Financial news

• Plain packaging and graphic warnings will ‘crush’ craft drinks, says gin master

  28-01-2017 21:17 via theguardian.com
  
  Campaigners slam ‘sanctimonious’ health experts after call for tobacco-style warningsIt’s enough to make Jared Brown spill his drink. The co-founder and master distiller behind Sipsmith, the micro-distillery in the vanguard of the craft gin movement in the UK, is contemplating the possibility of graphic warning photographs and plain packaging appearing on bottles of alcohol, akin to the restrictions on tobacco that assume full force in May.“Are they considering similar la
  
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• Energy sector faces struggle to find the female engineers of the future

  28-01-2017 17:00 via theguardian.com
  
  The woman in charge of UK’s largest power station admits they must do more to change attitudesWhile the lack of female chief executives in the UK is a problem, the lack of female engineers is an even bigger concern, as Dorothy Thompson, chief executive of Drax group, knows only too well. The head of the UK’s largest power station is grappling with the question of how to attract more women into the energy sector.Thompson says the six places available on the Drax apprenticeship scheme
  
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• Pokémon Go and no sign of stopping: Apple’s App Store sales boom

  28-01-2017 16:59 via theguardian.com
  
  Purchases on its software platform made $8.6bn for the company last year, even as demand for the iPhone showed signs of easingWhen Apple launched its App Store eight years ago with a selection of just 500 applications for iPhone users, not many of the company’s famously bullish executives could have expected that it would grow into an earnings juggernaut. The iPhone and iPod were overwhelming successes and the iPad was just around the corner: apps seemed like an offshoot.But last year, App
  
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• How artificial intelligence could help make the insurance industry trustworthy

  28-01-2017 16:00 via theguardian.com
  
  NYC-based Lemonade hopes to reverse the poor reputation of insurance companies by using tech and behavioral science to appeal to younger customersWith its complex rules, fine print and lengthy processes, it’s little wonder that the $1.2tn insurance industry has a poor reputation for trust and customer service. In a recent global survey from accounting firm EY, consumers ranked insurance below banks, car manufacturers, online shopping sites and supermarkets for trustworthiness.A newcomer to
  
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• Drugs firms are accused of putting cancer patients at risk over price hikes

  28-01-2017 15:54 via theguardian.com
  
  Research shows price of 14 treatments that should cost pennies has risen by up to 1,000%Drug companies have been accused of profiteering by raising the prices of out-of-patent cancer medicines that cost just pence to make, inflating the bills of the cash-strapped NHS by hundreds of millions of pounds.Academics say the prices of 14 cancer drugs have increased by between 100% and nearly 1,000% over the past five years in the UK. These are all generic drugs where the patent has expired, which means
  
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• Theresa May signs £100m fighter jet deal with Turkey's Erdoğan

  28-01-2017 15:30 via theguardian.com
  
  Prime minister also uses last leg of diplomatic tour to issue warning to Turkish president to respect human rights obligationsTheresa May issued a stern warning to Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan about respecting human rights yesterday as she prepared to sign a £100m fighter jet deal that Downing Street hopes will lead to Britain becoming Turkey’s main defence partner.May was in Ankara on the final leg of a diplomatic tour that had taken her to Washington to meet Donald T
  
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• Luxury retailers hope Chinese new year tourists will leave them crowing

  28-01-2017 09:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Brand outlets hope weak pound, extra flights from China and easing of visa system will drive sales and fill the tills over the year of the roosterOn an icy weekday afternoon in Hackney, a part of east London not on most tourists’ itinerary, Burberry’s discount outlet store is bustling with tourists from China. There is much buzz around the footwear department, and shoppers are checking out ponyskin handbags at £649 – down from £1,295 – and trench coats discoun
  
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• Quitting EU regulator 'would leave UK waiting longer' for new drugs

  28-01-2017 08:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Drug firms say leaving EMA could mean Britons having to wait a year longer than EU citizens for newly-developed medicinesMinisters are coming under growing pressure to scrap plans to quit Europe’s medicines regulator as part of Brexit, with drug firms saying doing so could force Britons to wait a year longer than patients in the EU to access new drugs. Labour and leaders of the UK’s pharmaceutical industry fear that patients and the NHS will lose out if Britain gives up its membershi
  
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• Nissan Qashqai owners driven mad by engine failures

  28-01-2017 08:00
  
  Some buyers of the 1.2 litre turbo models allege that the vehicles are being forced off the road by mechanical and oil problemsWhen Ana Keogh spent £28,000 on a brand new Nissan Qashqai in 2015, the last thing she expected was to have the engine rebuilt three times in 18 months with her car off the road for weeks on end. But she is just one of a number of buyers of the Qashqai’s 1.2 litre petrol turbo models who say they are suffering serious problems that left them without their car
  
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• Is paying £125 for someone to clean our oven really worth it?

  28-01-2017 08:00
  
  My husband is convinced it’s good value, I am scepticalEvery week a Guardian Money reader submits a question, and it’s up to you to help him or her out – a selection of the best answers will appear in next Saturday’s paper.This week’s question: Continue reading...
  
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• Is equity release a good way to pay off your home loan?

  28-01-2017 08:00
  
  You’ve been paying interest only, but finding a large sum to cover the capital is a problem. We look at equity releaseThe number of people raiding the equity locked up in their home to pay off their interest-only mortgage is set to rocket. But is signing up for an equity release plan a good idea? And what are the other options for those who took out an interest-only deal perhaps 20-25 years ago who are now staring down the barrel of a hefty shortfall?The City watchdog has identified 2017-1
  
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• How buying a Bovis home came with hundreds of snags

  28-01-2017 08:00
  
  Buyers say housebuilder sells properties ‘not fit for purpose’ and pressures them to move into unfinished homes When Helen Batt went to view her recently purchased £389,995 Bovis-built home in Maidstone, Kent, for the first time before Christmas, she was expecting to see a spanking new four-bedroom house.Instead, the property in the Orchard Fields development was barely finished and littered with rubbish – two days before the scheduled completion date of 20 December. &ldq
  
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• Don’t throw your money on home emergency and key cover insurance – Patrick Collinson

  28-01-2017 08:00
  
  Millions are overpaying on home emergency and key cover that will seldom result in a successful claimWhat a nightmare when your boiler breaks down in the middle of winter, or when you lock yourself out of your car after losing your keys. So how handy to have “home emergency” or “key cover” insurance for that all-important peace of mind. Except that official figures released this week reveal just how many millions of people are overpaying for these policies.The Financial C
  
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• ‘You owe your employer a debt of gratitude’ – our work expert responds

  28-01-2017 07:59
  
  Our careers expert – and you the readers – advise a retiree who is returning to work, and a trainee accountant who wants to quit their jobWhen working I did a great range of jobs as we moved around with my husband’s work. I have a general science degree and was very adaptable – numerate, literate (if you can claim that for yourself), was a fast typist and good at research and writing reports (often where things had gone wrong). I enjoyed doing all kinds of things and ende
  
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• Fighting food waste with an app… and a measuring spoon

  28-01-2017 07:59
  
  In a year-long experiment, families in Swadlincote tried to cut food waste by 50% – and attempt to save hundreds of poundsLisa Edwards is busy unpacking shopping for the following day’s dinosaur-themed birthday party for her toddler Max, but is happy to show Guardian Money into her kitchen and explain – short of actually rifling through her bin – how she and her family have reduced their food waste by more than three quarters over the past year, saving £1,000.&ldquo
  
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• Brits Panic as 'Disruption' Comes to UK Finance Industry - Financial Tribune

  28-01-2017 01:05
  
  Financial Tribune
  Brits Panic as 'Disruption' Comes to UK Finance Industry
  Financial Tribune
  The UK has long been a financial center and home to the world's top banks and financial institutions. But recently, there has been an air of desperation in the country not seen since the recession of 2007. This is not due to the tensions caused by US ...
  
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• Campaigners demand answers after leak closes part of North Sea oil well

  28-01-2017 01:01 via theguardian.com
  
  The well, which is owned by Total, was the subject of a £1m fine after another leak in 2012Questions need to be asked about safety and protection of the environment, campaigners have said, after a leak in a North Sea well being drilled by the oil and gas firm Total.The company may be forced to temporarily abandon part of the well owing to a gas leak beneath the seabed, which has restricted access to the wellhead at its Elgin B platform. Continue reading...
  
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