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You might notice that things are looking a little different 👀We’ve been working hard in the background on a few system improvements (which we won’t bore you with). If something doesn’t work as expected, hit reply to let us know❣️

Conservationists are celebrating after a new study found that 26 Australian species have recovered enough to no longer be considered as threatened. Researchers reviewed the animals that were listed as threatened between 2002 and December 2022, and found big improvements in the population size and distribution of species including the eastern barred bandicoot and the sooty albatross.

🔋 All about the price cap

Energy regulator Ofgem is due to announce its latest cap on the amount that energy suppliers can charge households - but bills are set to rise in April regardless. This has reopened the debate over government support with household energy bills.

What is Ofgem announcing?
Ofgem will outline what a household energy bill would have been from April and July, had the government’s Energy Price Guarantee (EPG) - which limits the cost per unit of energy - not been in place. This is expected to be lower than previously expected, at around £3,295, due to a sharp fall in wholesale energy costs.

Why is this significant?
Ofgem’s announcement today will not affect what customers pay for each unit of gas and electricity, because that’s still limited by a government guarantee. But it is likely to show that the cost to government of providing support to households is lower than initially expected.

What are energy bills rising to?
Under the government’s guarantee, the typical household is currently paying £2,500 on energy bills annually. Without government support, this would’ve been £4,279 since January (Ofgem’s current price cap). The government has already announced a reduction in energy bill support from April, which means that bills will rise to £3,000 a year for a typical household.

What exactly do campaigners want?
As falling wholesale prices mean that the potential cost to government for an energy support scheme could be billions of pounds less than initially thought, campaigners argue that the government must stop the further rise in energy bills this April.

However, Chancellor Jeremy Hunt has previously said that the government does not have the “headroom” to make a major new initiative to help people. Forecasts suggest that household bills will continue to fall over the coming months, due to a fall in wholesale energy costs.

👩‍💻 Building businesses

An independent review has found that female entrepreneurs created a record number of new companies in the UK in 2022, despite facing challenges in accessing funding.

What did the review find?
The Rose Review Progress Report 2023 found that women in the UK launched over 150,000 companies last year. This is up from 145,000 in 2019, and more than twice the number in 2018.

Since first reporting in 2019, the government-commissioned review - led by Alison Rose, the CEO of NatWest - has repeatedly highlighted the barriers faced by female entrepreneurs. According to the review, up to £250 billion could be added to the UK economy if women matched men in starting and scaling up businesses.

What specific barriers are female founders facing?
While the number of female-led companies grew last year, men were still three times more likely to start a new business. And half of female business leaders and entrepreneurs reported finding access to investment difficult last year, compared with 40% of their male counterparts.

How will this disparity be addressed?
The Rose Review and its partners have pledged to provide female founders with three million places on programmes and opportunities for support over the next three years. The government has also announced their ambition to increase the number of women launching companies by half by 2030.

And Ann Francke, chief executive of the Chartered Management Institute, has also highlighted the need for “more comprehensive and affordable childcare solutions” for all women in work.

👏 Big day: Campaigners have hailed a new law raising the legal marriage age to 18 in England and Wales as a “huge leap forward” in tackling “hidden abuse”.

🇬🇧 NI Protocol: PM Rishi Sunak and the European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen are set to hold “final talks” on a new post-Brexit deal for Northern Ireland today. 

🗳️ Deselection row: The Tory MP for Stafford, Theo Clarke, has lost her bid to stand for a seat in the next general election, one week after returning from maternity leave.

🌠 Aurora: The spectacular northern lights were visible as far south as Cornwall and Kent last night - and they’re expected to be visible again tonight.

🫑 Smells like green chiles: New Mexico could become the first US state to have an official aroma - of green chiles roasting in the fall. What would your city’s official smell be?

Trivia answer: B) The spice rack - the study found that 48% of spice jars showed evidence of cross-contamination.