
Billionaire to open maths school for the most talented children
Alex Gerko, a Russian-born billionaire, has already spent millions of pounds trying to improve numeracy in this country. He is now launching a 'needs blind' private school, offering bursaries to those who cannot afford the fees, which is due to open in September next year in north London.
It will be called 1729 Maths School because of the number's significance in maths as the smallest sum of two cubes expressed in different ways (it is known as the Hardy-Ramanujan or 'taxicab' number).
Gerko, the founder of XTX Markets, went to a specialist maths school in Moscow from the age of 12 and wants British children to
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


The Independent
9 minutes ago
- The Independent
Tesco raises price of meal deal by 25p
The UK's biggest supermarket, Tesco, has increased the price of its lunchtime meal deal by 25p. The chain said its meal deal has risen from £3.60 to £3.85 for Clubcard members, and from £4 to £4.25 for shoppers without a loyalty card. Some 80% of Tesco's customers use Clubcard when buying a lunchtime meal deal, the supermarket said. The loyalty scheme offers discounted prices on selected items and the opportunity for customers to earn points on their shopping. Most major supermarkets have their own version of a loyalty card, in a bid to retain customers at a time of fierce competition in the sector. Tesco's 'premium' meal deal has also risen from £5 to £5.50 for those with a Clubcard, and from £5.50 to £6 for those without. A spokeswoman for Tesco said its meal deal, which contains a main, snack and drink, 'remains great value' and was an 'ideal way to grab lunch on the go'. The most popular items are the chicken club sandwich for main, the egg protein pot as the snack, and a bottle of Coca-Cola. There are thought to be more than 20 million possible combinations of Tesco's meal deal. The price hike has come on the same day that Tesco signed a letter warning the Chancellor that food inflation was expected to reach 6% later this year. The letter, sent by the British Retail Consortium and signed by more than 60 retail bosses, said it was 'becoming more and more challenging' for firms to 'absorb the cost pressures we face'. The prices of certain items like coffee, tea, milk, eggs, chocolate and soft drinks have surged recently.


Daily Mail
9 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
Labour rakes record £100 BILLION of taxes in July as Rachel Reeves plots new raid on middle classes to repair 'chronically weak' public finances
Labour raked in a record £100 billion of taxes last month – but fears are growing that Rachel Reeves is coming for more with the public finances in 'chronically weak condition'. The haul - the highest ever for July - was boosted by Rachel Reeves' employer national insurance raid. However, that policy is also blamed for making it harder for firms to hire and pushing up unemployment. Ms Reeves' tax hike saw national insurance bring in an extra £2.6 billion last month compared to last year and £9.5 billion extra for the financial year to date. It helped the government bring July's borrowing – the gap between tax revenues and spending – to a lower than expected £1.1 billion. That is down from £3.4 billion in July last year. However, total borrowing for the financial year so far, from April to July, is running at £60 billion, £6.7bn ahead of 2024. Even as the tax take surges, spending is ballooning thanks to pay rises for civil servants and Britain's soaring benefit bill. Meanwhile, Britain's debt pile stands at a staggering £2.89 trillion, or 96 per cent of the size of the economy. And the cost of servicing that debt so far this year is £41 billion. Economists think the Chancellor will need to put up taxes even further at this autumn's Budget as she looks to close a gap of £50 billion to meet fiscal rules that commit her to bring down borrowing and debt. That is fuelling speculation that she could stage raids on property tax, pension lump sums or inheritance tax, or carry out a 'stealth' hike by freezing income tax thresholds. Tory business spokesman Andrew Griffith said: 'With the amounts being squeezed out of taxpayers at record highs yet the Chancellor still craving more, either she quits her addiction to higher public spending or someone needs to send her to rehab.' Experts said the public finances remain fragile after U-turns on welfare reforms and winter fuel payments wrecked the Chancellor's plans and as traders in UK bonds, known as gilts, lose faith in Labour – pushing up the cost of borrowing to levels not seen since the 1990s. Meanwhile, economic growth is slowing and doubts are growing about whether Britain's dismal productivity growth – the ability to work more effectively and get more done per hour – can be restored to the levels needed to sustain a recovery. That looks increasingly likely to spell further painful tax rises in October's budget. Elliott Jordan-Doak, senior UK economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics, said: 'The big picture remains that the public finances are in chronically weak condition. 'The Chancellor faces surging gilt yields and a likely productivity downgrade from the OBR [Office for Budget Responsibility] in the October forecast round. 'The litany of policy U-turns has only compounded the Government's fiscal woes.' Alex Kerr, UK economist at Capital Economics, said: 'Today's release does little to brighten the gloomy outlook ahead of the Budget later this year.' Mr Kerr estimates the Chancellor may have to raise as much as £27 billion. 'Given that she is struggling to stick to existing spending plans and we doubt the gilt market will tolerate big increases in borrowing, most of that will have to be funded by tax rises.' Matt Swannell, chief economic advisor to the EY ITEM Club, said: 'The rising cost of government debt, changes to welfare reform and the possibility of a less optimistic growth forecast will very likely see tax rises introduced at the Autumn Budget if fiscal rules are to be met.' Darren Jones, Chief Secretary to the Treasury, said: 'Far too much taxpayer money is spent on interest payments for the longstanding national debt. 'That's why we're driving down government borrowing over the course of the parliament – so working people don't have to foot the bill and we can invest in better schools, hospitals, and services for working families.'


The Sun
9 minutes ago
- The Sun
High street and supermarket giants including Tesco and Boots warning over price hikes ahead of tax raids
HIGH street and supermarket giants including Tesco and Boots have issued a warning over price hikes ahead of tax raids. Big wigs behind some of county's biggest chains have signed a letter to the Chancellor sent by trade body British Retail Consortium (BRC). 1 It warns that further tax rises on businesses could result in the Labour Government breaking its manifesto pledge to provide 'high living standards'. The letter, signed by more than 60 businesses, reads: "Labour's manifesto made a clear and welcome promise to deliver good jobs and higher living standards but if future policy decisions lead to rising prices and fewer jobs, then those commitments are at risk." "As retailers, we have done everything we can to shield our customers from the worst inflationary pressures but as they persist, it is becoming more and more challenging for us to absorb the cost pressures we face.' Many businesses have seen their labour costs rise thanks to the rate of employer national insurance being increased in last year's Budget. Employer National Insurance contributions were bumped up from 13.8% to 15% and the threshold at which they are paid lowered from £9,100 to £5,000 in April. Some retailers have blamed the tax hike for the decision to raise prices in shops, which they say has allowed them to partly mitigate the impact. Others have resorted to cutting staff or freezing hiring, while some businesses said they were absorbing the higher costs into their profits. The national minimum wage also increased in April to £12.21. Businesses say the overall jump in staff costs, coupled with new taxes on plastic packaging, have added £7billion in costs. The BRC also cited rising food and drink inflation, which hit 4.9% last month, with items like coffee, chocolate, meat and juice becoming more expensive. New 'property tax' will PUNISH hard-working Brits and torpedo house market, blasts Kirstie Allsopp The BRC is calling for a significant reduction in business rates on retail, hospitality and leisure firms, and assurances that no shops will pay more tax than they currently do. The Sun has contacted The Treasury for comment. Retailers warn of price hikes It comes after Iceland blamed Rachel Reeves ' tax raid for hiking its suppliers' costs. In accounts published last month, the chain said it was "doing our utmost" to offset rising costs caused by suppliers, but would "inevitably have to pass some of these on to consumers, where we can do so without weakening our own price position in the marketplace". It added: "In consequence, we expect UK food price inflation to peak at some 4-5% in the next six months." Elsewhere, the boss of M&S said the supermarket would have to pass on extra costs due to the National Insurance and minimum wage hikes. Stuart Machin said any price rises would be 'small and behind the market' but did not say how much they would go up by. At the start of the year, Sainsbury's also warned the Budget would cost it an extra £140million. Its CEO Simon Roberts warned that the chain would need to work with its suppliers to minimise the impact on customers. More retail pain The warnings come amid a challenging time for retail with many chains battling low consumer spending alongside rising costs. River Island will close up to 33 stores in January as part of a restructuring plan to help write off the fashion brand's debts. Locations in major UK cities including Edinburgh, Leeds, Oxford, Brighton and Perth are all expected to close. Poundland is also waiting for high court approval for a dramatic restructuring plan which includes the closure of 68 stores. Elsewhere, New Look warned it would close nearly 100 stores ahead of National Insurance hikes which came into place in April. Approximately a quarter of the retailer's 364 stores are at risk when their leases expire. The chain has closed a number of this stores this year, including sites in London and Scotland. In February, New Look also exited the Republic of Ireland which resulted in the closure of 26 stores. At the time, the company said: "New Look's Irish operation has struggled for some years, impacted by a range of factors including supply-chain and in-market costs, and squeezed consumer spending". RETAIL PAIN IN 2025 The British Retail Consortium has predicted that the Treasury's hike to employer NICs will cost the retail sector £2.3billion. Research by the British Chambers of Commerce shows that more than half of companies plan to raise prices by early April. A survey of more than 4,800 firms found that 55% expect prices to increase in the next three months, up from 39% in a similar poll conducted in the latter half of 2024. Three-quarters of companies cited the cost of employing people as their primary financial pressure. The Centre for Retail Research (CRR) has also warned that around 17,350 retail sites are expected to shut down this year. It comes on the back of a tough 2024 when 13,000 shops closed their doors for good, already a 28% increase on the previous year. Professor Joshua Bamfield, director of the CRR said: "The results for 2024 show that although the outcomes for store closures overall were not as poor as in either 2020 or 2022, they are still disconcerting, with worse set to come in 2025." Professor Bamfield has also warned of a bleak outlook for 2025, predicting that as many as 202,000 jobs could be lost in the sector. "By increasing both the costs of running stores and the costs on each consumer's household it is highly likely that we will see retail job losses eclipse the height of the pandemic in 2020."