Financial news

• Steve Bell on the king’s fortune v his subjects’ tightening pursestrings – cartoon

  26-04-2023 21:00
  
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• Netflix doubles down on UK productions despite slowdown

  26-04-2023 21:00
  
  Streaming firm reveals spend of close to $1.5bn a year on content such as new Keira Knightley seriesNetflix has spent $6bn (£4.8bn) making TV shows and films in the UK since 2020, $2bn more than originally planned, as the streaming giant doubled down on must-watch content amid a global slowdown in new subscribers.In a rare public announcement on content-spend levels, Netflix has said that it had spent on average almost $1.5bn annually from 2020 through to 2023. Continue reading...
  
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• Disney sues Ron DeSantis in battle over control of Florida resort

  26-04-2023 20:55
  
  Entertainment giant wants court to overturn governor’s efforts to exert control over Walt Disney World theme parks in OrlandoDisney sued Ron DeSantis, the governor of Florida and presumed challenger for the Republican presidential nomination, on Wednesday, saying he had subjected it to “a targeted campaign of government retaliation”.The entertainment giant wants a court to overturn state efforts to exert control over Walt Disney World in Orlando. The lawsuit was filed within mi
  
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• State pension warning as Britons urged to do ‘invaluable’ tax planning ahead of retirement

  26-04-2023 20:36 via express.co.uk
  
  People planning for their retirement need to be aware their income including the state pension could be hit by tax, a financial advice firm has warned.
  
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• The Guardian view on Britons getting poorer: don’t accept it | Editorial

  26-04-2023 19:29
  
  ‘We’re all worse off,’ says the Bank of England. At a time of soaring pay to company bosses, this is ugly politicsStruggling households, sinking businesses: the Bank of England wants you to swallow some bitter news for your own good. You “need to accept” that you are poorer. Stop asking for wage rises. Do not sneak up prices. Surrender your “reluctance to accept that, yes, we’re all worse off”. Such thoughts only produce higher inflation – an
  
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• ‘People can’t just get used to it’: Wolverhampton reacts to Bank of England comments

  26-04-2023 19:21
  
  Local authority with highest fuel poverty rate in England is angry at economist’s comment Britons ‘need to accept’ being worse offKaren Trainer, the manager of the Big Venture community centre and shop in Wolverhampton, could barely contain her anger as she watched the news on Wednesday morning.She was hearing about the comments of the Bank of England economist Huw Pill, who said Britons should stop seeking pay increases and “accept” they are worse off in order to p
  
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• Number of UK homes installing rooftop solar panels highest in over seven years

  26-04-2023 18:54
  
  Arrays installed by more than 50,700 households in first quarter of 2023 as people seek to reduce energy billsThe number of households installing rooftop solar panels reached its highest level in more than seven years in the first months of 2023 as energy-bill payers turned to renewable energy to guard against spiralling costs.Industry figures show that more than 50,700 households installed arrays between January and March, more than double the number in the same months last year and the highest
  
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• New CBI boss says she is ‘profoundly sorry’ to women let down by group

  26-04-2023 18:39
  
  Rain Newton-Smith’s tweets came on day she became director general at Confederation of British IndustryOpinion: if CBI is off the pitch, hand captain’s armband to BCCThe new boss of the Confederation of British Industry has apologised to the victims of sexual misconduct at the business lobby group, saying she is “profoundly sorry” and that she wants to “recognise the courage of the women who came forward”.Rain Newton-Smith, a former chief economist at the CBI,
  
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• What does UK’s ban on Microsoft’s Activision Blizzard takeover mean for gaming?

  26-04-2023 18:07
  
  CMA surprised sector by saying deal would give Seattle firm undue power to shape cloud gamingMicrosoft’s attempted acquisition of Activision Blizzard, the development conglomerate behind games including Call of Duty, World of Warcraft and Candy Crush Saga, has been blockedby the UK’s competition watchdog in a surprise move. The $70bn (£65bn) purchase would have been the largest in gaming history but now, unless the two companies can convince a tribunal to overturn the ban on ap
  
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• ‘I swapped my weekly food shop to M&S and I saved £10’

  26-04-2023 17:28 via express.co.uk
  
  People can save on their grocery shop at Marks and Spencer by switching from branded products to the M&S own-brand version.
  
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• I need £2,000 now! How to find the money for an unexpected disaster

  26-04-2023 17:00
  
  If you don’t have savings, there are still ways to see yourself through a rough patch says R4’s MoneyBox presenterI won’t ask what the disaster was or if it could have been avoided! It is there and you need £2,000 to deal with it and you need it now!First, do you have enough savings to cover it? And yes, I know that is your house deposit or your holiday fund but what rate of interest does it earn – 2%, 3%? And what rate will you pay on a loan if you take one out? A
  
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• Coronation crowns a glorious sales run for Sophie Allport’s chic homeware

  26-04-2023 16:48 via express.co.uk
  
  Celebrate King Charles's Coronation with Sophie Allport's hand-crafted homeware.
  
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• Retiree 'couldn't afford US anymore' but now lives in Mexico and spends just £509 a month

  26-04-2023 16:43 via express.co.uk
  
  Older people are becoming expats in a bid to have a better retirement in later life due to the exponential cost of living in their home countries.
  
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• Activision Blizzard calls UK ‘closed for business’ after Microsoft takeover veto

  26-04-2023 16:41
  
  Competition and Markets Authority blocks what would have been biggest acquisition in gaming historyThe Call of Duty developer Activision Blizzard has accused the UK of being “closed for business” after the competition regulator blocked its attempted takeover by Microsoft, which would have been the largest acquisition in gaming history.The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) prevented the $68.7bn (£55bn) cash purchase because of concerns it would squash the cloud gaming mark
  
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• Overhaul of UK online gambling laws could see £2 slot machine limit for under-25s

  26-04-2023 16:39
  
  Delayed white paper expected to put most controversial proposals, including affordability checks, out to further consultationOnline casinos will face tougher restrictions under government proposals to overhaul Britain’s gambling laws, but the majority of measures will be subject to further consultation, signalling even more delay to long-awaited changes.A white paper, the result of a review launched in 2020, is due to be published on Thursday, after being postponed multiple times.A 1% mand
  
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• Law and financial services remain 'elitist' sectors, hiring from 'top eight' universities

  26-04-2023 16:24 via express.co.uk
  
  Legal and finance firms, as well as engineering and marketing, admit they are unlikely to hire someone without a university degree.
  
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• Energy suppliers sitting on nearly £7billion of customers' money - are you affected?

  26-04-2023 16:13 via express.co.uk
  
  Credit with energy suppliers is £5.3billion higher than last year against the backdrop of a milder winter and households' efforts to reduce energy use, new research has found.
  
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• If the CBI is off the pitch, hand the captain’s armband to the British Chambers of Commerce

  26-04-2023 15:48
  
  If it can shed its sleepy image and get big firms on side, Martha Lane Fox is right the BCC could step upIt wasn’t a grab for power, or even a declaration that the CBI was incapable of being reinvented. Instead, Martha Lane Fox, one-time co-founder of Lastminute.com, merely reminded the world that other business organisations exist – such as the one she heads.“Speaking as the president of the British Chambers of Commerce, there are phenomenally strong business networks that can
  
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• Couple are saving £1,400 a month by living in campervan: 'Transformed life for the better'

  26-04-2023 15:46 via express.co.uk
  
  The couple decided to switch from renting in London after they struggled to buy a house.
  
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• The Bank of England is wrong again: workers aren’t to blame for inflation | James Meadway

  26-04-2023 15:38
  
  Why should we all just ‘accept we’re worse off’, when corporate greed and global shortages are really to blame?The Bank of England’s chief economist, Huw Pill, provoked derision this week when he claimed that inflation means those in Britain need to accept that “we’re all worse off, and we all have to take our share”. Echoing comments made last year by the Bank’s governor, Andrew Bailey, on the need for pay “restraint”, Pill claimed the
  
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• Martin Lewis warns 100,000s are missing out on 'big' council tax discounts

  26-04-2023 15:31 via express.co.uk
  
  A Martin Lewis fan has explained how his daughter got a £10,000 council tax refund after one of his campaigns to raise awareness on council tax discounts available.
  
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• Train operators and union leaders criticise draft UK strike laws

  26-04-2023 15:25
  
  Proposals are ‘unsafe’, ‘a recipe for disaster’ and may worsen industrial relations and passenger outcomes, MPs toldPlans for minimum service levels during rail strikes could worsen industrial relations and outcomes for passengers, train operators have told MPs, while unions said the proposed laws were a “recipe for disaster”.Legislation that would force some staff to work during strikes is going through parliament, sponsored by the business secretary, Grant S
  
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• Persimmon warns first-time buyers struggling to afford new homes in UK

  26-04-2023 13:25
  
  Higher mortgage rates and less loan choice hitting sales to people trying to buy first property, says developerSales of new homes to first-time buyers are struggling, according to the housebuilder Persimmon, as higher interest rates make mortgages less affordable.The company, which is one of the UK’s largest domestic property developers, said people looking to get on the housing ladder were facing “stretched affordability” and less choice on home loans. Continue reading...
  
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• DWP £301 cost of living payment is hitting bank accounts now. Has yours arrived?

  26-04-2023 11:52 via express.co.uk
  
  Eight million Britons will receive a £301 cost-of-living payments direct to their bank accounts from this week in a much-needed injection of cash.
  
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• Tell us: have you witnessed bad behaviour at work?

  26-04-2023 11:08
  
  We want to hear about the terrible behaviour you’ve encountered while at work over the last couple of yearsSince the pandemic, it seems many of us have forgotten our manners. Reports of rude, unruly and generally “bad” behaviour have soared over the last couple of years, and those in public-facing jobs are often witness to the worst examples of human indecency.With this in mind, we want to hear about the terrible behaviour you’ve encountered while at work over the last co
  
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• ‘By the time I was 30 I’d lived in more than 25 places – including a car showroom’

  26-04-2023 11:00
  
  After three decades of pebbledash, mould and evictions, a serial renter wonders what really makes a home and how we can dig ourselves out of the housing crisisMy earliest memories of home are of saying goodbye. They are of moving at someone else’s request, picking up, packing up and driving away. Sometimes it was because of “regeneration” projects, demolitions or old-fashioned evictions. When I got older, the precarity of early childhood moves stayed with me, as I found home be
  
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• '£2,300 extra income': Now could be the perfect time to buy an annuity before rates crash

  26-04-2023 10:41 via express.co.uk
  
  The last 18 months of rocketing inflation and interest rates have transformed the way pensioners can generate income in retirement.
  
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• How can I make a complaint in the most effective way?

  26-04-2023 09:00
  
  The key here is to keep a paper trail, so always email if possible, and keep a copy of your actions and responses, in case you end up in a small claims courtTempting as it is to vent down the phone for instant results, always complain in writing. It allows you to keep a record and a timeline, to marshal the facts and moderate your emotions. Email is best. Don’t forget to put your full name, address and customer reference/booking/order number to enable the company to identify you on the sys
  
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• More than 500,000 people in UK visited ‘warm rooms’ during the winter

  26-04-2023 08:00
  
  Exclusive: First audit of spaces reveals people visited to due to loneliness as well as to keep warmMore than half a million people visited community “warm rooms” to escape freezing homes and escalating poverty during the winter, according to the first audit of the impact of these potent symbols of the UK’s cost of living crisis.Warm space projects sprang up in their thousands across the UK in the autumn, as charities, libraries and faith groups responded to soaring energy pove
  
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• Dorset Cereals is denying me my muesli mishap cash

  26-04-2023 08:00
  
  I broke a tooth biting on something in its ‘Simply Delicious’ muesli and the dentist’s bill came to £330I opened a pack of Dorset Cereals’s Simply Delicious muesli and bit down on something hard. I found it was a plastic nose pad from someone’s glasses. I don’t wear spectacles. The impact fractured my tooth, and I had to make an emergency dental appointment so that the tooth could be X-rayed and filled. I have been warned that, as the filling was so larg
  
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• A Taiwan invasion would destroy world trade, says Cleverly in speech on China – video

  26-04-2023 07:20
  
  In a speech on Britain’s relationship with China, UK foreign secretary James Cleverly warns a war across theTaiwan strait would have global repercussions, urging against unilateral action altering the status quo. And while acknowledging China represents an authoritarian tradition at odds with Britain’s, he said he wanted Britain to engage directly with China, bilaterally and multilaterally, in a reflection of its 'global importance'. 'We have an obligation to future generations to en
  
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• UK food bank charity reports record take-up amid cost of living crisis

  26-04-2023 07:00
  
  Trussell Trust says it gave out nearly 3m food parcels in year and 750,000 people visited for first timeRecord numbers of food parcels were given out by the Trussell Trust in the past 12 months, as the UK cost of living crisis helped drive more than 750,000 people to food banks for the first time.The charity’s network distributed nearly 3m food parcels in 2022-23, its highest ever total and a year-on-year increase of 37%. More than a million children were living in households receiving the
  
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• UK energy suppliers sitting on £7bn credit belonging to 16m households

  26-04-2023 01:01
  
  Balances with utilities are £5bn higher than April 2022 despite cost of living crisis after customers cut usageEnergy suppliers are hoarding nearly £7bn of customers’ money despite a cost of living crisis that has left some households forced to choose between heating and eating.More than 16m UK households are collectively in credit by £6.7bn to their suppliers, with half of those holding balances of more than £200, research from comparison site Uswitch.com has shown
  
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• Pret’s five-coffees-a-day subscription rises to £30 a month

  26-04-2023 01:01
  
  Chain raises price amid' ‘inflationary challenges’ but adds in 10% off food, as part of Club Pret rebrandPret a Manger is upping the cost of its subscription service by a fifth – but adding a 10% discount on food and snacks alongside free drinks to the offer from Wednesday – as the sandwich chain warns that the “inflationary challenge” remains.Its chief executive, Pano Christou, said Pret a Manger may have to put wages up again this year – after a 19% ri
  
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