Financial news

• Chancellor needs to find an extra £33bn a year to end austerity, says IFS

  12-07-2017 23:47 via theguardian.com
  
  Tax and spending watchdog warns that Treasury might need to return to its spending squeeze in aftermath of BrexitPhilip Hammond would need to spend an extra £33bn a year to “end austerity” according to a leading tax and spending watchdog.The Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) said the chancellor could use his autumn budget to reverse major cuts scheduled to hit public spending and still keep the government’s spending deficit at 2.4% of GDP by 2021. Continue reading...
  
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• The rehabilitation of RBS is painful, costly – and nowhere near over | Nils Pratley

  12-07-2017 22:58 via theguardian.com
  
  The bank is resolving another ‘legacy issue’ by paying £4.2bn over mis-sold loans in US, but a return to profit is still a distant dreamThere goes £4.2bn from our (mostly) state-owned bank, Royal Bank of Scotland, to cover the first of two big settlements with US authorities for mis-selling toxic mortgage bonds in the bad old days. The sum to be dispatched to the US Federal Housing Finance Agency is roughly the size RBS had expected, which at least shows that today’
  
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• Judge says Mike Ashley case is 'a lot more interesting' than others

  12-07-2017 20:07 via theguardian.com
  
  Mr Justice Leggatt, who will give his verdict next week, has listened to hours of evidence about Sports Direct billionaire’s unorthodox business practices
  A high court judge has joked that the legal dispute over what Sports Direct billionaire Mike Ashley allegedly said during a drunken night out to a London pub is “a lot more interesting” than most dry business disputes that reach the courts.Mr Justice Leggatt was on Wednesday hearing closing arguments in a dispute between Ashl
  
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• Irish business seeks €1bn in EU aid to protect firms hit by Brexit

  12-07-2017 19:40 via theguardian.com
  
  Business leaders say money would cushion exporters against disruption after UK leaves customs unionIrish business leaders have called for a €1bn state aid programme to guard against Brexit disruption, in the event that the UK quits the customs union. The Irish Business and Employers Confederation wants the EU to cushion Irish exporters caught up in the chaos this would cause, giving them the space to “innovate, diversify into new markets, train staff and invest for the future”.
  
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• Renewable power critic is chosen to head energy price review

  12-07-2017 19:05 via theguardian.com
  
  Government’s preferred choice of Oxford economist Dieter Helm is controversial owing to criticism of wind and solar powerAn academic who is a vocal critic of the price of renewable power is the government’s preferred choice to head a review of the financial cost of energy in the UK.Dieter Helm, an economist at the University of Oxford, has been chosen by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) to carry out the review, the Guardian has learned. The Conservat
  
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• What's the strangest thing you've been asked to do on work experience?

  12-07-2017 17:50 via theguardian.com
  
  We’d like to hear from readers who’ve had out of the ordinary work experience days like “Eddie” – who has been running the the Southern rail Twitter accountA 15-year-old student was apparently allowed to run the Twitter account of Southern Rail this week, fielding questions and often taking part in quite surreal exchanges. Related: How Eddie the intern became the likable face of Southern RailContinue reading...
  
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• Thousands of drivers suffer loss of power following VW emissions 'fix'

  12-07-2017 17:02 via theguardian.com
  
  41,000 owners are bringing a class action against the manufacturer citing poor performance, worse fuel consumption – and no compensationMore than half of VW, Audi and Skoda owners who had their cars “fixed” following the “diesel-gate” emissions scandal have subsequently suffered poor performance and worse fuel consumption, according to a legal firm behind a class action against VW. Related: Up in smoke: the VW emissions ‘fix’ has left our car undriveable
  
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• Burberry drops plans to redevelop Leeds mill despite pick-up in sales

  12-07-2017 15:52 via theguardian.com
  
  Luxury brand insists it is committed to city, where it is moving 300 head office jobs, as it also delays decision on new factory Burberry has ditched a plan to revive the Temple Works mill in Leeds and delayed a decision on whether to build a new factory next door for at least another year despite a pick-up in sales.Sales at stores open more than a year rose by a better-than-expected 4% in the three months to 30 June as Chinese shoppers began to splash the cash again. City analysts had been expe
  
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• Cash is dying. But what are we losing along with it? | Rhiannon Lucy Cosslett

  12-07-2017 15:44 via theguardian.com
  
  Technology has transformed the way we use money. But convenience has begun to trump everything else, threateningto undermine vital human connections• Rhiannon Lucy Cosslett is a London-based freelance writer“I’m sorry, mate, I don’t have any cash on me.” It’s a common excuse, heard up and down the country outside pubs and supermarkets, and as people rush to work, especially as the homelessness crisis becomes worse and begging increases. But while, 10 years ago,
  
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• FCA warns it may intervene as millions take pension cash early

  12-07-2017 14:33 via theguardian.com
  
  Report by regulator flags up widespread withdrawal under pension freedoms, as TUC says millions could face financial insecurity The TUC has warned that millions of workers risk being “plunged into insecurity in old age” after an official report revealed a surge of people grabbing their pension cash early without taking advice.
  More than two years after the government brought in a range of pension freedoms, the Financial Conduct Authority concluded that accessing pension pots early ha
  
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• How Eddie the intern became the likable face of Southern Rail

  12-07-2017 14:31 via theguardian.com
  
  The rail firm’s woes over driver action, late-running trains and its reduced service were forgotten as a 15-year-old on work experience took over its Twitter account Have you had a bizarre work experience situation? Name: @SouthernRailUK.Age: Joined July 2010. Continue reading...
  
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• Argos and Asda apologise over 'exploding' glass tables

  12-07-2017 13:32 via theguardian.com
  
  Retailers under pressure to recall similar models of glass-topped patio tables after they shatter unexpectedly during heatwaveArgos and Asda have apologised to customers after similar models of glass-topped patio tables “exploded” in the heat, but rejected calls for a national product recall. Argos said it had launched an investigation into its Sicily table – still on sale as part of a set with six chairs for £219.99 – after a mother reported an incident last week i
  
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• UK interest rates aren't about to rise as real pay slides | Larry Elliott

  12-07-2017 13:07 via theguardian.com
  
  Some at the Bank of England flirted with a rise, but the latest ONS figures suggest the doves will continue to hold sway The City has been getting mightily excited in recent weeks at the prospect of the Bank of England raising interest rates next month. Sorry to disappoint, but it’s not going to happen. In truth, it was never going to happen. The Old Lady has been showing a bit of leg, that’s all. Related: UK pay squeeze intensifies as real wages continue to fallContinue reading...
  
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• 'Peter Jones: 'The government needs real business advice'

  12-07-2017 12:00 via theguardian.com
  
  The original Dragons’ Den investor talks enterprise training, Brexit, and a rumoured move into politicsAs much as you read about the successes, there are many things that have not gone right for me in business. But I’ve always had this mantra that there’s no such thing as failure, only feedback. It’s what you learn from mistakes that determines whether you make it again. Even today, I learn all the time.Continue reading...
  
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• Diarrhoea, vomiting, sudden death ... cholera's nasty comeback

  12-07-2017 11:39 via theguardian.com
  
  Eradicated for a century in some parts of the world, Alexandra Ossola looks at the history of a disease that has infected 246,000 people in Yemen in eight months
  Mohammad Shubo is motionless when he is wheeled into the clinic. He had started experiencing diarrhoea and vomiting that morning; by evening, he had no pulse. In an effort to rehydrate him quickly, the nurses give Shubo an IV of saline solution. His reanimation seems almost uncanny – within half an hour he is able to sit up and sp
  
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• UK financial watchdog concerned about what people are doing with their ... - The Independent

  12-07-2017 11:29
  
  The Independent
  UK financial watchdog concerned about what people are doing with their ...
  The Independent
  The UK's Financial Conduct Authority has flagged concerns about the way in which people are using their pensions since the introduction of landmark rules around retirement savings in 2015. The FCA on Wednesday said that it had identified several issues ...
  UK's financial watchdog raises concerns over pension cash-insFinancial Times
  UK financial watchdog shows concerns over competition, pro
  
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• Man wins equal pension rights for husband at supreme court

  12-07-2017 11:09 via theguardian.com
  
  Landmark ruling means former cavalry officer’s husband will enjoy the same pension rights as a widow wouldA gay former cavalry officer has won a legal battle to provide his husband with equal pension rights in a landmark discrimination case at the supreme court.The unanimous judgment, which could benefit thousands of couples, will ensure that should John Walker die first, his partner will have access to an income of about £45,000 a year for life. It may also impose unexpected liabili
  
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• Properties with pools – in pictures

  12-07-2017 08:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Make a splash with one of these aquatic beauties – from Norfolk to the Dordogne Continue reading...
  
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• HMRC keeps chasing me for my late father’s tax bill, but I’ve paid it

  12-07-2017 08:00 via theguardian.com
  
  I’ve had to send the sum again with interest and fees, despite proof from the Post Office of my original paymentI paid a £735.84 tax bill pertaining to my late father’s estate via my local Post Office, but 18 months on, HMRC still says it has not received it.Throughout 2016 I received demands from HMRC despite having a receipt from the Post Office showing I had paid it. The latter told me to contact its bank to trace the missing payment.Continue reading...
  
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• Cash no longer king as contactless payments soar in UK stores

  12-07-2017 07:01 via theguardian.com
  
  Landmark moment as cards now account for more than half of all purchases, according to British Retail ConsortiumIs this the tipping point that signals the beginning of the end for cash? For the first time, notes and coins have been toppled from their position as the UK’s number one payment method. Cards now account for more than half of all retail purchases, according to the main body representing shops.The new figures from the British Retail Consortium show that 10 years after their intro
  
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• Lloyds Bank brings in single overdraft rate in radical shake-up

  12-07-2017 01:01 via theguardian.com
  
  All existing charges on 20m accounts to finish in November and be replaced by flat fee of 1p for every £7 overdrawnLloyds Bank is to radically change the way it charges for overdrafts on its 20m accounts, including those at Halifax and Bank of Scotland, in a move it claims will leave most customers better off – although one in 10 could pay significantly more.All existing charges for overdrafts will be abandoned in November and replaced with a single fee of 1p every day for every &pou
  
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• Energy networks' £7.5bn windfall 'should be returned to consumers'

  12-07-2017 01:01 via theguardian.com
  
  Firms that transmit electricity and gas, such as National Grid, have ‘eye-watering’ profit margins, says Citizen’s AdviceEnergy networks have been accused of exploiting UK consumers to enjoy a £7.5bn windfall of unjustified “sky high” profits, and urged to return the money in the form of a one-off £285 rebate to every household.Citizen’s Advice said the companies that transmit electricity and gas around the UK, including National Grid, were reaping
  
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