Your commercial news round-up: trains, Plaid Cymru, interest rates, Eurovision, ChatGPT

Reading time: four minutes

Rising inflation, party resignations, state takeovers, Chat GPT and, of course, Eurovision! Use today’s round-up to catch up on what’s been happening across the UK this week.

• The state is set to take over the running of the TransPennine Express, when its current contract expires on 28 May, following ongoing poor service. In January and February alone, 25% of services were cancelled or delayed. Mark Harper, the transport secretary, maintained that he’s “been clear that passenger experience must always come first” but that taking TransPennine under state control was "not a silver bullet and will not instantaneously fix a number of challenges being faced". The government will take over the service that runs between Manchester and Liverpool up to Edinburgh and Glasgow. The service itself won’t change but passengers will see improvements in its overall performance. The train line will join the Northern, London and North Eastern Railway (LNER) and Southeastern Trains, which are also run by the Operator of Last Resort.
   
• The leader of the left-wing Welsh party Plaid Cymru, Adam Price, has resigned following a report that found misogyny, harassment and bullying in the party. In a statement released last night, the party revealed that there would be a new leader in place by the summer. The notice was made following a meeting of the party's ruling body, the National Executive Committee. In his letter of resignation, Price said that he “felt morally bound to step down as leader of the party in recognition of our collective failure”, later adding that he felt he no longer had the "united support" of his fellow party members. Plaid Cymru is the third largest party in Welsh Parliament with 12 Members of the Senedd, which makes laws for Wales, agrees on certain taxes and has three MPs in Westminster. The party is, for now, unsure of what its future leadership will look like.
   
• Interest rates are once again expected to rise for the 12th time in a row, according to the Bank of England. The current rate has risen from 4.25% to 4.5% following a meeting held by the Monetary Policy Committee this week. The bank has been increasing rates since December 2021 in response to the ever-growing inflation rates fuelling the cost-of-living crisis. Increasing interest rates helps to control inflation by making it more expensive to borrow money and this in turn pushes people to borrow less, spend less and save more. Currently, inflation is the highest it’s been in 14 years, standing at more than 10%. In the year to March inflation sat at 10.1%, a minor drop from February’s rate at 10.4%. Despite the proven uncertainty of interest rates, the widespread belief is that rate rises may be drawing to a close in the coming months, with only a few economists suggesting otherwise. For many, it may feel like a guessing game given that the Monetary Policy Committee meets eight times a year to determine interest rate policy.
   
• Europe is getting ready to party as Eurovision comes to the UK. As runner up last year, the UK took over responsibility from last year’s winners Ukraine due to the ongoing conflict in the country. This will be the first Eurovision Song Contest to be held in the UK for 25 years.  Eurovision winner 2022, Kalush Orchestra band member Tymofii Muzychuk has said that the grand final in Liverpool this Saturday will include “Ukrainian motifs and culture” alongside “different Ukrainian singers and artists”. Approximately 160 million people are predicted to watch the final with around 100,000 people descending on Liverpool to join in the festivities. Plus, a special fan zone is accommodating up to 25,000 people at Liverpool's Pier Head, close to the arena. Mae Muller, a 25-year-old singer-songwriter, will represent the UK at the competition and last year’s second-place entry from the UK, Sam Ryder, will also perform.
   
• Academics at the University of Bath have been considering how AI can be integrated into the education system to help determine ChatGPT guidelines for students. Staff at the university addressed the validity of using ChatGPT, the online tool that writes essays, answers questions and emails in a human-like voice. Regarding essays written by the platform, lecturer James Fern says that on first glance “it looks very clearly written” and “quite professional in its language". Staff also noticed that ChatGPT fabricates academic sources, inventing academic papers and page numbers. To this Fern says: "If you're not aware of how large language models work, you would be very easily fooled into thinking that these are genuine references." However, it was found that the names of the academics were correct, as well as their research topics. Since the platform was released, students have debated over whether it’ll help or hinder their grades. One student told the BBC: "It's not clear yet what is considered cheating with ChatGPT, if you copied your whole assignment from ChatGPT that's cheating – but it can be really helpful to guide." As with many universities, Bath's policy on ChatGPT and other AI platforms isn’t yet finalised but are due to be in place from September.

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