Financial news

• Tory pledge on more free childcare in disarray

  26-08-2017 23:00 via theguardian.com
  Parents and providers are left in confusion by the troubled introduction of 30 hours of free nursery to three and four-year-oldsTens of thousands of parents are still waiting to find out if they can take up a government offer of 30 hours’ free childcare days before the scheme is due to be launched.According to the latest figures, revealed in a letter sent by the Department for Education to local authorities and seen by the Observer, 82,000 parents entitled to the extra childcare have not y
  
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• Even superheroes may not be able to save Hollywood’s desperate summer

  26-08-2017 17:00
  At the time of year when queues usually form for popcorn and the money pours in, box office revenues are plunging. Where are the blockbusters?As the summer film season draws to a close, Hollywood film bosses are set for some serious soul-searching: entering its penultimate weekend, the US summer box office is heading for its lowest return in more than a decade.When the ticket stubs for summer are totalled up, they will paint a bleak picture: takings are expected to be down by as much as 15% year
  
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• All aboard the north’s rail powerhouse

  26-08-2017 16:59
  The region has lofty ambitions, despite the furore about London’s stranglehold on fundingThe call to arms from northern leaders, led by Manchester mayor Andy Burnham, was clear: “The disparity between transport in the north of England and London must now be addressed.” Commitments must be honoured, rail lines built, and the cities of the north showered with the kind of money London had enjoyed.Last week’s transport summit in Leeds attracted unprecedented attention, fuelle
  
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• Students struggling with finances in 'desperate state', claims union

  26-08-2017 16:50 via theguardian.com
  National Union of Students’ leader warns that many students struggle to pay for food, basic travel and textbooks Nearly half of Britain’s students are are worried about having enough money to buy essential groceries such as bread and milk from an average weekly food spend of £24.32, according to research by the National Union of Students Extra (NUS Extra).The survey also finds that many students are struggling to get together enough money to cover basic costs such as travel and
  
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• Average student food budget is less than £5 a day, NUS finds

  26-08-2017 16:50
  National Union of Students’ leader warns that many students struggle to pay for basic travel and textbooks due to ‘desperate’ state of financesNearly half of Britain’s students are are worried about having enough money to buy essential groceries such as bread and milk from an average weekly food spend of £24.32, according to research by the National Union of Students (NUS).The survey also finds that many students are struggling to get together enough money to cover
  
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• FINISTERRE to turn the tide on waste with making wetsuits-from-wetsuits project

  26-08-2017 13:31 via feedproxy.google.com
  BRITISH surf brand Finisterre is pioneering a design project to develop the world’s first wetsuits made from discarded synthetic rubber ones.
  
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• LAKELAND sees sales surge for preserving food products

  26-08-2017 13:30 via feedproxy.google.com
  LEADING homeware retailer Lakeland is seeing sales of food preserving products soar, and detects there’s more to the spike than it being peak season for pickling and jam making.
  
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• 'Wow, no cow': the Swedish farmer using oats to make milk

  26-08-2017 08:00
  Swedish drinks company helps farmer shift away from livestock farming and cut climate impact with his own oat milk brandAdam Arnesson, 27, is not your usual milk producer. For starters, he doesn’t have any dairy cattle. Our first photo opportunity is in the middle of one of his fields of oats.Until last year all these oats went into animal feed, either sold or fed to the sheep, pigs and cows he rears on his organic farm in Örebro county, central Sweden. Continue reading...
  
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• We want to put our flat on Airbnb – any advice?

  26-08-2017 08:00 via theguardian.com
  We’ve no idea how to stand out or what price to start withEvery 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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• ParkingEye meets its match as it takes on a top barrister over an £85 fine

  26-08-2017 08:00
  QC Nicholas Bowen has fought high-profile cases, but when it came to this one it was personalWhen a parking company fired off an £85 ticket to Nicholas Bowen, little did it know just who it was taking on.ParkingEye went after Bowen for overstaying the free two-hour limit at a motorway service station and, when he wouldn’t roll over, decided to sue him. But the firm, owned by Capita, may now be regretting picking this particular fight after a judge struck out the case and ordered
  
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• ‘My parked car was hit twice, but the insurers won’t pay’

  26-08-2017 08:00
  Jacqueline Green’s vehicle is a write-off after two crashes that weren’t her fault. So why is she unable to claim?Is this the unluckiest car owner in London? Jacqueline Green has been left with a wrecked car after two drivers separately crashed into her parked vehicle in the space of two weeks, but in neither case has she been able to get an insurer to pay the £3,000 it was worth.The architect, who is married with two children, says the family’s Ford S-Max that
  
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• Need a well-paid student job you enjoy? Here are a few off-the-wall ideas

  26-08-2017 07:59 via theguardian.com
  38% of those at university now say it is essential to have a part-time job just to make ends meet. But they want it to be fulfilling, too. We look at how to get oneUniversity students don’t usually get paid for jumping around on rooftops and attempting to run up walls. But when George Mayfield was 19 and studying biomedical science at Newcastle University, companies would pay up to £400 a day for him to do exactly that.An experienced parkour athlete, Mayfield started free running whe
  
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• Going up or digging deep, how to finance a home extension

  26-08-2017 07:59
  From loft conversions to basements, planning applications are rising as homeowners need more space but can’t afford to moveGrowing numbers of homeowners are building upwards or digging down to create more space because they can’t afford to move to a bigger property. But what are the options for financing this work? Should you remortgage, ask to borrow more from your existing lender or take out a personal loan?Research this week confirmed what many people in areas such as London will
  
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• Why I’ll be spending my golden years with my golden girls

  26-08-2017 07:14 via theguardian.com
  Kiran Aldridge and her friends are in their 40s and none of them have children. They have decided to buy a house together, where they can pool resources, skills and a yoga teacher – and never be lonelyI have a group of female friends and we are all in our early 40s. None of us have children. We have known each other for what seems to be an eternity; we went to college together, and then visited each other at different universities and remained good friends. I clearly see a timeline of
  
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• Restaurant Group to report 30 per cent fall in profits as warm weather hurts footfall

  26-08-2017 01:01 via feedproxy.google.com
  THE owner of Frankie & Benny’s is expected to report another fall in profits next week, with chief executive Andy McCue expected to outline the progress of turnaround efforts.
  
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