Financial news

• ‘My father was devastated’: family battles to recover thousands stolen in email scam

  08-10-2024 11:17 via theguardian.com
  New rules that have just come into force aim to help those tricked by authorised push payment fraudCriminals who targeted Françoise Schorosch’s father knew how to lull the elderly man into a false sense of security. “The sender of the email was someone impersonating me and asking for money,” she says.By mimicking how his daughter opens and signs off emails in German, but otherwise writes mostly in English, the fraudsters led him to think he was helping her with money to
  
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• UK borrowing costs climb ahead of the budget; Water companies to pay £157.6m penalty for poor performance – business live

  08-10-2024 11:08 via theguardian.com
  Rolling coverage of the latest economic and financial news, as UK gilt yields rise and water companies are penalised for poor performanceThe biggest increases in pollution incidents last year were reported by South West Water (80%), United Utilities (71%) and Northumbrian Water (65%).Hafren Dyfrdwy is the only company to have met the performance commitment level for pollution incidents in 2023. It, and Southern Water, were the only two companies to commit fewer pollution incidents this year than
  
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• Water companies in England and Wales told to pay £158m penalty to customers

  08-10-2024 09:22 via theguardian.com
  
  Ofwat says firms must lower bills next year after poor performance on issues such as sewage spills and leaksBusiness live – latest updatesWater companies in England and Wales will have to return nearly £158m to customers through lower bills next year after falling further behind on key targets including sewage spills and leaks.The regulator, Ofwat, announced the penalties as part of its annual review of companies’ performance. The report showed that companies reduced sewage spi
  
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• I was written off by John Lewis for car insurance because I’m an author

  08-10-2024 08:00 via theguardian.com
  
  I was deemed an ‘unacceptable risk’ when it came to renewal I received a brief letter from my car insurer stating that “having reviewed your current details, we won’t be able to renew your car insurance policy arranged by John Lewis Finance and underwritten by Covea Insurance plc”. It transpired this is because my occupation is recorded as “author”, which is deemed an “unacceptable risk”. This, in itself, seems bizarre and has never been a pr
  
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• Family of deceased tenant refused entry to property containing life’s work

  08-10-2024 08:00 via theguardian.com
  Cambridge council says Glen Hutchinson’s daughters cannot access flat until they have been granted probateThe family of a social housing tenant who has recently died fear losing his life’s work because bureaucratic red tape has barred them from entering his flat.Glen Hutchinson, a performance poet, was found dead in his home in August but Cambridge city council has refused to allow his two daughters to access the property until they have been granted probate. Continue reading...
  
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• Britons urged to dig out unwanted electricals to tackle copper shortage

  08-10-2024 07:01 via theguardian.com
  
  Items such as cables and old tech could contain £266m worth of metal vital for decarbonisation drive, study findsScientists have called for people to go “urban mining” after a study revealed that old cables, phone chargers and other unused electrical goods thrown away or stored in cupboards or drawers could stave off a looming shortage of copper.The research found that in the UK there are approximately 823m unused or broken tech items hiding in “drawers of doom” con
  
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• Building HS2 to Euston and Crewe could pay for itself, analysis finds

  08-10-2024 07:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Extending high-speed line at both ends would let government charge more for rights to run it, rail leaders sayBuilding HS2 all the way to London Euston and Crewe could save the government money by enabling it to lease the line out for much more, rail industry leaders have told ministers, as the Treasury weighs up whether to fund tunnels to central London.The High Speed Rail Group proposes selling the rights to run the line as a long-term concession – on a similar basis to the HS1 rail rout
  
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• The scandal of food waste and how we can stop it

  08-10-2024 06:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Every informed observer agrees that food waste and loss must be reduced if we are to feed all humans. What’s stopping us?In traditional societies, little to no food goes to waste. Every edible part of an animal or plant is utilised. Researchers found that the members of a Maasai cattle herding community in northern Tanzania were outraged at the thought of intentionally wasting food, calling those who would do so “lunatics”. Some even said it was worse than killing a person, bec
  
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• Oasis ticket sales push UK non-essential spending to highest level this year

  08-10-2024 06:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Retail sales show strongest growth in six months as shoppers buy clothes and computers for new academic yearTicket sales for the Oasis reunion tour helped to increase non-essential spending by British consumers to the highest level this year in September, amid a bumper month for retailers.In a sign of resilience despite a pre-budget hit to consumer confidence, industry figures show retail sales and discretionary spending on entertainment, meals out and little luxuries rose sharply last month. Co
  
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• Lab-grown meat could be sold in UK in next few years, says food regulator

  08-10-2024 06:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Food Standards Agency says applications for cultivated steak, chicken and foie gras have already been submittedCell-cultivated meat could be on sale in the UK within a few years, the food regulator has said, with applications for lab-grown steak, beef, chicken and foie gras already submitted, while another 15 applications are expected in the next two years.The Food Standards Agency (FSA) was awarded £1.6m of government funding on Tuesday to develop an efficient safety assessment process fo
  
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• Winter blackouts risk in Great Britain ‘lowest in four years’ despite end of coal

  08-10-2024 01:01 via theguardian.com
  
  Energy system operator expects winter power supplies to outstrip demand by almost 9% this yearThe risk of winter blackouts in Great Britain has tumbled to its lowest in four years even after the shutdown of the UK’s last coal plant, thanks to investments in low-carbon electricity sources.The National Energy System Operator (Neso) expects Britain’s winter power supplies to outstrip demand by almost 9% this year in its base case scenario, the greatest margin since the winter of 2019 to
  
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• BP ‘abandoning plan to cut oil output’ angers green groups

  07-10-2024 20:22 via theguardian.com
  
  Reports of strategy reset leave campaigners saying company is prioritising profits over planetGreen groups have reacted with fury to reports that BP has dropped a target to cut its oil output in the next five years, saying the company was prioritising profits over the health of the planet.Campaign groups including Greenpeace and Reclaim Finance slammed the move that would potentially result in the oil company scrapping its plan to reduce oil and gas output by 25% by 2030 under a strategy reset b
  
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• The Guardian view on privatised care failures: a service crying out for change | Editorial

  07-10-2024 20:00 via theguardian.com
  
  The poor record of for-profit care homes must lead to a rethink on how public services are organisedThe government has yet to respond in detail to the latest, shocking findings about the poor performance of for-profit social care providers, and what a report from Oxford University calls the “astounding pace” of children’s home privatisation. But the revelation that almost all the residential care settings forced to close by regulators in the 12 years to 2023 were privately run
  
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• Warren and Dean demand Coke, Pepsi and General Mills stop ‘shrinkflation’

  07-10-2024 19:59 via theguardian.com
  
  Democratic lawmakers accuse companies of shrinking product sizes while charging consumers the same priceIt’s becoming a common experience for Americans going to the grocery store: your bag of chips seems lighter, your favorite drink comes in a slimmer bottle, and you’re running out of laundry detergent more quickly than usual. And yet things are staying the same price.On Monday two Democratic lawmakers launched an attempt to get to the bottom of the phenomena, accusing three major co
  
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• TGI Fridays secures rescue deal but more than 1,000 UK jobs lost

  07-10-2024 18:46 via theguardian.com
  Private equity groups Calveton and Breal Capital to buy 51 restaurants, although 35 outlets will closeA rescue deal for the UK arm of TGI Fridays has been struck, with two private equity groups to buy 51 restaurants – although a further 35 outlets are to close with the loss of more than 1,000 jobs.Calveton UK and Breal Capital, which own upmarket restaurants including Le Pont de la Tour, Quaglino’s and Coq d’Argent, have bought 51 sites from the joint administrators Teneo, whic
  
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• Bet365: gambling with people’s lives for profit | Letters

  07-10-2024 18:46 via theguardian.com
  
  Readers including a Bet365 employee respond to an article on how its founder, Denise Coates, became Britain’s richest woman, and express concerns over the impact of its successAs an employee of Bet365 and native resident of Stoke-on-Trent, I was naturally attracted to your article on Denise Coates and her gambling empire (The ultimate gambler? How Denise Coates became Britain’s richest woman, 2 October). The success of the company presents an ethical quandary: do the taxes, the chari
  
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• Heat pump transition is nothing but a money grab | Letter

  07-10-2024 18:45 via theguardian.com
  
  Adam Halawi says the high quotes he got to install a heat pump made it much more expensive than a boiler, despite a higher government grantTim Bradley quite rightly wonders why heat pumps are so expensive in the UK (Letters, 1 October). He can’t be alone. The simple answer surely must be price gouging, partly due to the heat pump grant.I received two quotes from the same supplier for the same house, one with a £5,000 grant and another with the new higher £7,500 grant. The first
  
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• Telegraph takeover: ‘concern’ in newsroom over Dovid Efune talks

  07-10-2024 17:57 via theguardian.com
  New York Sun owner’s hardline stance about Middle East prompts fears over editorial independenceConcern is mounting across the Telegraph newsroom over the threat to editorial impartiality and influence, as the New York Sun owner, Dovid Efune, is poised to enter exclusive talks to buy the Daily and Sunday Telegraph.British-born Efune regularly posts hardline views about the situation in the Middle East, sparking alarm among staff as it looks increasingly likely that he will become their new
  
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• Euston is a problem without a good solution | Nils Pratley

  07-10-2024 17:30 via theguardian.com
  
  The final irony of the HS2 fiasco would be the next blueprint for the station looking like the one rejected as unaffordable in 2020Prepare for the next instalment of the great HS2 fiasco. Stories suggest the chancellor is preparing to shuffle the off-balance sheet financing deck, find £1bn-plus and give a thumbs up to start boring the tunnel from Old Oak Common to Euston. That decision will be motivated mainly by the sense that the high-speed line, already stripped of its northern legs by
  
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• Martin Lewis urges state pensioners 'make one phone call' for £11,600 handout

  07-10-2024 17:01 via express.co.uk
  
  Martin Lewis says state pensioners should make a phone call and get as much as £11,600 this winter.
  
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• Woman has stunt rider job application returned 48 years later

  07-10-2024 16:56 via theguardian.com
  
  Application returned with handwritten note saying it had been found behind a post office drawerA woman in Lincolnshire has had her application for her dream job as a stunt rider returned 48 years after applying for the role.Tizi Hodson, 70, from Gedney Hill, opened the post to find a letter she had sent applying for to be a motorcycle stunt rider in January 1976, with a note explaining it had been stuck behind a post office drawer ever since. Continue reading...
  
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• Credit card users warned over purchases under £100

  07-10-2024 16:55 via express.co.uk
  
  Many people use credit cards for better protection on certain transactions, but there are some rules you need to be aware of.
  
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• DWP to send text message warnings benefits claimants over ‘earnings limit’

  07-10-2024 16:53 via express.co.uk
  
  The DWP could start texting people over their benefits earnings limit
  
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• Reeves opts to not raise tax on pension contributions in October budget

  07-10-2024 16:25 via theguardian.com
  
  Public sector unions had warned rise would hurt their members, erasing pay increases government has just agreedRachel Reeves has decided not to raise tax on pensions contributions in this month’s budget, after public sector unions warned that doing so would hurt their members.The chancellor is understood to have decided against the move, which had been considered as one of a number of tax rises designed to repair the hole in the public finances. Continue reading...
  
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• Labour plotting stealth tax raid on pensions – but there's one thing it will never do

  07-10-2024 16:17 via express.co.uk
  
  As the autumn Budget looms, PM Keir Starmer and chancellor Rachel Reeves have got their greedy eyes on our pension savings. But there's one line they won't cross.
  
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• Inheritance problem could leave beneficiaries 'waiting years' expert warns

  07-10-2024 15:50 via express.co.uk
  
  One expert is warning Brits against three common mistakes people make when it comes to inheritance, which could see them waiting years
  
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• Every handout state pensioners can claim in October after losing £300 Winter Fuel Payment

  07-10-2024 15:45 via express.co.uk
  
  While some payments are made to state pensioners automatically, others will need to be claimed.
  
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• ‘Doesn’t feel fair’: young Britons lament losing right to work in EU since Brexit

  07-10-2024 14:48 via theguardian.com
  
  Once seen as a rite of passage, seasonal jobs in the rest of Europe are off limits for many – but some still make it workGrowing up near the Peak District in Glossop, Derbyshire, gave 18-year-old Seb Kinsey a passion for geography, geology and the outdoors. After finishing his A-levels this summer, and before heading to university, Kinsey sought to take a gap year working in the French Alps.“I’m fortunate enough to have been skiing before, and that was my dream – to go in
  
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• I followed simple Martin Lewis tip and saved £423 - and it only takes minutes

  07-10-2024 14:35 via express.co.uk
  
  As the cost of living continues to rise, everyone is looking for ways to cut costs - and Martin Lewis' MoneySavingExpert tips are a great place to start
  
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• State Pension National Insurance deadline issued to get £328 extra a year

  07-10-2024 14:32 via express.co.uk
  
  Paying £907.48 to cover one year of missed NI payments will boost the annual pension by some £328.64, which rises in line with inflation.
  
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• Martin Lewis issues £79,000 warning to state pensioners born in these years

  07-10-2024 14:13 via express.co.uk
  
  Martin Lewis says time is running out for state pensioners born in these years who could be missing out on as much as £79,300.
  
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• How new rules to protect the victims of text and email fraud will work

  07-10-2024 10:00 via theguardian.com
  As push payment fraud balloons, a scheme is coming into force to help those tricked by criminals’ increasingly sophisticated tacticsCriminals who targeted Françoise Schorosch’s father knew how to lull the elderly man into a false sense of security. “The sender of the email was someone impersonating me and asking for money,” she says.By mimicking how his daughter opens and signs off emails in German, but otherwise writes mostly in English, the fraudsters led him to
  
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• UK house prices rise for third month in a row to near record high

  07-10-2024 09:24 via theguardian.com
  
  Halifax says rising pay and falling interest rates help make mortgages more affordable for some homebuyersBusiness live – latest updatesUK house prices climbed for the third month in a row in September to about £100 short of a record high as rising worker pay and falling interest rates helped make mortgages more affordable for some homebuyers, according to a leading index.Data released by Halifax, Britain’s biggest mortgage lender, showed that prices climbed by 0.3% last month,
  
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• Tipping culture is annoying, unfair and worst of all American – and now it’s coming to Paris | Alexander Hurst

  07-10-2024 08:00 via theguardian.com
  
  In the US, I was asked to tip after buying a single banana. To my horror, tip-creep is spreading in French bars and restaurantsAs an American living in Paris, I’m not exactly sure when I first started having moments of culture shock on my visits back to the US. But there are two American practices that I now find irritate me no end: sales tax not being included in the sticker price of items, and tipping. (OK, three if you count non-detachable shower heads.)In fact, Americans on the whole,
  
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• BA ruined a £13,000 trip to St Lucia for my grieving daughters

  07-10-2024 08:00 via theguardian.com
  After the death of my wife, the luxury holiday was to help after a tough time, but we didn’t get what we paid forMy wife died late last year. As it has been such a tough time for me and my two young daughters, I decided to take the three of us on a really special holiday in July. After an extensive search I paid more than £13,000 for 12 nights in a penthouse suite in a resort in St Lucia, via British Airways.We arrived to be told by the resort that no penthouses were available due to
  
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• Post Office Horizon IT inquiry: the issues that CEO Nick Read needs to explain

  07-10-2024 07:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Outgoing boss faces three days of testimony from Wednesday into Horizon IT scandal and culture of Post OfficeThis week is set to be the most keenly watched of the final phase of the long-running public inquiry into the Horizon IT scandal and the state and culture of the Post Office.Nick Read, the outgoing chief executive of the Post Office, will give three days of testimony from Wednesday amounting to a grilling by counsel for the inquiry of about 16 hours. Continue reading...
  
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• People who have lived in UK for decades fear being ‘locked out’ by eVisas

  06-10-2024 15:39 via theguardian.com
  Physical documents proving residence rights to be replaced by online visas at end of year despite functionality concernsPeople who have been UK residents for decades are worried they could find themselves “locked out” of the country at the end of the year when eVisas come into force.The scheme means many physical immigration documents such as biometric residence permits (BRPs) or biometric residence cards (BRCs) need to be replaced by online visas, which critics have said do not work
  
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• Labour must ensure benefits of future growth are shared equally across Britain | Larry Elliott

  06-10-2024 12:32 via theguardian.com
  
  Regeneration efforts in former coalmining communities have not led to enough job creation Politics is hard because it invariably involves making choices between conflicting objectives. As Keir Starmer is discovering, the need to prioritise means you can’t please all of the people all of the time.Labour wants faster growth, sounder public finances, decarbonisation, prosperity to be shared more evenly between the regions, tougher controls on migration and a reset of Britain’s relations
  
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• TikTok is full of advice on how to retire early. The truth is you just need rich parents | Torsten Bell

  05-10-2024 19:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Future finances will be shaped by inheritance, but millennials shouldn’t hold their breath, they’ll have to wait until they’re 61“Here’s how to retire early,” promise TikTok’s financial influencers. But the life hacks offered never cover the most important advice: pick the right parents. Because looking ahead, inheritances will decide who does, and doesn’t, get a decent gap between the carriage clock and grim reaper.Household wealth has surged in B
  
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• Martin Lewis urges Brits to ‘stock up’ on common £1.35p item ahead of price hike next week

  05-10-2024 17:57 via express.co.uk
  
  The price of a common item will jump significantly next week, and the cost-cutting guru has reminded consumers to use the opportunity to make an easy saving.
  
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• Four years after buying an electric car, why I am still forced to play hunt-the-charger? | Ros Coward

  05-10-2024 17:30 via theguardian.com
  
  I assumed it would get easier to run an EV, but without a decent infrastructure it’s getting harder and harderMy partner and I were relatively early adopters of an electric vehicle, buying a Renault Zoe in autumn 2020 during the pandemic. It seemed to make sense to get aboard. After all, the future was electric, wasn’t it?After the first year, I wrote an article in this paper about what the experience was like. It was something of a saga. We discovered the charging infrastructure was
  
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• UK bill giving millions workers’ rights from day one to be tabled next week – report

  05-10-2024 16:51 via theguardian.com
  
  Unions have welcomed plans to grant sick and maternity pay and protection against unfair dismissal from first day in a jobWorkers’ representatives have welcomed UK government plans to give greater rights to millions, amid reports ministers are about to bring forward a bill to grant sick pay, ­maternity pay and protection against unfair ­dismissal from an employee’s first day in the job.Ministers have set themselves an ambitious timetable to introduce a law to deliver a &ldquo
  
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• Tax panic as huge number of pensioners pull out money ahead of Rachel Reeves' Budget

  05-10-2024 16:38 via express.co.uk
  
  Some of Britain's largest wealth managers issued an urgent warning to the government as the Autumn Budget date quickly approaches.
  
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• Increase wealth taxes to stop rise of Reform UK, says ex-Labour minister

  05-10-2024 16:33 via theguardian.com
  
  Liam Byrne has warned the chancellor that extra levies on the rich are needed to halt the rise of the populist rightA failure by Rachel Reeves to back a “windfall of wealth taxes” in her budget risks fuelling the rise of the populist right, a former Labour ­cabinet minister has warned.Liam Byrne, a senior figure in the New Labour government and chair of the Commons business and trade committee, said that the rise of Reform UK at the last election meant the chancellor and Keir Sta
  
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• HMRC and DWP set to issue £5,000 State Pension back payments to huge number of women

  05-10-2024 15:37 via express.co.uk
  
  The Treasury began issuing these letters over a year ago and is working with the Department for Work and Pensions
  
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• Bristol parking wars: Greens gear up for fight with drivers over pavement ban on cars

  05-10-2024 14:00 via theguardian.com
  
  The party has plans to prevent cars from hogging the city’s walkways, but expect a backlash from motoristsIsmail Mohammad pushes a buggy down the centre of a narrow road in east Bristol. His two sons stay close as vehicles could come from either direction at any moment. “There are cars [parked] on the pavement. We have to go on the road,” says Mohammad as he hurries to the boys’ primary school in Easton. “It’s dangerous because cars sometimes come fast through
  
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• Imminent HMRC state pension change forces thousands to retire later

  05-10-2024 13:59 via express.co.uk
  
  Some people are working later in life due to changes in state pension age rules, new research has suggested
  
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• State pension warning as 'tough decisions' could hit your savings

  05-10-2024 13:41 via express.co.uk
  
  The Government may change other pensions policies to protect the increasingly costly state pension
  
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• Never-ending odyssey: the rise of perpetual cruises that offer the very wealthy a new home at sea

  05-10-2024 13:12 via theguardian.com
  
  After numerous delays, the Odyssey finally sets sail from Belfast for three-and- a-half years – but what drives people to spend a fortune living full-time on luxury liners?On 13 March 2020 a cruise ship called the Braemar was denied entry to the Bahamas after a number of its passengers tested positive for Covid. Forced to travel around the Caribbean, it was finally accepted by Cuba, from where those on board were evacuated to the UK.The Braemar was just one of a number of cruise ships in w
  
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• State pension warning issued as retirement age could soar amid risk of major impact

  05-10-2024 12:02 via express.co.uk
  
  The state pension age is currently 66 but is timetabled to rise to 68.
  
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