Financial news

• The best heated clothes airers to save time and money when drying your laundry

  18-10-2024 18:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Heated airers claim to dry your clothes whatever the weather, without costing the earth in energy. We put 12 to the test to reveal the bestAn energy crisis and perma-drizzle have conspired to keep the nation’s laundry damp, not least by making it such a turn-off to turn on the heating. No wonder heated clothes airers are having a moment. These modish appliances sell out within hours of reaching shops and inspire evangelistic fervour among owners, who call them “life-savers” and
  
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• Fuel duty expected to rise by up to 7p a litre after the budget

  18-10-2024 16:30 via theguardian.com
  
  Campaigners point out it is often cheaper to drive or even fly within the UK than take the trainFuel duty is expected to rise by up to 7p a litre after the budget, with speculation intensifying that the chancellor will restore inflationary rises as well as ending the temporary cut.Environmental and transport campaigners have urged Rachel Reeves to bring the cost of motoring more in line with other forms of transport, after more than a decade of fuel duty freezes at the pumps and heavy increases
  
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• Australian concert goers pay higher fees to ticketing giants than independent agencies, industry modelling shows

  18-10-2024 16:00 via theguardian.com
  
  Ticket sales data reveals higher costs passed on by companies such as Ticketek and TicketmasterGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastConsumers pay more than double in ticketing fees for live music concerts if a promoter uses Ticketek or Ticketmaster instead of an independent ticket agency of their choice, according to modelling released to Guardian Australia.Transaction fees, “infrastructure credit card” fees and “inside charges” mean concert goers pa
  
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• How my house became my home: three buyers tell their unique property tales

  18-10-2024 15:22 via theguardian.com
  
  Homeowners explain how their purchases came about and their moves to make the spaces their ownOne of the greatest drivers in owning a home of our own is the desire to create a safe space where we can truly be ourselves. However, it’s rarely straightforward – even if not your first rodeo, buying a home takes patience, diligence, and vision.We spoke to three buyers about their experiences navigating this major milestone – from the maze of people and paperwork to the peace they fe
  
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• ‘Finally, a place to call our own’: how home ownership has changed the lives of first-time buyers

  18-10-2024 15:20 via theguardian.com
  
  Having successfully navigated the buying process, these first-timers are embracing life in their new homesSecuring the keys to a home is more than just hitting a milestone – it’s a profound, often life-changing moment. Getting on the property ladder can take years of planning and saving, followed by a careful search to find the home that’s right for you and canny navigation of the buying process. It’s a big step – getting your foot on that almighty first rung &ndash
  
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• Calendar syncing and downstairs loo moodboards: how I successfully navigated the world of homebuying

  18-10-2024 15:18 via theguardian.com
  
  Buying a home can feel like climbing Mount Admin – Kate Lucey shares how she stayed on top of her own property purchase while keeping the joy aliveOK, there’s no getting around the fact that buying a property and then complaining about how stressful it was is a little like saying “my money’s too heavy for my pocket” – but I like to think that I’m a pretty unflappable gal and wow, buying a property can push you to your limits.Yes, get the violins out to a
  
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• Don’t listen to the Tories – Labour is right to raise taxes | Polly Toynbee

  18-10-2024 11:00 via theguardian.com
  
  The rumoured rise in national insurance on employers makes sense. As for claims Labour promised not to do that: it didn’tAs the budget approaches, expect more balderdash and hogwash from Labour’s enemies and their foghorn media. Listen to them protest that raising employers’ national insurance would betray the manifesto, making Labour’s pre-election pledge not to put up taxes on working people a blatant lie. But was it?Labour never said where new taxes would fall, only wh
  
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• Retail sales growth slows in Britain, but beats forecast as consumers splash out on technology – business live

  18-10-2024 09:13
  ‘Back to school’ spending and new iPhone lifts demand for computing products in SeptemberUK companies are cutting back on hiring due to economic uncertainty, new data this morning shows.The Recruitment & Employment Confederation (REC) has reported that the number of job vacancy adverts dropped below 1.6m last month, for the first time in two years.“A fall in new job ads is symptomatic of a wait-and-see approach some employers are taking as they wait for more from the govern
  
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• Here’s the deal: AI giants get to grab all your data unless you say they can’t. Fancy that? No, neither do I | Chris Stokel-Walker

  18-10-2024 09:00
  
  Data is vital to AI systems, so firms want the right to take it and ministers may let them. We must wake up to the dangerImagine someone drives up to a pub in a top-of-the-range sports car – a £1.5m Koenigsegg Regera, to pick one at random – parks up and saunters out of the vehicle. They come into the pub you’re drinking in and begin walking around its patrons, slipping their hand into your pocket in full view, smiling at you as they take out your wallet and empty it of i
  
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• Victorian homes for sale in England – in pictures

  18-10-2024 08:00
  
  From a flat in a converted London hospital to a coastal retreat in a popular holiday village Continue reading...
  
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• Post Office continued to use racist term for black workers until 2016, inquiry told

  18-10-2024 08:00
  
  Terms used to categorise branch operators in Horizon IT scandal by race said to be common in 1980s public sectorLanguage in an infamous Post Office document that categorised branch operators as “negroid types” was common in the public sector from the 1980s but continued to be used in the scandal-hit organisation until 2016, an inquiry has heard.The document, which revealed that lawyers investigating post office operators in the Horizon computer scandal used a racist term to categoris
  
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• Does France really make the best bread in the world? As a baker, I’d say … maybe not | Lizzie Parle

  18-10-2024 08:00
  Living in Marseille, I see how bread is a source of daily joy – but the reality of French bakery is not as charming as it seemsFor many French people, the first experience of being allowed out alone as a child is going to the local bakery. The smell of bread mingles with a sense of newfound freedom as the tip of the baguette, le quignon, is torn off on the way home. This is a romantic story, but it holds some truth about the esteemed role that bread and the baker hold in France – and
  
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• Companies House to stop fraudsters joining up under fake names like ‘Darth Vader’

  18-10-2024 07:00
  
  Campaigners warn ‘long overdue’ changes won’t scupper organised criminals, who can already pass banks’ ID checksFraudsters and jokers trying to join the UK’s corporate register under fake names such as “Darth Vader” and “Santa Claus” will be blocked under plans to force directors to provide identification – but campaigners have said the measure is unlikely to stop determined criminals.From autumn next year, individuals incorporating a n
  
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• ‘Community action’: Oxfordshire’s Low Carbon Hub on its local renewable energy projects

  18-10-2024 07:00
  
  Community energy group hopes for local electricity trading as part of its ‘better system’ of supply and ownershipIn the shadow of the Didcot power station in Oxfordshire, a small group of people sat around a kitchen table and thought “let’s replace it” with green community energy.That was in 2011. Now, in 2024, that little group has become the Low Carbon Hub with 1,773 members and 55 renewable energy installations around Oxford, including two hydroelectric dams on t
  
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• UK should ‘repurpose’ Belfast shipyard to make green infrastructure

  18-10-2024 06:00
  
  Thinktank says government should set up arm’s-length company to buy Harland & Wolff site, which is in administrationThe UK government should set up an arm’s-length company to buy the Harland & Wolff naval shipyard in Belfast as part of a drive to repurpose arms manufacturing towards producing green infrastructure, according to a report.The study from the thinktank Common Wealth is launching what it describes as a “Lucas Plan for the 21st century” setting out how t
  
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• How oligarchs took on the UK fraud squad – and won – podcast

  18-10-2024 06:00
  
  It began as a routine investigation into a multinational called ENRC. It became a decade-long saga that has rocked the UK’s financial crime agency. Now new documents illuminate a case that has rewritten UK law and is set to end with a huge bill handed to taxpayers. By Tom Burgis Continue reading...
  
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• China posts slowest economic growth in 18 months as optimism fades over stimulus

  18-10-2024 05:56
  
  Blistering sharemarket rally of recent weeks recedes as expectations cool towards long-awaited ‘bazooka stimulus’ for ailing property sectorChina posted its slowest growth in a year and a half on Friday, as Beijing struggles to steady an economy shaken by sluggish consumer spending and persistent property sector woes.Officials have in recent weeks unveiled a string of measures to reignite the world’s number-two economy, with an eye to achieving its official annual growth target
  
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• Disabled workers bombshell shows how much less they are paid than other colleagues

  18-10-2024 02:30 via express.co.uk
  
  The figures, published by the Office for National Statistics , found the situation is far worse for those with some conditions such as autism
  
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• Musk steers X disputes to conservative Texas courts in service terms update

  18-10-2024 01:13
  
  Although choosing a venue is not uncommon, northern district stands out because it’s not where X is locatedElon Musk’s X has updated its terms of service to steer any disputes from users of the social media platform formerly known as Twitter to a federal court in Texas whose judges frequently deliver victories to conservative litigants in political cases.New terms of service that will take effect on 15 November specify that any lawsuits against X by users must be exclusively filed in
  
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• Infrastructure taskforce to help chancellor avoid financial sector turmoil

  18-10-2024 01:01
  
  Rachel Reeves is to seek advice from City experts to ensure big projects’ value for money and reassure marketsRachel Reeves, the chancellor, is taking action to ensure her budget plan for a multibillion-pound increase in government borrowing to fund infrastructure projects avoids a Liz Truss-style meltdown in financial markets.Ahead of her tax and spending event on 30 October, the chancellor is convening on Friday the first meeting of a taskforce of leading City figures to advise on infras
  
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