Financial news

• UK public warned not to eat Baronet semi-soft cheeses after listeria death

  24-03-2023 22:54
  
  Contamination found at high levels in some of firm’s products but authorities have not confirmed source of fatal infectionOne person in the UK has died in a listeria outbreak, public health bodies have revealed, as they warned consumers not to eat Baronet semi-soft cheeses because of contamination discovered at exceptionally high levels in some products.An alert from the Food Standards Agency (FSA), updated on Monday, said the Old Cheese Room, a Wiltshire-based manufacturer, had extended i
  
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• Head of Credit Suisse talks of his profound sadness over UBS takeover

  24-03-2023 19:24
  
  Ulrich Körner acknowledges an ‘emotional and challenging week’ after deal was forced through by Swiss authoritiesBusiness live: latest coverageDeutsche Bank leads sell-off in European bank sharesThe chief executive of stricken Credit Suisse has said that he shares its employees’ “profound sadness and disappointment” after its emergency takeover by rival UBS earlier this week.UBS took over Credit Suisse on Sunday in a £2.65bn deal forced through by Swiss a
  
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• Goodbye, ‘fit for work’ tests – but what comes next could be worse | Letter

  24-03-2023 18:50
  
  The work capability assessment has features that it is important to retain. One is the right of appeal to an independent tribunal, writes Patricia de WolfeFrances Ryan is quite right (Good riddance to the work capability assessment, the cruellest social policy of modern times, 22 March). The work capability assessment (WCA) is awful. But its proposed successor looks even worse.The WCA has features that it is important to retain. One is the right of appeal to an independent tribunal. By contrast,
  
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• Having a family is becoming an unaffordable luxury | Letter

  24-03-2023 18:49
  
  Family formation has been seriously and negatively affected by the state of the housing market, writes Bartek StaniszewskiIt is laudable that the property ombudsman has ruled that blanket bans on letting properties to families with children discriminate against women and are against the sector’s code of practice (English letting agents who ban children breach equality rules, says ombudsman, 21 March). While libertarian-minded Tories may object that this is an infringement on the free marke
  
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• Germany faces EU backlash over U-turn on phasing out combustion engine

  24-03-2023 18:38
  
  Row a further signal of tensions over the green deal landmark proposals to tackle climate crisisGermany is facing a growing backlash inside the EU over its U-turn on a law to phase out the combustion engine in new cars by 2035, despite signs of an end to the standoff with Brussels.The row comes amid growing concerns over France’s push to include nuclear across a swathe of laws on green technologies, a further signal of tensions over the EU green deal, landmark proposals to tackle the clima
  
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• Deutsche Bank is no Credit Suisse, despite investors’ fears | Nils Pratley

  24-03-2023 18:24
  
  German lender’s shares were hit by general loss of confidence, not by any specific failingsIt’s rarely a good sign when politicians, in the middle of a crash in the share price of their country’s biggest financial institution, declare there’s nothing to worry about. Such remarks often just feed a sense of panic. The German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, would have been better advised to say nothing about Deutsche Bank.But it is also true that Scholz was exaggerating only slight
  
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• UK and EU formally adopt Brexit deal for Northern Ireland – video

  24-03-2023 17:49
  
  UK foreign secretary James Cleverly met with Maroš Šefčovič, the European Commission vice-president, to agree to work 'intensively and faithfully' to implement the Windsor framework after formally adopting it. On behalf of the UK and EU, both counterparts agreed to accept the revised version of the Northern Ireland protocol. Prime minister Rishi Sunak's deal with the 27-nation bloc has rewritten the post-Brexit rules on Northern Ireland trade. Cleverly said that, after lo
  
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• Greedflation: are large firms using crises as cover to push up their profits?

  24-03-2023 16:38
  
  Critics of corporate behaviour over the pandemic and Ukraine war say company profit and loss accounts tell their own storyBusiness live – latest updatesLarge companies have exploited the pandemic and the Ukraine war to drive their profits higher, protecting dividend payments to shareholders.That is the accusation levelled at big businesses by unions and a growing number of academics and City economists, who believe the corporate data from 2019 onwards reveals systematic and excessive price
  
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• Deutsche Bank leads sell-off in European bank shares

  24-03-2023 16:11
  
  FTSE 100 also falls amid fears another bank could slip into trouble after UBS takeover of Credit SuisseBusiness live updates: banking sell-off intensifiesGermany’s Deutsche Bank has led a sell-off in European banking shares amid mounting fears another bank could slip into trouble after the emergency merger of UBS and Credit Suisse last week.However, some strategists and investors cautioned that it might be a fear-induced sell-off, rather than having been triggered by concerns over liquidit
  
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• Jeremy Hunt has left the UK to rot in poverty. So we must take matters into our own hands | Gordon Brown

  24-03-2023 12:22
  
  With hygiene banks now joining food banks and clothes banks, I’m calling on retailers to take drastic action and help their poorest customersPoverty will last until doomsday if this Conservative government is all that confronts it. The so-called “budget for growth”, more accurately titled the “budget for growth in poverty”, has done nothing for our 271,000 homeless people, the 400,000 children who tonight will sleep without a bed of their own, the 14 million condemn
  
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• Celebrating England’s high streets – in pictures

  24-03-2023 10:00
  
  Picturing High Streets is a three-year project, led by Historic England, to show the rich diversity of modern English towns. The most evocative images are part of a major exhibition touring the country Continue reading...
  
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• Studio flats for sale – in pictures

  24-03-2023 08:00
  
  From a historic art deco ‘bachelor’s pied-á-terre’ in the heart of Chelsea, to one of Manchester’s coolest geometric glass creations Continue reading...
  
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• Sky’s live chat failed my daughter when it wouldn’t cancel her account

  24-03-2023 08:00
  
  It was in her husband’s name but he was on remand in prisonMy daughter’s ex has been charged with her attempted murder and is on remand in prison. She has moved out of their shared flat, but cannot cancel their Sky subscription because, although she pays for it, the account is in his name and only the account holder can terminate the contract.
  RE, DundeeThis is a terrible case. Sky contacted your daughter the day I highlighted her situation. It has cancelled the subscription, waived
  
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• UK households ‘spent 12% more on essentials in February than year earlier’

  24-03-2023 01:01
  
  Almost four in 10 people have to use credit cards to cover such costs, says NationwideInflation and rising bills mean UK households are spending 12% more on essentials than they were a year ago, with almost four in 10 people having to use credit cards to cover these costs, new data shows.Two days after it emerged that the UK’s annual inflation rate unexpectedly jumped to 10.4% in February, Nationwide said its figures showed that consumers spent 34% more on utility bills and 17% more on mor
  
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