Financial news

• MPs condemn Frasers Group’s use of facial recognition cameras in stores

  23-04-2023 19:16
  
  Exclusive: Cross-party collection of parliamentarians write letter to Sports Direct owner’s companyAlmost 50 MPs and peers have written to Mike Ashley’s Frasers Group, the corporate owner of the tycoon’s retail portfolio including House of Fraser and Sports Direct, condemning the use of “live facial recognition” cameras in the group’s stores.Describing the technology as “invasive and discriminatory”, the parliamentarians, a cross-party collection i
  
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• Spanish firm wrong to fire electrician for drinking alcohol during working day, court rules

  23-04-2023 18:05
  
  High court found electrical company had not proved man was drunk after he was seen drinking beer, wine and brandy at lunchA Spanish court has ruled that a company was wrong to fire an electrician who may have drunk more than three litres of beer in one day because it had not proved that his consumption had left him “inebriated, intoxicated or drunk”, or unable to do his job.The high court in the south-eastern region of Murcia found the electrical company had provided insufficient gro
  
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• Why does the RBA need to change? – podcast

  23-04-2023 17:00
  
  The Reserve Bank of Australia has undergone its first review since the 1990s and is preparing to make sweeping changes to the way it makes decisions. Guardian Australia’s economics correspondent Peter Hannam talks to Jane Lee about how the recommendations will change the way bank sets interest ratesYou can subscribe for free to Guardian Australia’s daily news podcast Full Story on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and Google PodcastsRead more: Continue reading...
  
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• Bed Bath & Beyond help: home goods retailer files for bankruptcy protection

  23-04-2023 15:50
  
  Company which shot to popularity in the 1990s has seen demand drop off as a strategy to sell more store-branded products floppedBed Bath & Beyond filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Sunday, after failing to secure funds to stay afloat, and began a liquidation sale.The home goods retailer, which shot to popularity in the 1990s as a go-to for couples making wedding registries and planning babies, has seen demand drop off as a strategy to sell more store-branded products flopped. Cont
  
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• Which professions offer the best pay for the least amount of effort?

  23-04-2023 15:01
  
  The long-running series in which readers answer other readers’ questions on subjects ranging from trivial flights of fancy to profound scientific and philosophical conceptsWhich professions offer the best pay for the least amount of effort? Anna Harrison, BoshamPost your answers (and new questions) below or send them to [email protected]. A selection will be published next Sunday. Continue reading...
  
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• UK inflation will fall rapidly, says ex-Bank of England economist

  23-04-2023 14:56
  
  ‘Pretty much nailed on’ that the rate will halve in next six months, according to Andy HaldaneThe former chief economist of the Bank of England has predicted that inflation will fall rapidly in the coming months, and advised interest rate setters to consider pausing further increases in borrowing costs.Andy Haldane, who left the Bank in 2021 to lead the Royal Society of Arts thinktank, said it was “pretty much nailed on” that inflation would halve in the next six months,
  
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• Ben Foster hails 'brilliant' Wrexham owners as Ryan Reynolds demands his shirt – video

  23-04-2023 13:41
  
  The Wrexham co-owner Ryan Reynolds interrupted goalkeeper Ben Foster's post-game press conference to demand his shirt after the club secured promotion back to the Football League after 15 years away. Foster joked that Reynolds 'text me for [the shirt] earlier. He's so hungry for the shirt.' Reynolds and Rob McElhenney, along with friend Paul Rudd, were among a crowd of more than 10,000 at the Racecourse to see the Dragons clinch the National League title.Reynolds and McElhenney have revived the
  
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• Food for thought: why isn’t the UK government focusing on soaring grocery prices? | Richard Partington

  23-04-2023 13:07
  
  Ministers should aim to support households and bolster Britain’s often overlooked supply chainNot a single item in the average British grocery shop is falling in price. From basic essentials such as bread, milk and cheese to sugar and tea, the cost of a weekly food shop is rising at the fastest annual rate since 1977.More than a year into the worst period for living standards in modern records, Britain’s cost of living crisis is taking a horrifying turn. First came rocketing energy p
  
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• The workers who say their migrant status has been ‘weaponized’ against them

  23-04-2023 12:00
  
  Undocumented workers play a crucial role in California’s labor force, but are forced to take exploitative jobsWhen Irma Mejia moved into a garage with her three children, she was hoping it would be temporary. Then, on the very first payday after pandemic lockdowns went into effect, she says her new manager told her she was only going to get paid half of what she was owed.“[I thought] if you couldn’t pay me, you should have asked me,” Mejia recalls. “Because I get to
  
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• ‘Our rental system is rigged’: young novelists on their generation’s housing crisis

  23-04-2023 12:00
  
  With a fiercely competitive rental market and huge price hikes, finding a secure place to live is increasingly difficult. Four writers share their stories of floor-to-ceiling mould, exploitative landlords, and trying to work in cramped house sharesRents a one-bed flat with her boyfriend in Glasgow
  Daisy Lafarge, 31, was born in Hastings and studied at the universities of Edinburgh and Glasgow. Her debut novel Paul (2021) won a Betty Trask award, and her poetry collection Life Without Air was sho
  
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• Key findings from our investigation into the people who got sick after cleaning up BP’s oil spill

  23-04-2023 12:00
  
  Thousands have sued BP for health conditions they say come from cleaning up the Deepwater Horizon oil spill 13 years agoThey cleaned up BP’s massive oil spill. Now they’re sick – and want justiceThousands of people have sued BP for long-term health conditions they claim stem from the dirty work of cleaning up BP’s Deepwater Horizon oil spill 13 years ago. The explosion marked the biggest industrial disaster in US history, which saw thousands of Gulf coast residents, many
  
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• Ban all gambling adverts, say more than half of Britons

  23-04-2023 12:00
  
  Poll backs blanket ban on ads but white paper is expected to opt for levy on betting firms’ profits More than half the public would like to see a ban on gambling advertising, according to a new poll taken as ministers prepare to unveil an overhaul of the industry. In the survey, carried out for the charity Gambling with Lives, 52% of respondents said they supported a ban on all gambling advertising, promotion and sponsorship, and nearly two-thirds wanted new limits on online stakes.Ministe
  
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• It’s no great surprise, but now there’s proof that the rich get what they want | Torsten Bell

  23-04-2023 11:01
  
  Those with more money are more likely to agree with policy changes than the less well-offWe aim to bring you surprising and important findings from the world of research. I fear this week’s offering may not manage the “surprising” part but it is important.In a great new study, Swedish researchers investigated how policy outcomes reflect public attitudes towards those policies. They looked across 30 European countries over 38 years on issues ranging from welfare to immigration,
  
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• Britain has an obesity crisis. We won’t solve it until we start listening to ‘nanny’ | Will Hutton

  23-04-2023 10:31
  
  In failing to regulate the food sector, successive governments have allowed industry giants to flood the market with products that make us illBritain’s system for producing and distributing the food we eat is not working. Last week, we learned that UK food prices rose an astonishing 19.1% in the year to March. Yes, they are rising everywhere, but faster in Britain – over 2022, 40% higher than in the EU. There are frequent shortages of key products. Two million people used food banks
  
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• Bank of England set to make another horror mistake by hiking interest rates in May

  23-04-2023 09:17 via express.co.uk
  
  Listen, nobody's perfect. We all make mistakes. But the Bank of England has already made one massive policy error and now it's about to commit another one. Someone needs to speak up.
  
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• TikTok cashing in on sale of counterfeit cosmetics and prescription skin creams

  23-04-2023 09:00
  
  Fake perfumes and restricted items are being touted on social media platform despite bansTikTok is profiting from the sale of illegal and potentially dangerous beauty products, including counterfeit cosmetics and prescription-only skin creams, despite claiming to take a “zero tolerance” approach to rogue sellers.Counterfeit versions of Dior perfumes, Vaseline lip balms and Maybelline mascaras are among products being touted by third-party vendors via TikTok’s in-app marketplace
  
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• Six 'easy' and instant energy-saving tips to slash bills by 'hundreds'

  23-04-2023 09:00 via express.co.uk
  
  From boiler temperatures and radiators to ‘vampire' devices, an expert has shared six tips to help reduce energy bills - and fast.
  
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• Rupert Murdoch was ever a master strategist, but he’s beginning to lose his grip | John Naughton

  23-04-2023 08:31
  
  The $787m Fox News settlement was money well spent in saving the media mogul from an embarrassing ordealThere are, as F Scott Fitzgerald famously observed – and as Rupert Murdoch is now belatedly discovering, “no second acts in American lives”. Last week, just as the trial of the $1.6bn defamation action brought by Dominion against Fox News was about to start, a “settlement” was reached between the two parties. Fox, of which Murdoch is CEO, paid nearly $800m to stop
  
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• Tax Code 1257L: Check yours is correct now or risking paying too much to HMRC

  23-04-2023 08:19 via express.co.uk
  
  Few people understand what a tax code is or how it works but this can be a costly oversight because it determines how much income tax you pay each year.
  
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• Boomers, you’ve done OK – but don’t expect undying affection from us millennials | Martha Gill

  23-04-2023 08:01
  
  Younger people can only watch in envy as older generations are tempted into golden early retirementThe marshmallow test was invented when the boomer generation was young. It tested the ability to delay gratification. Children who could hold off eating a marshmallow placed in front of them would get two, proving they had the self-control requisite to become concert cellists, scientific geniuses or presidents of the US.But over the years, psychologists have come to doubt the marshmallow test and w
  
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• Britons on low incomes can get a 50% bonus on savings with 'unknown' scheme

  23-04-2023 07:01 via express.co.uk
  
  The Help to Save scheme - which was set to expire in September - is now to continue until April 2025.
  
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• State pension payments will be issued early for some next week - why?

  23-04-2023 07:00 via express.co.uk
  
  For millions of people, understanding when they will receive state pension payments is vital.
  
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• Energy bills warning as ‘no guarantee’ bills will fall as expected this summer

  23-04-2023 07:00 via express.co.uk
  
  Britons have been warned energy bills may not fall below the cap set by the energy price guarantee, experts have exclusively told Express.co.uk.
  
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• 'Best place for cash': Savers urged to consider the 'best' accounts as interest rates rise

  23-04-2023 05:10 via express.co.uk
  
  As the Bank of England base rate continues to shoot up, an expert has exclusively shared where the best place for one's cash may be.
  
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• ‘Sick to our stomachs!’ Couple’s dread as they lose hundreds in cruel scam

  23-04-2023 05:01 via express.co.uk
  
  EXCLUSIVE: A couple described their dread at discovering they had been targeted by a cruel scam, urging others to remain vigilant.
  
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• ‘I followed the rules!’ Saver, 61, left with 'tax headache' after Hunt's pension changes

  23-04-2023 05:01 via express.co.uk
  
  EXCLUSIVE: A financial consultant has expressed concern about his "tax headache" brought on by Jeremy Hunt's pension changes.
  
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• Are zero-deposit mortgages a good idea? Fears UK house prices could soar

  23-04-2023 05:01 via express.co.uk
  
  EXCLUSIVE: Zero-deposit mortgages could prove invaluable to people trapped in extortionately-priced rental cycles, but are they as good as they sound? Express.co.uk spoke to mortgage experts to find out the positives as well as the potential fallbacks.
  
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• Banks line up to reassure investors as season of turbulence subsides

  23-04-2023 01:05
  
  First-quarter results for the UK’s big four will vary by exposure to volatilemarkets, but the boost from high interest rates won’t lastUK banking bosses are preparing for a grilling this week as investors and analysts assess the fallout from the most turbulent period for the banking sector since the 2008 financial crisis. The tumult ended in the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank and Credit Suisse, and has raised questions over a sector that brought the global economy to its knees just
  
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