Afternoon.

It’s Tuesday 20th October: unemployment has fallen slightly, the Covid Inquiry has delivered a damning verdict on care homes and a Google outage has disrupted banking services.

Kettle on.

📅 On this day: In 1714, George I was crowned King of Great Britain at Westminster Abbey. Born in Germany, he spoke so little English that much of his coronation ceremony had to be conducted in Latin. Not the easiest first day in a new job.

Britain's unemployment rate has fallen slightly to 4.7%, according to new official figures. But the wider picture is less encouraging.

The number of people on company payrolls has fallen, while job vacancies have recorded their biggest drop since the start of the year. Businesses remain cautious about hiring, particularly smaller firms facing higher employment costs.

Pay growth is also subdued. Regular wages are rising at a broadly stable rate, while total pay growth, including bonuses, has fallen to its lowest level in nearly six years.

So how can unemployment fall when businesses aren't hiring? Unemployment measures people without work who are actively looking for a job, while vacancies measure positions employers are trying to fill. The two don't always move together.

The figures offer Chancellor John Healey some encouragement ahead of next week's Budget, although Britain's jobs market remains subdued.

The UK's Covid Inquiry has found serious failings in how care-home residents and staff were treated during the pandemic.

According to the inquiry's report, hospital patients were discharged into care homes without Covid tests in the early months, while staff faced shortages of protective equipment.

Families were also kept away for long periods, sometimes when relatives were approaching the end of their lives. The inquiry says these restrictions caused enormous distress.

The report found that adult social care was already struggling with staff shortages, high turnover and poor working conditions before Covid arrived, leaving it particularly vulnerable.

It recommends better preparation for future pandemics, stronger support for care workers and protections for residents' contact with loved ones during emergencies.

A major Google Cloud outage has disrupted banks and other services across Britain, leaving some customers unable to access apps or make payments.

Revolut, Halifax and other financial services were affected, alongside businesses and public services relying on Google's technology.

Cloud computing allows organisations to rent computing power and storage from companies such as Google instead of running everything themselves. It's convenient, but a failure in one place can affect dozens of unrelated services.

Google has linked the disruption to a power problem at its London facilities. Some services have recovered, although the full extent of the disruption and recovery remains unclear.

It's a reminder of how much everyday life now depends on a handful of technology providers. Your bank might have its own name above the door, but some of the machinery behind it belongs to somebody else.

The UK's competition watchdog wants to make it easier for other companies to offer contactless payments on iPhones.

The Competition and Markets Authority says Apple's restrictions make it difficult for rivals to use the technology behind tap-to-pay. Its new proposals could give other providers fairer access.

Nothing changes immediately, but tapping your iPhone at the checkout might not always mean using Apple Pay.

Drivers are set to get stronger protections against unfair private parking charges under a new government code.

The rules include five minutes to decide whether to park and ten minutes to leave afterwards, subject to exceptions. Smaller mistakes could attract a maximum £20 charge on appeal.

The code isn't fully operational yet. Good news for anyone who's spent longer figuring out the parking machine than actually parking.

The government has confirmed plans for a new station at Bradford Interchange, intended to improve connections with Leeds, Manchester and York.

Bradford is one of Britain's largest cities but has relatively poor rail links. The project forms part of wider plans to improve northern transport, although construction and opening are still some way off.

The Met Office has named Storm Austen, with strong winds and heavy rain expected from late Thursday into Friday.

Yellow warnings cover parts of southern England and south Wales, with coastal gusts potentially exceeding 70mph. Travel disruption and power cuts are possible.

The Isle of Man's assisted dying legislation has received Royal Assent, bringing it closer to implementation.

The law will allow eligible terminally ill adults to request assistance to end their lives, subject to safeguards. Further arrangements are needed before it becomes operational.

Red squirrels are thriving on Jersey, helped by the absence of grey squirrels, which compete with reds for food and can carry a virus that's often fatal to them.

The island has become an important refuge for a species that's disappeared from large parts of England and Wales. Conservationists are planting hedgerows to help squirrels move safely between woodland habitats.

Interestingly, red squirrels aren't native to Jersey. They were introduced in the late 1800s and have made themselves very much at home.

Not a bad achievement for an island better known for cows, potatoes and rather favourable tax arrangements.

Enjoy your day.

See you tomorrow.