Financial news

• Labour targets pensioners with pledge to keep triple lock

  13-12-2016 23:00 via theguardian.com
  
  John McDonnell sets out measures in bid to attract over-65s, who turned away from party in 2015 electionLabour is to guarantee older voters that it will keep benefits such as free TV licences, bus passes and the winter fuel allowance as well as the so-called triple lock guarantee on pensions following Brexit.As part of a concerted party effort to boost its support among older voters, the shadow chancellor, John McDonnell, and shadow pensions secretary, Debbie Abrahams, are to visit an older peop
  
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• Italian banks are living on borrowed time … and money

  13-12-2016 21:30 via theguardian.com
  
  The €13bn refinancing is good short-term news for Italy and the European banking system but it was needed years agoHurrah, some of the world’s largest banks have been rounded up to underwrite a €13bn (£11bn) rights issue at the giant Italian lender UniCredit. This is unequivocally good short-term news for Italy and the European banking system since the alternative would have been an immediate crisis for both.Yet, eight years after the global banking crash, Italian and Europ
  
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• Rupert Murdoch unlikely to spin off Sky News in takeover battle

  13-12-2016 21:00 via theguardian.com
  
  It is understood 21st Century Fox believes conditions associated with failed 2011 bid are no longer necessary because industry landscape has changedRupert Murdoch’s 21st Century Fox is not expected to offer Sky News as a regulatory pawn to secure an £11.2bn takeover of Britain’s largest pay-TV broadcaster. Under a previous acquisition attempt in 2011, Murdoch struck a deal to spin off the loss-making Sky News in a bid to appease concerns raised by Ofcom, the media industry watc
  
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• Small businesses brace themselves for Post Office strike

  13-12-2016 18:23 via theguardian.com
  
  News of a five-day strike by mail workers before Christmas is the last thing busy entrepreneurs want to hearThe announcement of five days of postal strikes in the runup to Christmas is unwelcome news for business owners. Christmas is always a busy time of year for entrepreneurs, when many send more post more than usual.
  Postal workers plan to strike over pensions, jobs and branch closures, although the Post Office has stated disruption will be minimised and that it will be “business as usu
  
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• Financial tips for start-up companies - Startups.co.uk

  13-12-2016 18:20
  
  Startups.co.uk
  Financial tips for start-up companies
  Startups.co.uk
  The earliest days of any start-up company are not only the most exciting, but also, the most critical. The decisions you make and the direction in which you steer things from day-one will play a pivotal role in determining the long-term success of the ...
  
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• Hard-pressed private tenants need a union to stand up for their rights | Penny Anderson

  13-12-2016 16:30 via theguardian.com
  
  Revenge evictions, nonexistent repairs, legal terror – landlords hold all the cards. But thanks to groups like Acorn and Living Rent things are beginning to changeBeing a tenant is lonely. Where do they turn when landlords or letting agents bully them into paying more, unlawfully evict them, or refuse to carry out repairs? For once the news is good: the Bristol-based tenants rights group Acorn is looking to raise money to pay for staff in order to become a genuine nationwide tenants union,
  
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• Why is UK inflation rising so quickly? Blame Brexit and the oil price

  13-12-2016 14:38 via theguardian.com
  
  A 20% hike in petrol prices added to sterling’s 15% fall means the cost of living is rising fast. Expect 2% by spring, 3% by next ChristmasGyrations in the oil market meant it was a stone-cold certainty that inflation would be on the rise in late 2016. This time last year the price of crude was crashing, which put strong downward pressure on the cost of living. The annual inflation rate is the sum of price movements in the latest 12 months, so last year’s price falls are gradually dr
  
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• Michel Roux Jr apologises for paying chefs less than minimum wage

  13-12-2016 13:04 via theguardian.com
  
  TV chef claims he didn’t notice staff’s long working hours and their underpayment was unintentionalFormer BBC1 MasterChef host and Michelin-starred, Le Gavroche restaurant owner Michel Roux Jr has spoken out for the first time since it was revealed he was paying chefs below the minimum wage, saying: “I am embarrassed and I am sorry.”The statement follows the Guardian’s report last month that Roux was paying some of his Mayfair restaurant staff rates as low as £
  
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• 'Nothing to lose': why we sacrificed education for serial success

  13-12-2016 09:11 via theguardian.com
  
  Starting in their teens or early 20s, the fearlessness of youth has helped these entrepreneurs launch enterprises that are worth millions Do you need a degree to run a string of businesses? Research by Coutts and the Centre for Entrepreneurs suggests the level of an entrepreneur’s education is inversely related to the number and turnover of the businesses they start.
  Among those surveyed in the research, those that had a bachelor’s degree or above had started 2.7 businesses on averag
  
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• Present danger: trading standards' battle against deadly Christmas gifts

  13-12-2016 08:23 via theguardian.com
  
  From unsafe dolls to exploding hoverboards, the festive period is busy for officers inspecting goods in UK portsHer name, according to the cheap cardboard label, is “Shu Yi baby”, but the large plastic doll in a lurid green outfit will not be welcomed into any UK households as a gift on Christmas Day.After being impounded at Felixstowe by trading standards officials, the imported toy has been declared unsafe after undergoing tests and will be destroyed.Continue reading...
  
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• Great Western Railway is going off the rails with refunds

  13-12-2016 08:00 via theguardian.com
  
  I’ve been waiting since the end of August for a payment I am due for late trainsI have been having problems with Great Western Railway over refunds for late trains – three are outstanding – and I am sure I am not alone. The first dates back to the end of August when I made the claim the day after travel. Having heard nothing by the end of September, I sent an email to GWR’s managing director, Mark Hopwood, and received a polite reply asking for details of my case (which I
  
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