Financial news

• Does the UK need full-fibre broadband? Just ask the lucky few who have it

  17-11-2019 16:07
  
  Only 1 in a dozen homes can get ‘the gold standard of broadband’ but those that do see it as a necessityLabour’s plan to offer free full fibre broadband to every home and business is an eye-catching offer to potential voters. But while the scheme has been labelled “fantasy economics” by critics, people who already enjoy ultra-fast broadband view it as invaluable.Like the roll-out of 5G for mobile phones, full-fibre broadband is the much-hyped next big thing for inte
  
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• Do we need full-fibre broadband? Ask the lucky few who have it

  17-11-2019 16:07
  
  Only 8% of homes can get ‘gold standard of broadband’ – but those few see it as a necessityLabour’s plan to provide free full-fibre broadband to every home and business is an eye-catching offer to potential voters. But while the scheme has been labelled “fantasy economics” by critics, people who already enjoy ultra-fast broadband view it as invaluable.Like the roll-out of 5G for mobile phones, full-fibre broadband is the much-hyped next big thing for internet
  
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• Quick-fix saving: how to set aside extra money for Christmas

  17-11-2019 15:00
  
  It’s late November, but there’s still time to save for the festive season. Here’s a complete guide to how to do it – whether sharing, swapping or shopping aroundSelfridge’s may have opened its Christmas shop in July, but most of us are only just starting to think seriously about the festive season. Hot on the heels of working out how you plan to spend Christmas comes the realisation of how much you plan to spend. Presents, food and trips out swiftly add up.Of course
  
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• Why is UK unemployment still low? We are working longer hours

  17-11-2019 12:11 via theguardian.com
  
  Pay hasn’t recovered from the 2008 crisis so staff work longer to fill the gap, boosting labour supply and limiting wage risesTurn the clock back a decade. The economy is just about to emerge from its worst recession in living memory. Since the start of 2008, output has contracted sharply quarter after quarter. The banks have been saved but the official unemployment rate has hit 8%, a 12-year high.Now imagine that you had a crystal ball which could foresee what would happen over the next 1
  
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• Outdated ombudsman rules frustrate consumers

  17-11-2019 09:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Enforced wait of eight weeks before a complaint can be lodged should be axed, say campaignersCustomers are being left out of pocket because of arcane rules that force them to wait eight weeks before they can take unresolved complaints to an ombudsman.Campaigners are calling for the system to be updated after research by the consumer website MoneySavingExpert showed that 89% of respondents wanted the waiting time halved to allow swifter redress when companies fail to deliver. Continue reading...
  
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• Migrants forced to wait months for UK visa despite paying £800 for priority

  17-11-2019 09:00 via theguardian.com
  
  The Home Office has been accused of incompetence after handing the fast-track service to private firmsXanthe Couture, a Canadian living in the UK with her British husband, applied in March for indefinite leave to remain. The Home Office website said she would have to wait six months for a decision, but that if she paid an £800 super-priority premium on top of its £2,389 fee, she would hear back within one working day of submitting her biometric details.Couture needed her residency pe
  
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• How could it be that the Tories have turned their back on the best of British industry? | Will Hutton

  17-11-2019 09:00 via theguardian.com
  
  If Jeremy Corbyn’s party were not so averse to capitalism, this would be a great opportunity for LabourFor the past 40 years, the Conservative party has always championed an economic theory. Whether 1980s monetarism or 2010s austerity economics, I thought them bunk. But while Nigel Lawson or George Osborne were clearly wrong, at least there was an intellectual underpinning for their actions, an underpinning you could shoot at.You also knew that, one way or another, Tory policy was aiming t
  
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• The Disney empire strikes back at Netflix – but more rivals are set to enter the fray

  17-11-2019 08:30 via theguardian.com
  
  Disney’s share price soared as customers signed up in their millions - but as costs rise, it will be a struggle for all players to survive in the crowded streaming universeDisney’s eagerly anticipated entry into the streaming wars last week proved that the days of Netflix’s virtual global monopoly are well and truly over. Backed by a stellar library of content, from the Marvel and Pixar films to the $100m live-action Star Wars series The Mandalorian, Disney+ attracted 10 millio
  
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• Brexit will make all the election spending promises hard to keep

  17-11-2019 08:00 via theguardian.com
  
  In contrast with the mood of largesse, economists say Johnson’s deal will lower state revenues by £26bn a yearIf the president of the United States, a non-European, feels entitled to air his views about Brexit, I see no reason why the outgoing president of the European council, Donald Tusk – a much more agreeable Donald – should not air his.Quoting Hannah Arendt, Tusk said: “Things only become irreversible when people start to think so.” Tusk, who rightly thin
  
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• Warren doesn't just frighten billionaires – she scares the whole establishment | Robert Reich

  17-11-2019 07:00 via theguardian.com
  
  No wonder the wealth tax turns the Gray Lady white as a sheet: it will help the needy and its author is a good bet for presidentOn Thursday, the New York Times reported on a study showing that Elizabeth Warren’s proposed wealth tax (and presumably Bernie Sanders’ even more ambitious version) would reduce economic growth by nearly 0.2% a year, over the course of a decade. Related: Elizabeth Warren rips into billionaires who oppose wealth tax in scathing adContinue reading...
  
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• Inheritance Tax warning: Why your life insurance payout could end up being subject to IHT

  17-11-2019 05:01 via feedproxy.google.com
  
  INHERITANCE TAX bills can tot up if it is required to be paid on the estate of a deceased person. A life insurance may be subject to Inheritance Tax, however there is a situation where it isn’t included in the value of the estate.
  
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• Nissan recalls nearly 400,000 cars in US over potential fire hazard

  17-11-2019 04:12 via theguardian.com
  
  Japanese car giant says brake fluid leaking on to a circuit board could ‘in rare instances’ lead to a fireNissan will recall 394,025 cars in the US over a braking system defect that has caused concerns that a brake fluid leak could potentially lead to a fire.The leak into internal circuit boards will trigger a warning to drivers, which if ignored may lead to a fire in “rare instances,” Nissan said in an 8 November filing with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administra
  
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• Investing is not so different from playing the lottery – just less fun

  17-11-2019 02:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Many who sneer at the national lottery – now turning 25 – will coolly hand large sums to a smooth fund manager“The Lottery, with its weekly pay-out of enormous prizes, was the one public event to which the proles paid serious attention. It was probable that there were some millions of proles for whom the Lottery was the principal if not the only reason for staying alive. It was their delight, their folly, their anodyne, their intellectual stimulant. Where the Lottery was concer
  
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• Iran warns security forces may act against petrol price rise protests

  17-11-2019 01:57 via theguardian.com
  
  Interior minster says authorities will intervene if public properties are damaged in protests that have spread across countryIran’s interior minister has warned that security forces will act to restore calm if those protesting against the 50% increase in petrol prices “damaged public properties”, as anti-government protests spread across Iran.Protesters blocked traffic in major cities and clashed with police after a night of demonstrations punctuated by gunfire. At least one pe
  
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