Financial news

• Labour to take aim at Sunak’s leadership on cost of living crisis

  10-04-2023 23:30
  
  Party will continue to single out PM, after campaign ad last week that led to accusations of ‘dog-whistle’ politicsKeir Starmer will shift his aim this week on to Rishi Sunak’s role in presiding over the cost of living crisis after days of anger over Labour’s crime campaign.The party will continue to single out the prime minister in the minds of voters, claiming “his fingerprints are all over their struggling household budgets”, as part of an attempt to hold S
  
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• Selling the dream the estate agent way | Brief letters

  10-04-2023 17:46
  
  Fantasy house hunt | Damson trees | Treasure Island prequel | In a pickle | Dog’s dinnerHow lovely to see that the great estate agent gift of positive description is still alive and well in Roxburghshire (Fantasy house hunt, 7 April). A two-bed cottage described as decorated with a “surprising palette” (deep orange and dark blue) and benefiting from a “rewilded garden”.Peter AdamsonPeldon, Essex• Forget cherry blossom, plant damson trees instead (UK hopes to em
  
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• Vodafone issue ‘now fixed’ after broadband outage hits thousands in UK

  10-04-2023 17:17
  
  Telecoms company apologises after complaints and says problem was the result of an ‘isolated incident’Vodafone has said it has fixed a problem that left thousands of its customers unable to connect to the internet.The mobile operator, which has more than 1 million broadband customers, had been inundated with queries on its Twitter account from users complaining about their broadband connection on Monday morning. Continue reading...
  
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• Is the Ukraine war boosting or damaging the Russian economy?

  10-04-2023 15:07
  
  IMF suggests invasion spending is pushing up GDP but academics argue non-military economy is founderingThis week the International Monetary Fund will assess how well Russia’s economy has held up during the Ukraine war and is expected to estimate it had a mild downturn last year, faces a a small contraction this year and will enjoy a healthy level of growth in 2024.This seems to contradict the warning from shortly after the invasion that the country faced a contraction of up to 15% and last
  
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• UK spent almost £500,000 on unused support scheme for energy firms

  10-04-2023 14:42
  
  Exclusive: EMFS, devised by Treasury and Bank of England as backstop fund, was quietly closed this yearThe Treasury spent almost half a million pounds on an unused emergency scheme for energy traders launched by Liz Truss that was quietly closed earlier this year.The energy markets financing scheme (EMFS) was devised by the Treasury and the Bank of England as a £40bn government-guaranteed backstop fund to provide stability for energy and financial markets.The scheme was designed to offer e
  
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• Women not wearing hijab to be banned from Tehran metro – reports

  10-04-2023 14:04
  
  Iranian state TV shows metro staff stopping women at ticket barriers, in effect barring many from workHijab enforcement groups are to be set up on the Tehran metro and women not wearing the hijab will be refused entry, in effect banning some women from work, Iranian state TV has reported.The move appears to be part of a pattern of government efforts to force Iranian public bodies to take greater responsibility for enforcing the hijab. Many Iranian women, especially in urban centres, have refused
  
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• I was the first person to sign up for a three-year cruise. Here's why | Meredith Shay

  10-04-2023 13:00
  
  As I approach my vintage years, why not spend life doing something I love – travelling and meeting new peopleI am a former flight attendant with a passion for travel. My motto in life has always been to experience, learn and then grow. When I heard about a round-the-world cruise taking in 135 countries and docking at 375 destinations, I thought it was the perfect opportunity to live my values. I was the first person to sign up.That may sound like a surprising decision, but I’ve never
  
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• ‘Incoherent’ Premier League gambling sponsor proposals ignore hoardings

  10-04-2023 12:53
  
  Clubs understood to be close to agreeing plan to ditch betting sponsors from shirts voluntarilyProposals by Premier League football clubs to give up gambling sponsors on team shirts have been criticised by campaigners as “incoherent” because they ignore more visible forms of advertising such as pitchside hoardings.Clubs in the English top flight are understood to be close to agreeing a plan to ditch betting sponsors from shirts voluntarily, with the issue expected to go to a vote bef
  
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• Norfolk Broads boat hire firm bans alcohol after antisocial behaviour

  10-04-2023 12:46
  
  Hippersons boatyard says drunk tourists have damaged vessels, urinated off the side, and abused staffA Norfolk Broads boating company has banned tourists from consuming alcohol on its vessels after incidents of antisocial behaviour, including people urinating off the side of the boats.Mary Sparrow, the director of Hippersons boatyard, said a minority of guests would visit the Broads just to drink on the water all day, leading to staff facing abuse and boats being damaged by intoxicated customers
  
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• Exxon’s new ‘advanced recycling’ plant raises environmental concerns

  10-04-2023 12:00
  
  Advocates warn plants like the latest addition to the Texas complex generate hazardous pollutants and provide cover for oil giants to produce new plastic productsExxonMobil just launched one of the largest chemical recycling plants in North America – but environmental advocates say the technology is a dangerous distraction from the need to reduce plastic production.On the surface, the latest addition to ExxonMobil’s giant petrochemical refinery complex in Baytown, Texas, sounds like
  
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• Thousands of UK Vodafone customers report broadband outages

  10-04-2023 11:57
  
  Mobile operator’s Twitter account inundated with queries from users complaining about connectionThousands of Vodafone customers across the UK have reported having problems connecting to the internet.The Twitter account run by the mobile operator, which has more than 1 million broadband customers, was inundated with queries from people complaining about their broadband connection on Monday morning. Continue reading...
  
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• ‘I didn’t give permission’: Do AI’s backers care about data law breaches?

  10-04-2023 11:10
  
  Regulators around world are cracking down on content being hoovered up by ChatGPT, Stable Diffusion and othersCutting-edge artificial intelligence systems can help you escape a parking fine, write an academic essay, or fool you into believing Pope Francis is a fashionista. But the virtual libraries behind this breathtaking technology are vast – and there are concerns they are operating in breach of personal data and copyright laws.The enormous datasets used to train the latest generation o
  
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• Shout it from the rooftops: the noise pollution in towns and cities is killing us | Coco Khan

  10-04-2023 11:00
  
  The din of Britain’s conurbations affects poorer people disproportionately, blighting lives in cheaply built homesTwo years ago, my most lovingly overbearing and melodramatic auntie came to stay at my flat on an east London high road. Each morning she would emerge, fully dressed except for the eye mask left on her forehead like Chekhov’s gun, taking a few moments to chitchat before erupting: “Aren’t you going to ask how I slept? Just terrible! Sirens! Buses all night, dri
  
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• Liquid gold? Here’s the sobering truth about investing in whisky

  10-04-2023 10:00
  
  Buying casks in the hope they increase in value sounds attractive, but industry experts warn of pitfallsAt first glance, it’s an attractive prospect for young investors: buy a cask of whisky and enjoy double-digit returns in the process. Ads for schemes to buy some of Scotland’s finest are constant features on social media – but the perils and pitfalls are not.Young investors are increasingly being targeted on Instagram with schemes to buy their own whisky casks, but the unregu
  
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• Will capital gains tax apply if a sale of a buy-to-let property is used to purchase another?

  10-04-2023 09:00
  
  The proceeds for the first house would be fully used as a deposit for the larger second oneQ I own a buy-to-let property and am considering selling it to fund the purchase of a larger buy-to-let investment property. In essence, I would be moving the investment from property one to property two. The sale proceeds of property one (after deduction of the outstanding mortgages) would be fully used as a deposit for property. Would capital gains tax still apply, even though the investment has moved to
  
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• John Lewis finance won’t help us get back our lost £30,000 kitchen money

  10-04-2023 09:00
  
  We paid on its credit card but when the kitchen company disappeared a chargeback was refusedWe’re at our wits’ end with John Lewis Finance after it turned down our credit card claim.Last year we paid a small independent company to supply and install a kitchen for us. The total cost under the contract was £29,950. We paid just under £9,000, mostly on credit cards with John Lewis Finance. About six months later, when the installation date was approaching, we paid the same c
  
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• Musk admits BBC ‘among least biased’ in row over Twitter ‘government-funded media’ tag

  10-04-2023 08:37
  
  Designation added by Twitter to @BBC account is at odds with corporation’s public funding model and constitutional independenceElon Musk has described the BBC as “among the least biased” media organisations after the broadcaster objected to being labelled as “government-funded media” on Twitter.The BBC contacted Twitter after the designation was attached to the main @BBC account. The label links through to a page on Twitter’s help centre that says “state
  
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• What has my terrifying fridge taught me? I am too relaxed about best before dates | Emma Beddington

  10-04-2023 08:00
  
  In our culinary catacomb, the unwary visitor is greeted by explosive kimchi, mould-capped pesto, tahini like concrete and a vat of vintage vinegars“Does everyone,” the film critic Anne Billson asked on Twitter, “have an evil jar in their fridge?” To which surely the correct answer is: “Only one? Lightweight.” We have a whole fridge shelf dedicated to cursed jars, most much older than Billson’s best-before February 2021 rollmops. There’s a chutney f
  
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• Super-rich abandoning Norway at record rate as wealth tax rises slightly

  10-04-2023 08:00
  
  Flood moving abroad has come as a shock and is costing tens of millions in lost tax receiptsA record number of super-rich Norwegians are abandoning Norway for low-tax countries after the centre-left government increased wealth taxes to 1.1%.More than 30 Norwegian billionaires and multimillionaires left Norway in 2022, according to research by the newspaper Dagens Naeringsliv. This was more than the total number of super-rich people who left the country during the previous 13 years, it added. Eve
  
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• ‘I’m terrified’: what does AI Tom Brady mean for the future of media?

  10-04-2023 07:00
  
  The hosts of the Dudesy podcast were shocked when their robot companion created an hour-long standup specialHave you heard the one about the American football player who tries standup comedy?After Tom Brady’s deadpan appearance in the February film 80 for Brady, rumors swirled that the NFL legend might try standup. His recent divorce, second pro football retirement and forthcoming commitment to a televised comedy roast made the prospect seem believable enough. Continue reading...
  
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