In the headlines
“Spooked” lenders including Virgin Money have stopped offering mortgages to new customers, says The Daily Telegraph, amid fears the Bank of England will raise interest rates “to counter the turmoil facing the pound”. Traders predict rates will hit 6% next year, adding £800 to the typical monthly mortgage repayment. Labour has surged to its largest poll lead over the Tories since 2001. A new YouGov survey puts the opposition at 45%, 17 points ahead of the Conservatives on 28%. Nasa’s Dart spacecraft successfully struck the asteroid Dimorphos last night, in an experiment to see whether a space rock hurtling towards Earth could be knocked off course. As a Nasa commentator put it on the livestream of the impact (below), it’s “Humanity 1, Asteroid 0”.