggie’s, a cancer support centre, she rediscovered the nourishing potential of human kindness . (Free to read)

Thanks for reading,

Roula

PS You can read our story on company lifers for free on the FT Edit app , which gives you eight of our best stories every weekday, handpicked by our editors.