Financial news

• Economists have to let go of the delusion that they have all the answers | Tim Thornton

  06-04-2017 22:30 via theguardian.com
  
  Economics isn’t always the best starting point in understanding our world. Sometimes a philosopher, sociologist, or historian might be better for analysisThe former leader of the Liberal party John Hewson has recently made several bold claims in the Australian media about the centrality of the economics profession, arguing that “we need economists more than ever to understand the world.” He argues that his economist colleagues are mostly true in saying that we can “keep c
  
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• Selfridges helps shoppers unwind with potato peeling class

  06-04-2017 20:23 via theguardian.com
  
  Swanky department store wants to help consumers reconnect by setting up workshops on simple crafts – be it grinding spices or making tea In a dimly-lit room, a dozen twenty-somethings gather around a large table to relax, “reconnect” and learn.Continue reading...
  
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• Social care reviewer condemns UK system and calls for new tax

  06-04-2017 19:48
  
  Andrew Dilnot says adult social care system is ‘most pernicious means-test’ in the British welfare stateAndrew Dilnot, who carried out the government review into the funding for care and support in England, has condemned Britain’s social care system as “the most pernicious means-test in the whole of the British welfare state” and called for a new tax to fund adult social care for everyone who needs it.The chair of the Dilnot commission on funding of care and support
  
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• Low interest rates put global financial sector at risk, IMF warns

  06-04-2017 18:32 via theguardian.com
  
  Prolonged cheap borrowing costs would hit earnings and force financial institutions to change business models, study saysA prolonged period of low interest rates will tempt banks to take greater risks and sound the death knell for final salary pensions, the International Monetary Fund has warned.A new study from the IMF said a continuation of the cheap borrowing environment seen since the global financial crisis a decade ago would pose a “significant challenge” to financial instituti
  
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• Move over Suez, hello Stad – Norway to build world's first tunnel for ships

  06-04-2017 16:59 via theguardian.com
  
  Ambitious project will create 1,700-metre long passageway underneath rocky peninsula for cruise and freight ships by 2023Norway plans to build the world’s first tunnel for ships, a 1,700-metre (5,610-ft) passageway burrowed through a piece of rocky peninsula that will allow vessels to avoid a treacherous part of sea.The Stad Ship Tunnel, which would be able to accommodate cruise and freight ships weighing up to 16,000 tonnes, is expected to open in 2023. Continue reading...
  
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• Tax relief cut doesn’t add up for landlords, plus Bank warns over consumer credit

  06-04-2017 16:44
  
  Also, benefit cuts hit grieving families, leasehold ‘nightmare’ costs homebuyers, and house sale undermined by Network Rail and knotweed Hello and welcome to this week’s Money Talks – a roundup of the week’s biggest stories and some things you may have missed. Continue reading...
  
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• Peers push to reverse bereavement benefit changes

  06-04-2017 15:53
  
  Ministers must accept they have made a mistake in cutting benefits received by parents, says cross-party group in LordsA cross-party collection of peers has called on the government to rethink a cut to bereaved parents’ benefits, which comes into force on Thursday, saying ministers must accept they have made a mistake.Ros Altmann, a Conservative peer, asked a question on the issue in the Lords, and is among a group who have signed a letter to the pensions secretary, Damian Green, asking th
  
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• Ryanair 'will have to suspend UK flights' without early Brexit aviation deal

  06-04-2017 15:21 via theguardian.com
  
  Falling back on WTO rules without a bilateral arrangement would be ‘disastrous’, says airline’s finance chiefRyanair has warned it will have to halt flights from the UK for “weeks or months” if Theresa May does not seal an early bilateral Brexit deal on international aviation.The suspension of flights from Stansted and other airports was “a very distinct possibility”, the company’s chief financial officer, Neil Sorahan, told the Guardian.Continue r
  
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• Small business owners support Sturgeon's plans for another referendum

  06-04-2017 15:14 via theguardian.com
  
  Guardian readers’ poll reveals strong backing for a second independence vote and a number of entrepreneurs who will vote yes this time after Brexit resultIt’s been billed by critics as a vanity project for Scottish first minister Nicola Sturgeon, who wants independence from the rest of the UK whatever it takes. Theresa May has accused Sturgeon of “tunnel vision” and said her plans represented “the worst possible timing”.Related: 'The landscape has changed': Sc
  
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• Why BlackRock wants to pay George Osborne £650,000 a year | Nils Pratley

  06-04-2017 14:42 via theguardian.com
  
  The ex-chancellor, editor and MP’s £13,000-a-day gig at the world’s largest fund manager makes business sense, albeit one riddled with conflict of interest concernsIt is easy to understand why George Osborne can find a day a week in his busy schedule to work for BlackRock, the world’s largest fund manager. At £650,000 a year, or £13,000 a day, it sounds a more lucrative gig than editing the London Evening Standard on the other four weekdays. The former chancel
  
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• Unilever to ditch Flora and Stork as consumers turn to butter

  06-04-2017 14:03 via theguardian.com
  
  Long-term decline of once-popular spreads to be sold off as brand giant seeks to bump up profits and dividends to placate investorsThe maker of Flora and Stork has put the margarine and spreads business up for sale as consumers turn to butter and healthier options.Unilever, an Anglo-Dutch business which is one of the biggest consumer goods groups in the world, said it plans to sell its spreads business, which is valued at around £6bn, or spin it off into a separate company. Continue readin
  
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• UK financial services fear threat of fintech could cause 40% revenue loss - Startups.co.uk

  06-04-2017 13:27
  
  Startups.co.uk
  UK financial services fear threat of fintech could cause 40% revenue loss
  Startups.co.uk
  61% of the UK's leading financial services firms fear they could lose up to 40% of their revenue to financial technology (fintech) start-ups, according to PwC's Redrawing the lines: FinTech's growing influence on Financial Services report. The survey ...
  UK financial services firms fear up to 40% of revenue at risk from FinTechBobsguide (press release)alle 43 nieuwsartikelen »
  
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• Supreme court upholds ban on term-time holidays

  06-04-2017 11:35
  
  Justices at UK’s highest court uphold fine imposed on Jon Platt for taking his daughter out of school for unauthorised break
  The supreme court has upheld the ban on parents taking their children out of school for family holidays during term time.In a unanimous decision, the justices upheld a fine imposed on a father for taking his daughter out of school for an unauthorised seven-day break in April 2015. Continue reading...
  
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• People with dementia to receive devices to block nuisance calls

  06-04-2017 10:57
  
  About 1,500 elderly and vulnerable people will get gadgets in first wave of funding for scheme announced by Theresa MayThe UK government is to fund high-tech call-blocking devices to protect people with dementia and vulnerable people from nuisance phone calls, although only around 1,500 people will be given the gadgets under the initial funding.The £500,000 project will install trueCall devices in the homes of elderly and vulnerable people identified by doctors. The machines block all reco
  
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• Online shopping and the plight of delivery workers: share your experiences

  06-04-2017 10:33
  
  More and more of us are relying on, and being employed by, delivery services. We’d like you to share your experiences with usThe inexorable rise of internet shopping has unleashed a flood of reports of low pay and bad working conditions for those on the frontline of this consumer revolution: delivery workers.With the world’s four biggest online markets – the UK, US, China and Germany – projected to double in size in three years to a total value of £645bn by 2018, th
  
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• 'People thought we were geniuses, others hated us'

  06-04-2017 08:30 via theguardian.com
  
  Cereal Killer founders Alan and Gary Keery didn’t expect their cafe to spark a protest but, undeterred, they’ve taken the brand from London to the Middle EastAK: We were hungover in Shoreditch and thought we just wanted to go for a nice cold bowl of cereal. After Googling “cereal cafe London” we discovered it didn’t exist and then we went home and started talking about what a cereal cafe would actually be like. We were getting so excited about it and thought, &ldquo
  
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• Uber contract 'gibberish', says MP investigating gig economy

  06-04-2017 08:01 via theguardian.com
  
  Frank Field says Uber, Deliveroo and Amazon use ‘egregious clause’ in contracts to prevent people challenging self-employed designation A committee of MPs has lambasted Uber’s contracts with drivers as “gibberish” and “almost unintelligible” as the company attempts to ensure its drivers remain self-employed.Frank Field, chair of the work and pensions select committee that is carrying out an investigation into the so-called gig economy, said: “Quite
  
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• Network Rail’s knotweed policy is undermining my house sale

  06-04-2017 08:00
  
  I have had two sales fall through because it would not provide details of how it planned to eradicate nearby weed enough to satisfy mortgage lendersI am experiencing major problems trying to sell my house due to Japanese knotweed. The invasive weed has spread from land owned by Network Rail on to ground shared by 30 properties on my estate. The affected area is approximately 80m away from my property. Because my property is leasehold, the knotweed is flagged up on the LPE1 form that the ground m
  
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• Can we take out a bigger mortgage to cover the cost of renovation?

  06-04-2017 08:00
  
  We’ve found a house that costs less than the maximum £650,000 we can afford, but it will need some work doing Q We’ve found a property that is under our current budget of what we can afford monthly (and how much the banks will lend us, which is £650,000). The problem though is that the property needs renovating and could do with an extension.
  So as the property we have found is on sale for £550,000, and would probably need another £100,000 spending on it to do
  
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• UK offers to handhold India in financial inclusion drive - Economic Times

  06-04-2017 07:27
  
  Economic Times
  UK offers to handhold India in financial inclusion drive
  Economic Times
  MUMBAI: The United Kingdom, being one of the world's biggest financial hubs, has the technological prowess to handhold India to achieve its target of 90% financial inclusion, said the country's Chancellor of the Exchequer, Philip Hammond. “As a world ...
  India, UK vow to fight tax evasion, up financial service synergyFinancial Express
  9th UK-India Economic and Financial Dialogue held in DelhiDaily
  
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• Truss’s plan to increase probate fees may not be legally enforceable

  06-04-2017 07:00
  
  Report suggests Ministry of Justice may not have the authority to introduce the charges of up to £20,000 per estateGovernment plans to raise £300m by increasing probate fees – payable when claiming inheritances – may not be legally enforceable, a parliamentary committee has said. A report by the joint committee on statutory instruments has suggested that the Ministry of Justice may not have the authority to introduce the charges of up to £20,000 per estate.
  The MoJ
  
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• Non-stop Sydney-to-London flights could happen by 2022, says Qantas

  06-04-2017 02:30 via theguardian.com
  Chief executive Alan Joyce says capabilities of new Airbus and Boeing planes make ‘Holy Grail’ possible within five yearsBoth Airbus and Boeing now offer aircraft that appear to be capable of flying non-stop commercial flights from Sydney to London – the “Holy Grail” for the Australian carrier Qantas. As long as oil prices don’t go much higher than about US$70 a barrel, the 20-hour flight can be financially viable, and could be on schedules within five years,
  
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• Salt, silicon or graphite: energy storage goes beyond lithium ion batteries

  06-04-2017 01:47 via theguardian.com
  
  Technologies that use gels, liquids, and molten silicon or salt could all claim a slice of the growing renewable energy storage market
  Between the political bickering following a spate of blackouts in South Australia and the billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk tweeting that he had a fix, and then the South Australian government announcing that it will build a grid-connected battery storage facility, interest in renewable energy storage has never been higher.While lithium ion batteries sold by Tes
  
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