Financial news

• ‘A momentous moment’: campaigners hail Hunt’s childcare pledge – but vow to keep fighting

  17-03-2023 18:51
  
  It took the pandemic to make ministers realise childcare is vital to the economy but many doubt there will be enough funding for promised extra hoursAs the chancellor stood up to deliver his spring budget on Wednesday, Joeli Brearley sat in the lobby of a hotel near parliament crouched over her laptop, headphones on, eyes glued to the screen.The founder of Pregnant Then Screwed had read the Guardian’s story about the promise of 30 free hours a week for all children under five the night bef
  
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• Jacqueline Gold’s proudly smutty Ann Summers changed the UK high street

  17-03-2023 18:24
  
  Lingerie and sex toy chain’s boss tapped into the female market by embracing Britain’s peculiar erotic humourAnn Summers supremo Jacqueline Gold dies aged 62When Jacqueline Gold arrived to shake up Ann Summers, the company had already been in the family for a decade, bought by her father, David, and uncle Ralph Gold. They had made the initial leap from sex shop to what they styled as a “lingerie boutique”; it would be more accurate to say they took it from a shop women ne
  
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• Why did the $212bn tech-lender Silicon Valley bank abruptly collapse?

  17-03-2023 16:14
  
  Was it the result of Trump-era regulation rollbacks, risk mismanagement at the bank, sharp interest rate rises – or a combination of all three?The collapse of Silicon Valley Bank continues to reverberate, hitting bank stocks, revealing hidden stresses, knocking on to Credit Suisse, and setting off a political blame-game.Why the $212bn tech-lender abruptly collapsed, triggering the most significant financial crisis since 2008, has no single answer. Was it, as some argue, the result of Trump
  
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• ‘Deer are destroying habitats’: push to get venison on to UK dinner plates

  17-03-2023 14:00
  
  Pilot scheme distributing meat to food banks aims to help combat cost of living crisis and deer problem at same time“It’s crazy and indefensible,” says the MP Charles Walker. “Venison is a wonderful, sustainable resource but is seen as too posh to eat, ergo – very few people eat it and it ends up being made into dog food. It’s a contradiction of mind-bending proportions.”From ancient Celtic folklore and Arthurian romance to the Harry Potter films and War
  
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• Germany gives green light to €49-a-month public transport ticket

  17-03-2023 13:43
  
  Plan for ticket covering regional rail, metro, trams and buses across country follows success of €9 scheme last yearA follow-up to Germany’s immensely popular €9 (£7.90) monthly public transport ticket scheme has been given the green light in the Bundestag, in a move aimed at getting passengers to switch to greener forms of transport.Parliamentarians on Thursday voted to approve plans to introduce a €49-a-month ticket covering regional rail, metro, trams and bus travel
  
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• Two train derailments in US raise rail safety concerns – video report

  17-03-2023 13:26
  
  Two BNSF trains derailed in separate incidents in Arizona and Washington state on Thursday, with the latter spilling diesel fuel on tribal land along Puget Sound. The derailments came amid heightened attention to rail safety nationwide after a fiery derailment last month in Ohio where a freight train carrying hazardous chemicals derailed near the Pennsylvania border, igniting a fire and causing hundreds of people to be evacuatedTwo trains derail in Washington and Arizona amid
  
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• UK renters: share your experience of frozen housing benefit

  17-03-2023 13:08
  
  We would like to speak to UK tenants who get local housing allowance about the benefit remaining frozen despite rising rentsLocal housing allowance (LHA) has remained frozen since 2020, despite substantial increases to rents in subsequent years.We would like to speak with private renters in the UK who receive housing benefit. Has your rent risen in recent years? How have you been affected by frozen LHA rates? Have you fallen into arrears or been forced to move? Continue reading...
  
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• Aldi raises UK shop worker pay for fourth time in just over a year

  17-03-2023 12:50
  
  Minimum of £11.40 an hour from July takes total investment in pay to more than £100m over 12 monthsAldi has announced its fourth pay rise in just over a year with shop workers to get a minimum of £11.40 an hour from July.The 3.6% pay rise puts Aldi workers well ahead of the “national living wage”, which will rise to £10.42 next month, and the independently verified real living wage of £10.90. Continue reading...
  
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• UK passengers owed millions by airlines in unpaid refunds and expenses

  17-03-2023 07:00
  
  Wizz Air accounts for almost half the total amount owed to customers, according to Which?Airlines including Wizz Air and Ryanair owe millions of pounds to passengers from unpaid refunds and expenses, according to an investigation by the consumer group Which?.It called on the government and regulators to take urgent action over the £4.5m it calculates carriers owe in county court judgments (CCJs), describing the current enforcement of air passenger protections as “fundamentally flawed
  
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