Financial news

• Discounted admission tickets for over-60s 'are unfair to young'

  16-09-2018 19:02 via theguardian.com
  Pricing policy of museums and galleries ignores rise in wealth of older people, says charityMore than three-quarters of museums, galleries and other attractions in the UK are giving £65m of ticket-price concessions to the over-60s every year, while in many cases young people are charged full-price tickets, according to a study.People over 60 are offered concessions regardless of their ability to pay and even when they are below the state pension age, according to the Intergenerational Foun
  
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• Paperchase under pressure as an insurer reduces supplier cover

  16-09-2018 18:50 via theguardian.com
  Stationery chain insists ‘there is no cash issue’ despite slump in profitsThe stationery chain Paperchase has come under mounting pressure after one of its main credit insurers reduced cover after a slump in profits.Euler Hermes has refused to cover new contracts with Paperchase’s suppliers, although the retailer’s existing agreements with suppliers are unaffected. Continue reading...
  
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• UK market towns embrace foodie wave to revive ailing centres

  16-09-2018 17:39 via theguardian.com
  Leaders in struggling town centres have expressed interest in model spearheaded by Macclesfield and AltrinchamCan craft beer and sourdough pizza heal Britain’s ailing market town centres after a pummeling from the internet and retail parks? Macclesfield is joining a growing band of small towns about to find out.The Cheshire town is trying to harness the national foodie obsession to claw back the social purpose of its centre. The council is poised to approve plans for a communal food hall i
  
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• UBS 'rogue trader' in last-ditch attempt to avoid deportation

  16-09-2018 17:05 via theguardian.com
  Kweku Adoboli to file for judicial review the day before he is expected to be put on a flight to GhanaKweku Adoboli, the former UBS banker jailed for the UK’s biggest ever fraud, will on Monday file for a judicial review of the decision to deport him to Ghana, in a last-ditch attempt to stop his “banishment” from the UK, where he has lived since he was 12.Adoboli, 38, who was found guilty in 2012 of fraud that lost his Swiss bank $2.3bn (£1.8bn), is being deported to Ghan
  
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• Labour is divided over its proposed fracking ban – Cuadrilla chief

  16-09-2018 15:12 via theguardian.com
  Accusation comes only weeks before the UK’s first fracking in seven yearsThe shale gas explorer Cuadrilla has accused the Labour party of being divided on its proposed fracking ban and of unnecessarily politicising the search for shale gas.Francis Egan, the chief executive of Cuadrilla, which is only weeks away from beginning the UK’s first fracking in seven years, said the prospect of a Labour government coming to power was a risk that he would be “silly to ignore”. Cont
  
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• UK Netflix rival looms as BBC and Discovery eye UKTV breakup

  16-09-2018 14:44 via theguardian.com
  Splitting channels between them would have big impact on Britain’s TV industryThe BBC and the US pay-TV company Discovery are understood to be in the final stages of agreeing a £1bn breakup of the Gold and Dave broadcaster, UKTV, in a deal that will accelerate plans to build a British streaming rival to Netflix.UKTV, which has a mix of 10 free-to-air and pay-TV channels, is jointly owned by the Eurosport owner Discovery and BBC Studios, the commercial arm of the BBC. Continue reading
  
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• An economic recovery based around high debt is really no recovery | Larry Elliott

  16-09-2018 13:13 via theguardian.com
  Ten years after the Lehman collapse the necessary reforms to a flawed model have not taken placeAs a profession, economists are absolutely hopeless at forecasting recessions. That is true not only in the years before a severe downturn. It happens when the storm is about to break. Back in 2008, the Bank of England failed to predict the biggest postwar slump in the UK’s history even after it had started.This less than impressive record should act as a cautionary note in the current circumsta
  
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• Scottish town fights back against energy giant over ‘millions’ in charges

  16-09-2018 08:00 via theguardian.com
  Residents of Stornoway believe that they have paid over the odds to Centrica for yearsWhen Roddy Smith’s teenage daughter became severely disabled, he and his wife sold their home and remortgaged to buy and adapt a bungalow to care for her. But their energy costs soared as they tried to keep her warm through the long Hebridean winters. Smith says that every year he called his supplier, Scottish Gas, to get a better deal, and each time was told that there was only one standard tariff in his
  
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• Michael O’Leary’s lockdown won’t keep Ryanair’s woes a secret

  16-09-2018 08:00 via theguardian.com
  The press is barred from the budget airline’s AGM – but there will be no hiding shareholder angerIf a Ryanair AGM takes place but there are no journalists there to report it, does it really happen? The budget airline is never shy of making unexpected decisions – remember the change to a kinder, friendlier and more amiable manner towards customers? – and now chief exec Michael O’Leary has denied himself the oxygen of publicity.Thursday’s AGM, in the City North
  
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• Mark Carney’s stress tests reinvent project fear by accident

  16-09-2018 08:00 via theguardian.com
  The grim scenarios presented to No 10 only arise because the Bank proposes to raise rates in a crisis. Why would it do that?The case for staying inside the EU remains solid, but reinventions of project fear are wrecking the chances of ever persuading Leave voters, possibly in a second referendum, that quitting the single market and customs union would harm the economy irrevocably.That’s because project fear – as first put forward by the Treasury before the referendum vote and support
  
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• I was duped by a copycat website – can I get my money back?

  16-09-2018 08:00 via theguardian.com
  The lookalike site overcharged for ‘assistance’ with the US Esta visa waiverI wish I had read your recent article on copycat websites. I have just fallen victim to one over a recent Esta application. When I applied for my first one, five years ago, I am sure such sites did not exist – or maybe I was just lucky to avoid them. This time I thought I had selected the official website, so it was quite a good fake. I have certainly learnt my lesson. Having paid $99 for “assista
  
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• A decade after Lehman fell, the global economy is not better. It’s worse

  16-09-2018 08:00 via theguardian.com
  Investment is low, growth is slow and crisis in China would leave central banks with little firepower to stave off declineTen years after the collapse of Lehman Brothers and the financial crisis that followed, it is clear that far from being safer, the world is a more unstable and worrisome place. In the UK, average wages remain below pre-crisis levels and inequality is high. Investment in equipment and hi-tech processes, the cornerstone of future growth, is low.Not surprisingly, given the empha
  
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• Universal credit ‘costs the self-employed thousands of pounds a year’

  16-09-2018 07:00 via theguardian.com
  Businesses, unions and charities warn the rules are biased against those setting up their own companiesA coalition of businesses, unions and charities is demanding a rethink of the government’s welfare reforms, warning they will damage entrepreneurship and cost some self-employed people thousands of pounds a year.Concerns have already been raised about the potential impact of universal credit on the self-employed, with analysts saying the system is biased against those who set up their own
  
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• Burberry looks for fresh start with Riccardo Tisci debut

  16-09-2018 00:03 via theguardian.com
  After criticism over destroyed product, the luxury brand’s new creative lead will unveil his first collection at London fashion weekBurberry will be looking to put to bed recent troubles as new chief creative officer Riccardo Tisci unveils his first collection for the house at London fashion week.The company attracted widespread criticism in August following the revelation that it destroyed £28.6m worth of unsold product last year. It quickly denounced the practice, with CEO Marco Go
  
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