Financial news

• Shed of the Year 2017 – in pictures

  17-05-2017 20:10 via theguardian.com
  
  Pictures of the finalists in Cuprinol’s Amazing Spaces – Shed of the Year competition, the subject of a programme airing on Channel 4 in the summer Continue reading...
  
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• Buy-to-let millionaire who bans 'coloured' people faces legal action

  17-05-2017 16:20 via theguardian.com
  
  Equality watchdog seeks court injunction against Fergus Wilson after he told letting firm to ban some tenants over ‘curry smell’The equality watchdog has begun formal legal action against buy-to-let mogul Fergus Wilson after he told his letting agent to ban “coloured” tenants because they left curry smells in his properties.It emerged in March that Wilson, who owns almost 1,000 homes across Ashford and Maidstone in Kent, emailed a local letting agency, Evolution, saying:
  
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• UK real wages are shrinking again, as jobless rate hits 42-year low – business live

  17-05-2017 15:19
  
  British workers are suffering falling real wages again, despite unemployment hitting its lowest rate since the mid-1970s.Latest: UK jobless rate lowest since 1975Basic pay slows to 2.1%, lagging behind inflationPrices rising TWICE AS FAST as public sector payEmployment rate hits new highEarlier:White House crisis hits markets2.19pm BSTBack in the US, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average is now forecast to open around 170 points lower, as investors fret about the latest shennanigans in the White
  
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• Lloyds should give the backslapping a rest after sale of government stake | Nils Pratley

  17-05-2017 14:37
  
  Fanfare over paying back £894m on top of £21.2bn bailout seems undue given the job of turning around bank is far from done The smart way for Lloyds Banking Group to mark the government’s sale of its last shares would have been a short and dull statement. Something along these lines: “We thank the government and UK citizens for their support over the last nine years. The bank learned the lessons of the crisis many years ago and we’re sticking to our plan to support t
  
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• Government accused of ignoring workers' plight as UK faces pay squeeze

  17-05-2017 13:47
  
  Pay growth lags behind inflation for the first time in two-and-a-half years, highlighting impact of Brexit uncertaintyLabour and the unions accused the government of ignoring the plight of ordinary workers after UK pay growth fell below inflation in early 2017 for the first time in two-and-a-half years.Official figures showed that workers’ average earnings rose by 2.1% year on year in the three months to March, the weakest increase since July of last year. Continue reading...
  
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• Southern rail users face fresh misery as drivers resume overtime ban

  17-05-2017 13:23
  
  Return to daily travel chaos likely after talks break down between union and rail chiefs over driver-only trainsThe respite from severe disruption for Southern rail passengers looks to be over, with train drivers refusing to work overtime from the end of May.Drivers’ union Aslef announced the ban on Wednesday morning, a day after talks broke down with the Southern operator, Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR), in the long-running dispute over driver-only trains.Continue reading...
  
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• The west is mired in 'soft' development. China is trying the 'hard' stuff | Branko Milanovic

  17-05-2017 13:01
  
  The massive One Belt One Road project harkens back to a pre-Washington-consensus when rich countries built bridges rather than soft power
  Views are sharply divided on the viability and usefulness of the Chinese-led One Belt One Road (Obor) project, which plans to reconstruct the ancient Silk Road trade routes while also building new trading routes out into the oceans.Some in the development world think it will be a colossal waste of money with no practical gains — akin to the expeditions t
  
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• Unemployment is at its lowest since 1975, so why do people feel worse off? | Larry Elliott

  17-05-2017 12:28
  
  Low wage growth and the gig economy have made the labour market look better on paper than it feels in the pocketBritain looks like a full employment economy. A bigger slice of the population is in work than at any time since modern records began. The unemployment rate is at its lowest since 1975. There are hundreds of thousands of job vacancies.But Britain doesn’t feel like a full employment economy. When the jobless rate was this low in previous economic cycles, wages were rising because
  
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• Send in your photos of transformed derelict spaces in cities

  17-05-2017 12:03
  
  Underground farms, converted public toilets, repurposed hospitals. We want to find out about the businesses using abandoned spaces in your cities
  Recently we wrote about Homebaked, a cooperative bakery in Liverpool which is working to transform a derelict terrace into affordable homes for the local community.The story prompted lots of you to get in touch, with @Quicknstraight commenting: Continue reading...
  
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• Ikea to create 1,300 UK jobs in three new stores

  17-05-2017 12:02
  
  Swedish flatpack furniture company says its British workforce will rise to 11,700 as it continues to expandIkea will create 1,300 jobs in Britain by the end of 2018 with the opening of three outlets in Sheffield, Exeter and London.The Swedish flatpack furniture chain said these would increase the total number of staff employed in the UK to 11,700. Continue reading...
  
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• KitKat foiled again in bid to trademark four-fingered bar

  17-05-2017 11:31
  
  Court of appeal rules against Nestlé in its battle with Cadbury over whether shape of its snack should be protected by lawNestlé has lost its appeal to trademark the shape of the four-fingered KitKat bar in the UK.The court of appeal ruled against the Swiss confectionery firm on Wednesday in the latest twist in its long-running legal battle with rival Cadbury. Continue reading...
  
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• London is still a global draw despite Brexit, says British Land

  17-05-2017 09:59
  
  Profits at UK’s second-biggest property company boosted by sale of ‘Cheesegrater’ skyscraper London is still a big draw for global banks and institutions despite the uncertainty created by Brexit, according to one of the UK’s biggest property companies.British Land said the process of leaving the EU was creating uncertainty, with tenants taking longer than usual to commit to office space, but there was still demand for good quality property in the capital. Continue readin
  
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• Lloyds claims taxpayers have made £900m profit from bailout

  17-05-2017 09:37
  
  Banking group confirms it has returned to private sector as government sells its remaining shares Taxpayers have made a near-£900m profit on the sale of their shares in Lloyds Banking Group, the lender claimed, as the government offloaded its final stake in the bank and closed a chapter of the 2008 financial crisis.Almost nine years ago, the government pumped £20.3bn into Lloyds, buying up a stake that eventually mounted to 43%. The bank said proceeds of the share sales and dividends
  
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• Labour's water renationalisation plan is a damp squib | Nils Pratley

  17-05-2017 08:37
  
  Jeremy Corbyn’s manifesto pledge would be expensive – a simpler remedy would be tougher regulationRenationalise the water industry? If the Labour party’s ambition was to make a few quid for the exchequer and do nothing else, the idea is not as wild as it may sound, despite shadow chancellor John McDonnell’s gloriously loose description of his financing proposals.The government can currently borrow on the public markets at less than 1.5% for 10 years. It might cost £
  
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• Tata Steel offers £550m to resolve long-running pensions row

  17-05-2017 08:03
  
  Indian-owned company would help prevent its UK business going bust by paying into former British Steel schemeTata Steel has taken a step towards helping secure the future of its UK operations – including the Port Talbot works in south Wales – by reaching an outline agreement over the restructuring of its pension scheme.Unions reacted cautiously to the announcement by the Indian-owned company that it would pump £550m into the British Steel pension scheme – one of the UK&rs
  
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• Share your home office grand designs

  17-05-2017 08:00
  
  To celebrate National Freelancers Day we are showcasing the most creative home offices and co-working spaces designed by freelancers More than 4 million people work from home in the UK and many are proving that you don’t have to work for a big company to inhabit a cool workspace. In the run-up to National Freelancers Day on 8 June, we are asking freelancers who have come up with innovative or creative designs for their home office or co-working space to share their photos.Continue reading.
  
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• Moated homes – in pictures

  17-05-2017 08:00
  
  Have a French castle for a home or a noble house granting you the title of Lord or Lady – all with watery surroundsContinue reading...
  
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• Dear John Lewis, all I want is my £155 refund … refunded

  17-05-2017 08:00
  
  A store gave me my money back for a faulty item but it doesn’t show on my Partnership cardCan you please help John Lewis credit card to find my refund? Last October I bought some £155 stools from an online retailer and paid using my John Lewis Partnership MasterCard. In February one stool broke, and as a result the retailer refunded the money to my card. But a few weeks later the money was still not showing on my statements, so I chased the store to check the refund had been done. It
  
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• Mersey feat: world's biggest wind turbines go online near Liverpool

  17-05-2017 07:30
  
  UK cements its position as global leader in wind technology as increasing scale drives down costsThe planet’s biggest and most powerful wind turbines have begun generating electricity off the Liverpool coast, cementing Britain’s reputation as a world leader in the technology.
  Danish company Dong Energy has just finished installing 32 turbines in Liverpool Bay that are taller than the Gherkin skyscraper, with blades longer than nine London buses. Dong Energy, the windfarm’s deve
  
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