Financial news

• Discovery to shut European TV hub as it mulls post-Brexit plan

  28-05-2018 18:39 via theguardian.com
  Bear Grylls broadcaster may move from London to Poland or Netherlands if EU-wide TV deal not struckDiscovery is to shut its European broadcasting base in London as the US TV giant behind channels including Animal Planet and Eurosport mulls post-Brexit plans for a new continental hub. Discovery broadcasts more than 100 TV channels across Europe from its headquarters in west London, making the pay-TV giant the biggest broadcaster to use the UK as a hub for the continent. Continue reading...
  
  Read more

• More of UK stake in RBS could be sold off this week

  28-05-2018 18:36 via theguardian.com
  About 10% of the bank may be sold to investors, with major loss on 2008 bailout expectedAnother tranche of the state’s share in Royal Bank of Scotland could be sold off as early as this week, with speculation mounting that the Treasury is to resume its privatisation imminently. About 10% of the bank could be sold to investors, which would raise about £3bn but still crystallise a substantial loss to taxpayers after the government was forced to bail out RBS during the financial crisis
  
  Read more

• KPMG abandons controversial lending of researchers to MPs

  28-05-2018 17:21 via theguardian.com
  It follows criticism it is seeking to exert political influence to ‘secure desirable outcomes’KPMG has quietly abandoned a longstanding practice of making donations in kind to MPs and political parties by providing researchers to help in formulating policy and legislation.The decision by the accounting giant, which has been criticised for its role as auditor to the collapsed construction giant Carillion, comes after figures released by the Electoral Commission in March showed that do
  
  Read more

• The NHS doesn’t need £2,000 from each household to survive. It’s fake maths | Phil McDuff

  28-05-2018 16:47
  The language of politics warps our democracy again and again, as in this tax calculation. The media must unpack statisticsLast week, the Institute for Fiscal Studies and the Health Foundation published a report on funding for health and social care. One figure from the report was repeated across the headlines. For the NHS to stay afloat, it would require “£2,000 in tax from every household”. Shocking stuff!The trouble with figures like this is that while there may be a sense in
  
  Read more

• Advertisement

• Brexit indigestion: row brewing over call for UK laws to protect likes of cognac and feta

  28-05-2018 16:36 via theguardian.com
  EU demand for legislation to indicate origins of food and drink to be flashpoint in talksFeta cheese, Parma ham, French cognac and Belgium’s sour lambic beers are the latest cause of indigestion in Brexit talks, after the EU stepped up demands on the UK to legislate to preserve the status of European speciality produce.EU special status for regional food and drink has emerged as a new sticking point in the negotiations, following a bad-tempered week of discussions in which the two sides cl
  
  Read more

• The biggest losers: superannuation funds found wanting | Greg Jericho

  28-05-2018 16:15 via theguardian.com
  It’s an industry with little accountability, it underperforms yet demands high fees. And your retirement relies on itSign up to receive the top stories from Guardian Australia every morning
  A landmark report by the Productivity Commission has slammed the performance and transparency of the $2.6tn superannuation industry. It has made major recommendations directed towards making it easier for workers to choose their default fund, gain better returns and higher retirement balances, and to dr
  
  Read more

• England: 1.75m private renters believe they will never buy house

  28-05-2018 16:08
  Number of households not expecting to buy has grown by 50% under Tories, says Labour
  About 1.75 million people who rent their homes do not believe they will ever be able to buy, an increase of 50% since 2010.Analysis of the official English Housing Survey by Labour shows the number of households renting privately that don’t expect to be able to buy in the future has increased by 585,000 since the Conservatives came to power. Continue reading...
  
  Read more

• 'Digital wallet’ of Ant Financial captivates China and beyond

  28-05-2018 15:46 via theguardian.com
  The fintech ‘lifestyle platform’ is reportedly raising funds that would value it at $150bnWang Manni, 23, a graduate student in Hangzhou, is a loyal customer of one of the world’s biggest finance companies. However, it is not one of the traditional banking giants that handles her business, rather a four-year-old spin-off from the technology conglomerate Alibaba, Ant Financial. She uses its virtual credit cart, Huabei, to buy groceries, makeup and electronics on Taobao, Alibaba&
  
  Read more

• Advertisement

• The Galileo space row shows the mess of Brexit in microcosm | Philip Ball

  28-05-2018 10:24 via theguardian.com
  We cannot leave the EU and retain all the rights we had as members, as the tussle over this vital satellite system shows
  A row over the UK’s access to the Galileo project, the European satellite global-positioning system used both for civil and military purposes, is the latest tussle about what Brexit would mean for British science and technology. For all the familiar, rhetorical huffing and puffing, the dispute is another illustration of the myriad small-print complexities that need to be
  
  Read more

• Freespace: architects rethink space and the city – in pictures

  28-05-2018 10:00 via theguardian.com
  Freespace is the theme of this year’s Venice architectural biennale, which runs from 26 May to 25 November 2018. The exhibition showcases work from some of the world’s most exciting architects – here’s a selection of the most eye-catching and intriguing urban explorations at this year’s exhibition. Continue reading...
  
  Read more

• What crisis? Citizenship doom turning to boon for Coalition

  28-05-2018 09:29 via theguardian.com
  Initial high court ruling on section 44 looked bad for the government but eight months later it’s a different story• Sign up to receive the top stories in Australia every day at noonWhen Malcolm Turnbull made a bold prediction of what the high court “will so hold” in relation to the citizenship crisis, the Coalition was furiously arguing for a more lenient interpretation of the constitution to save the then deputy prime minister Barnaby Joyce.When the high court bucked the
  
  Read more

• Residents face £60 ticket as road is turned into private car park

  28-05-2018 08:00 via theguardian.com
  Anger in wake of more cases that expose injustice of unregulated parking enforcementThe undated letters addressed to “The Occupier”, were pushed through doors along a cul-de-sac in Aldershot, Hampshire, on a Thursday in November. Those who bothered to open what looked like junk mail discovered that part of the road had been sold to a private company and they would have to buy a £2.50-a-week permit to leave their cars outside their homes where free parking had been available for
  
  Read more

• Coffee shop racism; where America's racial divisions are exposed

  28-05-2018 08:00 via theguardian.com
  Many say the Starbucks incident exposed discrimination that people of color and black people in particular face every dayWhen two black men were arrested in a Starbucks store in Philadelphia in April, it prompted a national debate. The coffee chain swiftly announced it would close 8,000 of its US stores on Tuesday 29 May, so staff can undergo racial bias training. Related: Starbucks to tell staff 'prejudice is deeply rooted' at anti-bias trainingContinue reading...
  
  Read more

• WH Smith rated UK's worst high street shop by Which? readers

  28-05-2018 01:01 via theguardian.com
  Lush, Savers and Smyths share equal billing as best retailer but John Lewis slips to 10thWH Smith has been rated the UK’s worst high street retailer as shoppers panned its customer service and store standards.The books to paperclips store came bottom of a survey of Which? readers, reclaiming its unwanted crown as the UK’s most unloved retailer from the supermarket Morrisons, which came bottom last year. Continue reading...
  
  Read more

Follow @financialnwsUK on Twitter!