Financial news

• George Osborne says Brexit would drive up mortgage rates

  15-04-2016 19:50
  
  Chancellor says that the cost of home loans is likely to rise if voters decide to leave EU in 23 June referendumGeorge Osborne has issued a stark warning that mortgage rates will rise if Britain leaves the European Union. The chancellor said he thought it was likely interest rates, and therefore the cost of home loans, would rise if Britons vote to leave the EU in the referendum on 23 June. But Brexit campaigners accused Osborne of panicking and resorting to intimidating voters.Continue reading.
  
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• Doggy bags to pig feed: 10 things we learned about food waste

  15-04-2016 17:46
  
  A panel of experts joined us online to talk about preventing and getting value from food waste. Here’s what we learnedSee who was on the panel and read the full chat here
  In the UK alone, 15m tonnes of food is lost or wasted each year, with consumers chucking away 4.2m tonnes of edible food. The foods most commonly found in British bins are bread, vegetables, fruit and milk. If food waste sent an annual bill, the average household would be looking at £470, or £700 for families
  
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• Let’s move to Barnstaple: ‘It has potential'

  15-04-2016 17:30
  
  Once upon a time it was the third megalopolis of Devon – but could it really be quite the place again?What’s going for it? “Barnstaple: it’s a must” goes the town’s slogan, which is, perhaps, overdoing it a little. “It’s a quite possibly” might be more accurate. Barnstaple has potential. Once upon a time it was quite the place, all Norman barons, wool exports and grand architecture, the third megalopolis of Devon, after Exeter and Plymouth. T
  
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• McDonald's offer staff the chance to get off zero-hours contracts

  15-04-2016 16:57
  
  Fast-food chain to give staff the option of moving to contracts guaranteeing a minimum of four, 16 or 30 hours per weekMcDonald’s is offering UK staff on zero-hours contracts the option of moving to fixed hours in a major development in the debate about employee rights.The fast food chain is one of the biggest users of the contracts in the country, with an estimated 80,000 workers on zero hours, which critics claim exploit workers.Continue reading...
  
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• Celebrity endorsements saved Tangle Teezer a fortune, says CEO

  15-04-2016 11:36
  
  High profile fans of the detangling brush, including Victoria Beckham and Emma Watson, have played an important role in its successWhen your product has the public approval of celebrity fans like Victoria Beckham and Emma Watson, you know you are on to a winner. For Tangle Teezer, the business that produces the eponymous hairbrush, their endorsements have played a role in its extraordinary journey from modest startup to global brand.
  CEO Matt Lumb will no doubt be sharing some of the secrets of
  
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• Why customers tend to lose when they sue companies

  15-04-2016 08:00
  
  A reader is wondering about billing a firm for time and effort and following it up in courtI’ve been having horrendous problems with my energy supplier since July 2014. I have complained to the Energy Ombudsman twice (successfully) and am about to go for a third time. This has involved an enormous amount of time and effort on my part. What is the position with regard to presenting a company with an itemised bill for the time and effort expended in trying to resolve such problems? Could one
  
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• Surreal estate: an Italian church ripe for conversion – in pictures

  15-04-2016 08:00
  
  The former private chapel is located a few metres from the beach and could be converted into a three-bedroom home Continue reading...
  
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• I've been offered a promotion early in my career – how do I make the most of it?

  15-04-2016 08:00
  
  I don’t know whether to push for a pay rise now or later, or whether to ask for a larger training budgetTwice a week we publish problems that will feature in a forthcoming Dear Jeremy advice column in the Saturday Guardian so that readers can offer their own advice and suggestions. We then print the best of your comments alongside Jeremy’s own insights. Here is the latest dilemma – what are your thoughts?For the past few months I have worked for an arts organisation in a junior
  
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• Panama papers: don't demonise those who help others legally avoid tax

  15-04-2016 06:00
  
  In the wake of the Panama Papers leaks, tax avoidance should be made illegal and then CEOs and companies can be legitimately prosecutedAs the revelations in the Panama papers continue to make ever greater waves across the world, we must ask how those bankers, accountants and lawyers who help rich people and large corporations avoid taxes can live with themselves. The best clue is found in an email sent by one Mossack Fonseca employee: “Is there any kind of indemnity that stop[s] us as empl
  
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• Panama insists it is 'committed' to financial transparency - Yahoo Finance UK

  15-04-2016 00:53
  
  Panama insists it is 'committed' to financial transparency
  Yahoo Finance UK
  Panama on Thursday stressed it is committed to bringing transparency to its financial sector damaged by the Panama Papers revelations, but urged dialogue with the OECD instead of being hit with curbs. "Panama's path to financial transparency is ...en meer »
  
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