Financial news

• Tui passengers tell of wrecked holidays as travel firm cancels 180 more flights

  31-05-2022 18:35
  
  Staff shortages blamed after travel firm axes six flights a day for June at Manchester airportTui has announced more than 180 flight cancellations from Manchester airport until the end of next month as its customers caught up in the half-term travel chaos told of how their holiday plans had been ruined.The travel company said it was axing six flights a day at the hub from 31 May until 30 June, adding to the chaos facing passengers at airports across the UK this week as they battle lengthy queues
  
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• UK credit card debt is ballooning for all the wrong reasons

  31-05-2022 18:17
  
  In normal times consumers spend for gratification – in this cost of living crisis they are spending out of desperationWhen credit card balances begin to rocket, analysts are usually convinced the trend indicates consumers are growing in confidence and the economy is bowling along in rude health. In more normal times, consumers feel less concerned about the possibility of paying a super-expensive rate of interest if it means they can buy what they want straight away.These are not normal tim
  
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• UK credit card borrowing rises at fastest annual rate for 17 years

  31-05-2022 16:11
  
  Annual growth for credit card borrowing hit 11.6% in AprilCredit card borrowing is rising at its fastest annual rate in 17 years, the Bank of England said on Tuesday, with analysts warning a recession looks increasingly likely as growing numbers of households go into debt to make ends meet.The annual growth rate for credit card borrowing hit 11.6% in April – the highest figure since November 2005. The rate for all consumer credit increased to 5.7% in April, from 5.2% in March, rising faste
  
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• UK credit card borrowing soars by most since 2005 as mortgage approvals hit lowest since mid-2020 – business live

  31-05-2022 13:29 via theguardian.com
  
  Number of UK mortgages approved falls to below 66,000 in April, as consumers spend more on credit as inflation risesLatest: Mortgage approvals fell below pre-pandemic levelsExperts: Cost of living squeeze hits housing marketConsumer credit rises as families are hit by inflationEU leaders agree to partial embargo of Russian oil importsOnline fashion retailer Missguided calls in administratorsDiscount retailer B&M has sunk to the bottom of the FTSE leaderboard, down 9%, after warning that its
  
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• EU embargo on Russian oil will cut 90% of imports, says Ursula von der Leyen – video

  31-05-2022 13:27 via theguardian.com
  
  The EU has agreed to an embargo on most Russian oil imports after late-night talks at a summit in Brussels. Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission, said the ban would 'effectively cut around 90% of oil imports from Russia to the EU by the end of the year' because Germany and Poland had committed to renounce deliveries via a pipeline to their territory. The sanctions package also targeted Russia's largest bank, Sberbank, and three Russian state broadcastersEU leaders
  
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• What does EU’s partial oil ban mean for Russia and rest of Europe?

  31-05-2022 11:47 via theguardian.com
  
  Ban on seaborne oil aims to cut off funds for Kremlin war machine, but some warn it could help Moscow in short termRussia-Ukraine war: latest updatesAfter nearly a month of wrangling, the European Union has agreed to a partial ban on Russian oil, with the aim of cutting off funding to the Kremlin’s war machine. According to the European Council president, Charles Michel, three-quarters of Russian oil imports will be immediately affected, rising to 90% by the end of the year. Continue readi
  
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• B&M warns of profit fall as inflation squeezes customers and retailers

  31-05-2022 10:52 via theguardian.com
  
  Discount chain predicts decline in discretionary spending as UK inflation soars to 40-year highThe discount retailer B&M has warned that its profits could drop as customers struggling with the cost of living crisis opt for cheaper products.It highlighted an “uncertain macroeconomic outlook” that could prompt customers to switch to cheaper products, making it difficult to predict the impact of inflation on sales volumes. Continue reading...
  
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• Unilever shares rise as billionaire investor Nelson Peltz joins board

  31-05-2022 10:35 via theguardian.com
  
  Hedge fund boss – whose daughter married Brooklyn Beckham – holds 1.5% stake in UnileverUnilever’s share price has risen after the consumer goods company announced that the billionaire activist investor Nelson Peltz is to become a board member.Peltz, the US founder and chief executive of Trian Fund Management, has been building his Unilever stake since January amid growing speculation that he will push the Dove soap and Marmite manufacturer to shake up its sprawling operations,
  
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• Travel firms should have been ready for post-Covid surge, UK minister says

  31-05-2022 10:28 via theguardian.com
  
  Disruption caused by surge in post-pandemic holidays could have been avoided, arts minister saysThe travel industry should have been better prepared for a surge in post-pandemic holidays, a government minister has said, after scenes of travel chaos in airports before the half-term break.The arts minister, Stephen Parkinson, a former adviser to Theresa May, said the disruption was causing “a lot of distress” for people who had not been able to get away for several years because of the
  
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• Civil service graduate scheme paused in drive to cut 91,000 roles

  31-05-2022 09:45 via theguardian.com
  
  Fast stream schemes will not run in 2023 as government seeks to save moneyThe UK civil service has paused its flagship graduate scheme for at least a year in order to reduce its number of staff.The scheme, known as the civil service fast stream, will not run in 2023 as it has in previous years. Continue reading...
  
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• Sunak’s UK oil subsidy could have insulated 2m homes, says thinktank

  31-05-2022 08:00 via theguardian.com
  
  The billions now going to fossil fuel exploitation could have funded efficiency measures that cut energy bills for goodBillions of pounds given away in a tax break for UK oil and gas exploitation could have permanently cut the energy bills of 2m homes by £342 a year if invested in insulation measures, according to a green thinktank.Rishi Sunak announced the 91% tax break alongside a windfall tax on the huge profits of oil and gas companies last week. The E3G thinktank calculated that the t
  
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• No reply at all from Genesis concert ticket refund

  31-05-2022 08:00 via theguardian.com
  
  After The Last Domino gig was cancelled for the second time, a reader could get no response from AXSI bought tickets for Genesis’s The Last Domino tour at the O2 in London last year but because of Covid it was postponed twice.After it was rescheduled a second time I decided to sell my tickets as for health reasons it was going to be difficult for me to go.Continue reading...
  
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• American wage slaves: the sadness of life in the 70s – in pictures

  31-05-2022 08:00 via theguardian.com
  
  In photographing tired, unfulfilled US workers as they attempted to relax, Chauncey Hare depicted their domination by multinational corporationsThe big picture: Chauncey Hare, the pursuit of happiness in Playland Continue reading...
  
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• Tickled ink: Virgin Atlantic allows cabin crew to display tattoos

  31-05-2022 07:01 via theguardian.com
  
  Exclusive: Airline becomes first in UK, and first big global carrier, to allow visible body artVirgin Atlantic’s easing of cabin crew tattoo policy marks industry shiftVirgin Atlantic is to allow its cabin crew to display tattoos, the first UK airline – and leading carrier worldwide – to do so.The airline is to announce the change in policy to its staff, a month after it launched a branding campaign “championing individuality” – and as the aviation industry sc
  
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• Fishing industry still ‘bulldozing’ seabed in 90% of UK marine protected areas

  31-05-2022 07:00 via theguardian.com
  
  New data shows ‘mystifying’ lack of progress in post-Brexit pledge to curb bottom-trawling, two years after landmark legislationMore than 90% of Britain’s offshore marine protected areas are still being bottom-trawled and dredged, two years after analysis of the extent of destructive fishing exposed them as “paper parks”, according to data shared with the Guardian.The UK’s network of marine parks, set up to safeguard vulnerable areas of the seabed and marine l
  
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• Britishvolt to invest more than £200m in Midlands test facility

  31-05-2022 01:01 via theguardian.com
  
  UK battery startup to lease site in Hams Hall to test manufacturing methods for planned ‘gigafactory’The UK battery startup Britishvolt has said it will invest more than £200m in a new facility in the West Midlands to test manufacturing methods that will be used at the factory is has planned for in Northumberland.The company will lease a site in Hams Hall, Warwickshire, from the warehouse developer Prologis, with equipment installation expected by the end of autumn 2023. Contin
  
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