but not fast enough to keep up with price rises. our economics correspondent, andy verity, has more details. all good? business has been challenging, up and down. it has been consistently inconsistent. one day we are super busy, we can t keep up. the next day we don t have any work on. a year ago, construction companies like this builder of grand design style renovations, based near heathrow airport, were struggling to cope with the surge in demand for new projects as the economy bounced back from the pandemic. there was no lack of work, but profits were squeezed by the rocketing cost of raw materials and the shortage of skilled staff that sent wages soaring. it is difficult to meet demand when there is also less money in the jobs because the cost of labour has risen so much. so we have labourers earning the money which plumbers and carpenters were earning, like, two and a half, three years ago. but everybody wants the job to be cheaper because they have no certainty and the
2005 world champion shaun murphy said he was relieved no one was hurt. i m an expert on, they all say that we are hurtling towards problems and some commentators would even suggest that we have gone past the point of no return. i am we have gone past the point of no return. iam not we have gone past the point of no return. i am not an expert on that at all. but you only have to watch one of david attenborough s shows when he comes in at the ends and tells us how much trouble we are in, these people do know what they are talking about and they tell us that we need to be doing more. i m thankful that no one was hurt and it is, after all, just a game of snooker. well, on day four of the world championship, we have seen some snooker played. we re still in the first round. let s take you to the crucible now. this is jack lisowski taking on a player from thailand. jack lisowski is leading 3 2. he reached the quarterfinals last year. he is taking another commanding lead. he is takin
against pre trial detention. after six months of bird flu restrictions, poultry will shortly be allowed out again heralding the return of free range eggs. and coming up on bbc news, after protesters disrupted play last night, the world snooker championships resumed today but with heightened security checks at the crucible. good afternoon and welcome to the bbc news at one. the treasurer of the scottish national party, colin beattie, has been arrested by police investigating the party s funding and finances. it comes two weeks after peter murrell, the snp s former chief executive who s married to nicola sturgeon, was arrested by officers who searched his home in glasgow and the party s headquarters in edinburgh. mr murrell was later released without charge, pending further investigation. our scotland correspondent lorna gordon has the latest. colin beattie has been the snp s treasure for almost the entire duration of his party s climb to dominance in scottish politics. its r
allegations are and what questions have yet to be answered. did you switch off your lights in the last hour? up to a million people are paid to use less electricity to avoid blackouts. and manager frank lampard is sacked by everton after just a year as the team faces relegation. and coming up in sport on the bbc news channel. no stopping novak djokovic chasing a record extending tenth title in melbourne he cruises into the quarter finals of the australian open. good evening and welcome to the bbc news at six. rishi sunak has asked his independent ethics adviser to look into the tax affairs of the conservative party chairman and former chancellor nadhim zahawi. the prime minister has resisted calls to sack mr zahawi but says, clearly, there are questions that need answering. mr zahawi paid a penalty believed to be around £5 million to the tax authority hmrc for unpaid tax while he was chancellor. mr zahawi says he made a careless error and is confident he has acted prop