Monday newspaper round-up: Palantir, BrewDog, Darktrace.


Ministers have confirmed the locations for seven new towns, which include under-developed inner-city land, a historic village and an existing new town. The programme is being billed by the housing and communities department as the most ambitious housebuilding project in England for half a century, with the planned construction of between 15,000 and 40,000 homes in each new town. – Guardian

Source: Sharecast

Palantir is to be granted access to a trove of highly sensitive UK financial regulation data, in a deal that has prompted fresh concerns about the US AI company’s deepening reach into the British state, the Guardian can reveal. The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has awarded Palantir a contract to investigate the watchdog’s internal intelligence data in an effort to help it tackle financial crime, which includes investigating fraud, money laundering and insider trading. – Guardian

Petrol stations have hit out at Labour’s cost-of-living tsar after he claimed drivers were being ripped off at the pumps. Forecourt bosses accused Lord Walker, who was appointed as Sir Keir Starmer’s cost-of-living tsar earlier this year, of launching a “totally uneducated” attack on the industry after he suggested they were using the war in Iran to profiteer at motorists’ expense. – Telegraph

BrewDog must move on from its controversial founder James Watt to regain success, the company’s new US owner has said. Irwin Simon, the chief executive of Tilray Brands, said Watt was a “stigma” for the brand as the American tycoon laid out ambitious plans to revive the company after a £33m rescue deal. – Telegraph

The outgoing top lawyer at Goldman Sachs who has resigned over her ties to Jeffrey Epstein had her pay package boosted to $25 million by the Wall Street bank last year. Goldman said Kathy Ruemmler had provided “exceptional judgment and advice across a broad range of legal, risk management, regulatory and people matters” in 2025 and had “continued her excellent track record of experienced and nuanced counsel”. – The Times

Revenue growth slowed in Darktrace’s first year as a private company, underlining the challenge facing the new boss Ed Jennings, who officially takes up the role of chief executive on Monday. Jennings will become the third boss at the Cambridge-based cybersecurity company within 18 months, and has been tasked with restoring the company to greater topline growth. He joins after the departure of Jill Popelka in January after just 16 months in the role. – The Times

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