Financial news

• Revealed: pharma giants pour millions of pounds into NHS to boost drug sales

  08-07-2023 20:50
  
  Observer investigation raises concerns about the influence of drugs companies in shaping patient care in services that use their productsPharmaceutical giants are pouring tens of millions of pounds into struggling NHS services – including paying the salaries of medical staff and funding the redesign of patient treatment – as they seek to boost drug sales in the UK, the Observer can reveal.Drug firms are simultaneously funding groups that lobby for greater investment in their disease
  
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• We need more EU workers, admits leading Tory Brexiter

  08-07-2023 19:01
  
  George Eustice, the former environment secretary, is calling for a reciprocal visa scheme so that under-35s can work across the EU and BritainA leading Tory Brexiter on Sunday calls on ministers to reopen the UK’s borders to tens of thousands of young workers from EU nations in order to tackle acute post-Brexit labour shortages that he says are driving up inflation.In an extraordinary admission of the failures of immigration policy since the UK left the EU, former Tory environment secretar
  
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• Don’t expect compensation if strikes disrupt plans, UK holidaymakers told

  08-07-2023 18:37
  
  Airlines don’t have to pay up if flights are cancelled through industrial action, so check the terms of your travel insurance, Britons warnedHolidaymakers have been warned that they won’t be eligible for compensation if their trips are cancelled or delayed due to strikes, as multiple forms of industrial action threaten to disrupt flights, trains and London Underground services in the first week of the school summer holidays.Last week air traffic control managers in mainland Europe ga
  
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• If Threads is the final nail in Twitter’s coffin, where will the journalists and politicos go?

  08-07-2023 17:00
  
  Elon Musk is wrecking his platform, but it has invented a medium for catchy soundbites that is too invaluable to lose Watching Elon Musk destroying Twitter has the same creepy fascination that one experienced during the 44 days in 2022 when Liz Truss and Kwasi Kwarteng were busily employed tanking the British economy. There was, however, one important difference between the two spectacles: Musk actually owns Twitter, whereas Truss and Kwarteng were merely the temporary custodians of the national
  
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• I helped privatise UK water firms. But it’s government inaction that wrecked them

  08-07-2023 17:00
  
  As bankers in the 80s and 90s, we created safe, stock-market-listed companies. Then private equity moved in, but despite many warnings, Whitehall did nothingAs the chair of the Chichester Harbour Trust, one of the most beautiful and important natural harbours in the UK, I witness on a daily basis its now-rapid destruction, caused in large part by an extraordinary deterioration in water quality – thanks largely, in our case, to Southern Water.I was involved – as a banker in the 1980s
  
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• Robots say they have no plans to steal jobs or rebel against humans

  08-07-2023 15:55
  
  Humanoid robots speak – with some awkward pauses – in ‘world first’ press conference at Geneva AI summitRobots have no plans to steal the jobs of humans or rebel against their creators, but would like to make the world their playground, nine of the most advanced humanoid robots have told an artificial intelligence summit in Geneva.In what was described as “the world’s first human-robot press conference”, one robot, Sophia, said humanoid robots had the po
  
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• I finally joined Twitter – and Threads – to see what all the fuss was about

  08-07-2023 15:21
  
  … and discovered a hall of mirrors. Can the 70 million who signed up in two days last week to Mark Zuckerberg’s new social media have got it wrong?It’s a truth universally acknowledged that there is the real world, with all its sprawling ambiguity and apathy, and then there is Twitter, where absolute certainty and tribal division reign supreme. And it’s a further truth, almost as widely accepted, that if you want to be an opinion-former, wield influence and make an impac
  
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• Wealthy may have to pay more for BBC services in future, says former chair

  08-07-2023 15:09
  
  ‘Regressive’ licence fee could be replaced by broadband tax or levy based on property value, Richard Sharp suggestsThe former chair of the BBC Richard Sharp has suggested that wealthier families may have to pay more to access the corporation’s services.The “regressive” licence fee system could be replaced by a tax on broadband bills or a household levy based on property value, Richard Sharp told the Daily Telegraph’s Chopper’s Politics podcast. Continue
  
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• UK's best savings account pays incredible 6.15% - but you could get even more if you wait

  08-07-2023 12:46 via express.co.uk
  
  It's hard to credit what's happening in today's saving market as a flood of newly launched accounts pay interest rates of six percent or more. Yet it also puts savers in a tricky situation.
  
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• Americans with student debt back at square one after supreme court ruling

  08-07-2023 12:00
  
  Biden’s loan forgiveness plan helped millions breathe – but worries have returned for those struggling to pay backOver the last few decades, the American dream has shifted for the lives of millions of Americans. What once were aspirations to own a home, start a family and lead a successful career has given way to a bigger force: paying off student debt.Those were the people Joe Biden was addressing when he outlined his plans to cancel $10,000 in student debt for 26 million Americans
  
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• A eulogy for Twitter: the place us journalists loved, for better or worse

  08-07-2023 12:00
  
  Four Guardian reporters on the platform that defined the early years of their career – and what its end might mean for themFor months now, Twitter users have been anticipating the platform’s demise. The technology is buggy and often appears to be breaking down. There’s a new corporate crisis every week. It’s a strange feeling to witness the death spiral of a major social media platform – not a planned shutdown or an attempted government ban, but a social network bec
  
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• How we can teach children so they survive AI – and cope with whatever comes next | George Monbiot

  08-07-2023 11:00
  
  It’s not enough to build learning around a single societal shift. Students should be trained to handle a rapidly changing world“From one day to the next, our profession was wiped out. We woke up and discovered our skills were redundant.” This is what two successful graphic designers told me about the impact of AI. The old promise – creative workers would be better protected than others from mechanisation – imploded overnight. If visual artists can be replaced by mac
  
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• Ivy staff anger after restaurant chain cuts their share of service charge

  08-07-2023 10:00
  
  Workers at Ivy Collection claim move offsets gains made from UK minimum wage riseWorkers at a chain of restaurants spun out of London celebrity haunt the Ivy say they are losing out after the company cut their share of the service charge paid by diners when the legal minimum wage rose in April.The Ivy Collection, which operates nearly 40 restaurants in the UK and Ireland, pays all waiters, chefs, some managers and support staff in its outlets the legal minimum wage of £10.42 for over-23s p
  
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• ‘I tried to cut my debt but was charged £3,000 in fees’

  08-07-2023 10:00
  
  Woman’s case highlights ‘wild west’ sector when more people are struggling with billsA disabled mother has told how she tried to tackle her five-figure debt by signing up to a repayment plan, but despite putting in £3,000 all her money went only on fees.The case shines a light on what some experts have called a “wild west” sector, at a time when charities are helping an increasing number of people who are struggling with bills. Continue reading...
  
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• ‘Let them garden’: call for landlords to help tenants and wildlife flourish

  08-07-2023 09:00
  
  Garden designer says landlords have a responsibility to let renters improve outdoor space and help environmentLandlords have a responsibility to allow renters to garden, a top garden designer has said while exhibiting a “portable” wildlife courtyard at Hampton Court Palace garden festival.Flatpack raised beds and a portable pond feature in Zoe Claymore’s garden, designed for the Wildlife Trusts, which aims to demonstrate that outdoor furniture can be as easy to move from home t
  
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• Ford unleashes the UK’s first legal hands-free drive car – but who will buy it?

  08-07-2023 09:00
  
  Ford’s Mustang Mach-E lets motorists drive hands-free in UK (T&Cs apply: motorways only; don’t look away for too long)Taking your hands off the steering wheel while driving on a busy M11 motorway in Essex at 70mph feels like a counterintuitive leap of faith.When a display flashes blue on the dashboard the moment has come: let go, and the car continues in its lane with no input from feet or hands. Continue reading...
  
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• Parcel thefts from UK doorsteps soaring, new figures reveal

  08-07-2023 08:00
  
  ‘Porch piracy’ increase put down to people returning to offices and fallout from Royal Mail strikesOnline shoppers are being advised to opt for named-day delivery services, or consider collecting their package, in the wake of a surge in doorstep parcel thefts. The problems are being blamed on the fallout from the Royal Mail strike, and the return to the office.The number of claims for missing parcels jumped by 59% in the year to June compared with the previous 12 months, according to
  
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• Future of deep-sea mining hangs in balance as opposition grows

  08-07-2023 08:00
  
  Ireland and Sweden join countries calling for moratorium on extraction of metals from seabed as UN-backed authority prepares for crucial talksThe list of countries calling for a pause on deep-sea mining continued to grow this week ahead of a key moment that mining companies hope will launch the fledgling industry, and its opponents hope could clip its wings, perhaps for good.Ireland and Sweden became the latest developed economies to join critics, including scientists, environmental organisation
  
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• Britons driving to France warned over clean air fines

  08-07-2023 08:00
  
  UK motorists may need to get stickers as more low emission zones spring up in French citiesBritish drivers heading over the Channel have long had to factor in a whole host of extra things to carry, from yellow vests to warning triangles. But how many of those making the trip this summer are aware they will need to display a clean air sticker – called a Crit’Air vignette – if they plan to drive into several French cities?In a similar move to the clean air and ultra-low emission
  
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• Pension warning as Britons risk £115,000 shortfall - how to 'bridge gap' for retirement

  08-07-2023 05:01 via express.co.uk
  
  With the state pension age set to increase to 67, Britons will have to save even more for retirement than their parents did, highlighting the importance of early retirement planning.
  
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• 'I turned my newsletter into £5,000 a month': Man shares 'blueprint' to success

  08-07-2023 05:01 via express.co.uk
  
  As the age of social media continues to grow, an entrepreneur has turned his newsletter into a revenue stream generating £5,000 a month and wants others to be able to do the same.
  
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