Business

Fresh from his nerve-shredding run on BBC hit The Traitors, Brian Davidson has swapped the infamous roundtable for the photographer’s studio, and the move has paid off handsomely.

Davidson, a professional photographer and owner of Glasgow-based Studio Snap, is celebrating his strongest trading year to date, with revenues up more than 70 per cent in 2025. The surge follows his memorable appearance on series two of The Traitors, which turned him into a familiar face for millions of viewers, and, unexpectedly, a powerful brand amplifier for his business.

Studio Snap, which specialises in wedding, family and event photography, has benefited from what Davidson describes as the “Traitors effect”. Since the show aired, he has built a substantial social media following by offering sharp, insider analysis of subsequent series, with his commentary striking a chord among the programme’s highly engaged fanbase.

That digital momentum has translated into commercial success. Davidson’s platforms have become a go-to destination for fans dissecting each episode, helping him grow his audience far beyond traditional photography clients. The expanded reach has led to collaborations with a number of high-profile brands, positioning Davidson as a content creator as well as a business owner, all while continuing to scale Studio Snap.

“The experience on The Traitors was intense and surreal,” Davidson said. “Coming out of that environment gave me a fresh perspective. I went from one of the most stressful roundtables imaginable straight back into the studio, and I’ve poured that energy into the business. To see Studio Snap deliver a record year is the ultimate win.”

While his online presence has opened new doors, Davidson is clear that photography remains at the heart of his ambitions. “I love that I can keep one foot in the world of The Traitors through my analysis videos, the fans are incredible,” he said. “The brand work has been exciting, but photography will always be my main passion.”

The business has also been buoyed by a string of industry awards, further reinforcing Studio Snap’s reputation for relaxed, professional photography across Scotland and beyond.

With bookings already stacking up for the year ahead and his digital following continuing to grow, Davidson is entering 2026 with momentum on multiple fronts, proof that reality TV exposure, when paired with a strong core business, can deliver more than fleeting fame.

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From roundtable to the camera: The Traitors’ Brian Davidson celebrates record-breaking year for Studio Snap

Rachel Reeves is opening up Britain’s corporate bond market to small investors as part of a wider push to channel more household savings into UK businesses and revive London’s capital markets.

The chancellor will on Monday launch a government-backed initiative designed to make corporate bonds accessible to retail investors for the first time in years, scrapping barriers that had effectively restricted the market to institutions and wealthy individuals. Under the new rules, individuals will be able to invest in corporate bonds from as little as £1, compared with the previous £100,000 minimum that had become standard after EU-era regulations.

Speaking at an event hosted by the London Stock Exchange, Reeves is expected to declare the start of what she calls “a new golden age” for the City, framing the reforms as central to Labour’s ambition to boost productive investment and economic growth.

At the heart of the plan is a new kitemark system aimed at reassuring novice investors. The London Stock Exchange will introduce so-called “Access Bonds”, a designation that allows qualifying corporate bonds to be clearly identified on retail investment platforms. Alongside this, the Financial Conduct Authority will oversee a more stringent classification known as Plain Vanilla Listed Bonds, or PVLBs, reserved for straightforward bond structures with standardised terms.

Ministers hope the changes will revive direct retail participation in an asset class that has virtually disappeared from the UK. While British savers can easily buy government debt, direct ownership of corporate bonds is negligible, in stark contrast to the United States, where households hold more than $6 trillion of debt securities.

Officials argue that corporate bonds should appeal to cautious investors looking for predictable income. Blue-chip issuers typically offer yields at least a percentage point higher than government bonds, with repayment terms fixed over periods of two, five or ten years. Although bond prices can fluctuate with interest rates and inflation, default risk among large, established companies is seen as relatively low.

Banks, energy groups and major retailers including Lloyds, HSBC, BP, Shell, Tesco and BT are regular bond issuers, and many of their future offerings are expected to qualify for the new retail-friendly labels. Barclays estimates that around 13 million people in the UK currently hold £430 billion in cash savings that could, in principle, be suitable for investment in corporate bonds.

The reforms also form part of a broader overhaul of prospectus rules intended to make it easier and cheaper for companies to raise money in London. Thresholds for issuing a full prospectus have been significantly increased, particularly for secondary share issues and investment trusts, reducing regulatory friction and speeding up capital raising. The mandatory waiting period for IPO prospectuses has also been cut in half.

Industry figures say the package is long overdue. James Deal of RetailBook, which has long campaigned for greater retail participation in capital markets, described the reforms as a major step forward, coming six years after they were first recommended in a review led by former EU commissioner Jonathan Hill.

Some retail platforms have privately expressed concerns that new labels and acronyms could add complexity to an already jargon-heavy market. However, the exchange is pressing ahead with a public education drive under the banner “Bond With Britain”, aimed at improving understanding of how bonds work and the risks involved.

Reeves is expected to tell the audience that London’s financial sector is showing renewed strength, pointing to record highs in the FTSE 100 and growing international interest in UK listings. “Two years ago, some said the City’s best days were behind it,” she will say. “They were wrong.”

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Reeves opens corporate bond market to small investors in bid to unlock UK savings

UK employers are being forced to reassess their healthcare and benefits strategies as demand for weight-management drugs surges among employees, according to new research.

More than a quarter of UK workers have already used a weight-management drug such as Ozempic, while two in five believe their employer should fund access to these treatments through workplace healthcare plans. As a result, 44 per cent of employers say they are now reviewing, or fundamentally redesigning, their healthcare provision.

The findings come from the Changing Face of Employee Health report by Howden Employee Benefits, which suggests that blockbuster GLP-1 drugs are becoming a defining issue in the future of workplace health.

Despite the rising pressure from staff, employers are caught in a financial bind. Almost nine in ten businesses say they are currently satisfied with the return on investment from their healthcare plans, yet half of those already covering weight-management drugs now see them as a growing cost concern. Nearly half expect those costs to rise further, with one in five businesses citing obesity-related conditions as the single biggest driver of increasing healthcare spend.

While only 5 per cent of employers expect these costs to ease next year, many acknowledge the long-term trade-off. Weight-related illnesses such as diabetes contribute significantly to sickness absence and lost productivity. Around 72 per cent of UK employers are already investing in preventative health measures, and some see controlled access to weight-management drugs as a way to reduce longer-term health risks and associated business costs.

However, the report warns that failing to adapt healthcare plans could create wider problems. With medical inflation forecast at 7 per cent in 2026, and combined cost increases of more than 10 per cent once general inflation is included,  employers face difficult decisions about which treatments to cover and where to draw the line.

Cheryl Brennan, managing director of Howden Employee Benefits, said the issue is no longer hypothetical. “The demand for these drugs is obvious, and employers simply can’t afford to ignore it. But the financial impact cannot be overlooked – this is already forcing business leaders to rethink plan design and budget allocations.”

She added that while the drugs offer significant health benefits, they should not be treated as a cure-all. “Weight-management drugs are not a silver bullet. They need to sit within a broader, more personalised health strategy with clear eligibility guardrails. Employers will also have to justify why they cover these treatments ahead of others that remain excluded.”

As employee expectations evolve, the report suggests workplace healthcare is entering a new phase, one where prevention, personalisation and tough financial trade-offs will define how benefits are structured over the coming years.

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Employers rethink healthcare benefits as weight-loss drugs reshape workplace provision

Rachel Reeves is preparing to channel tens of millions of pounds of public money into a British self-driving technology company as Labour moves to accelerate the rollout of autonomous vehicles on UK roads.

The £28bn National Wealth Fund (NWF), backed by the Treasury, is understood to be close to agreeing a major investment in Oxa, the Oxford-founded driverless vehicle start-up previously known as Oxbotica. The business was established in 2014 by Oxford University academic Professor Paul Newman and was the first company to trial autonomous vehicles on UK roads in 2016.

Oxa has raised more than £180m from private investors to date and focuses on developing software that can make existing vehicles autonomous, rather than manufacturing cars itself. Its technology is already used in driverless shuttle buses and industrial and logistics vehicles, positioning it as an infrastructure player in the emerging autonomous ecosystem.

The proposed investment would come via the National Wealth Fund, launched by Labour in 2024 as the successor to the UK Infrastructure Bank. While operationally independent, the fund is designed to support the government’s growth and industrial strategy, typically making direct investments of £25m to £50m to crowd in significantly larger sums of private capital.

Backing from the fund would mark one of the government’s most substantial direct bets on an artificial intelligence business to date, and would align with plans to begin trials of driverless taxis and buses on British roads later this year. Ride-hailing groups Uber and Lyft have already confirmed their intention to test autonomous vehicles under the UK’s new regulatory framework, while Tesla continues to pilot its Full Self-Driving software in Britain. Another UK firm, Wayve, which has raised more than £1bn, is also preparing public trials through a partnership with Uber.

Oxa’s latest funding discussions follow a £15m injection from existing backers in December, including BP’s venture capital arm, alongside talks over a further “frontier AI” investment round. In September, Nvidia chief executive Jensen Huang publicly praised the company as an “incredible autonomous driving business” and signalled interest in investing in its next round.

However, the company has faced financial pressures. IP Group, an early investor, revealed last year that it had cut Oxa’s valuation by around two-thirds to £120m, reflecting mounting losses and tougher market conditions for deep-tech start-ups.

The NWF has already committed more than £200m in equity investments and billions more in debt financing for clean energy and battery manufacturing projects. In its first year under Labour, it invested £3.6bn as part of the government’s wider effort to stimulate long-term growth.

Neither Oxa nor the National Wealth Fund commented on the prospective deal, and the Treasury declined to comment.

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Reeves set to back self-driving car firm with tens of millions in taxpayer funding