Oil Profits and Bank Bonanzas: The UK's Two-Track Cost-of-Living Squeeze

£29.2bn — the collective first-half profits of the UK's four largest banks, as higher interest rates and war-driven market turbulence let lenders charge more on mortgages while households shoulder the burden.

Money Moves

• BP quarterly profits more than doubled to $5.73bn — the oil giant's best quarter since early 2023, riding Brent crude's surge from $70 to $85 a barrel since the US-Iran strikes began in February
• **Bank of England holds rate at 3.75% in...