Financial news

• Easter woes for loyal AA member

  07-08-2018 08:00 via theguardian.com
  Family gathering turned into a nightmare thanks to the AA, and they won’t even deal with my complaintI submitted a complaint to the AA by email 10 weeks ago and have had no response, despite further chasing. I have been a member for 46 years – with their full cover package – but had a bad experience over the Easter weekend. A request for relay of car and two passengers home after breakdown resulted in being stranded overnight in a motorway services coach park. We waited nine an
  
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• Keir Starmer is about to be stabbed in the back - but it's not Labour twisting the knife

  27-01-2026 19:03 via express.co.uk
  Keir Starmer just signed his own death warrant. It's hard to see how he survives now.
  
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• U-turn on pubs has not solved the government’s mess on business rates | Nils Pratley

  27-01-2026 18:59 via theguardian.com
  The package being offered is not insignificant but the hospitality sector is still in troubleWill the chancellor’s inevitable U-turn on business rates for pubs be enough to quieten the developing riot behind the taps? Possibly, a bit. After two months of damaging headlines, Rachel Reeves has granted pubs a 15% discount on bills, worth £1,650 on average in the next tax year, then a two-year freeze in real terms, with the promise of a change in methodology in time for the next revaluat
  
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• Hobbycraft issues full recall of asbestos-tainted children’s play sand

  27-01-2026 18:49 via theguardian.com
  Craft retailer says there is ‘risk to health’ after some vials in Giant Box of Craft set contained fibrous tremolite asbestosHobbycraft has issued a full recall of children’s coloured play sand after confirming some bottles contained asbestos, presenting “a risk to health”.The Guardian revealed at the weekend that the craft retailer had stopped selling the kit after being alerted to the risk but had stopped short of alerting customers who had already bought the item
  
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• Finance expert makes surprising suggestion to help you keep track of your money

  27-01-2026 18:29 via express.co.uk
  Moneybox expert Brian Brynes has shared his number one tip for making sure you stay on top of your finances.
  
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• Rayner urges government to stand firm over £250 ground rents cap

  27-01-2026 18:07 via theguardian.com
  Former deputy PM warns against ‘vested interests’ trying to block measures for leaseholders in England and WalesFreeholders may “resort to lawfare” to block the government’s £250 cap on ground rents, Angela Rayner has warned, as leasehold experts urged ministers to speed up the “glacial” pace of reform.Keir Starmer announced a cap on ground rents for leaseholders in England and Wales as part of measures that also include a consultation on banning n
  
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• Pubs and live music venues to get support after business rates backlash

  27-01-2026 17:06 via theguardian.com
  Package worth at least £80m a year for England and extra to come for Wales and Scotland receives mixed reactionPubs voice fury at Reeves’s business rates changesThe Treasury has announced a support package worth more than £80m a year for pubs and live music venues in England, in a climbdown that follows a fierce backlash against plans to overhaul business rates.Trade bodies had warned that Rachel Reeves’s changes to business rates, announced at the chancellor’s Nove
  
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• Millions across UK set for around £900 pay rise

  27-01-2026 16:34 via express.co.uk
  Ministers have flagged up the rise as part of a wider cost-of-living package
  
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• ‘Delays, lowballs, outright denials’: how the LA wildfires have exposed the US’s broken insurance industry

  27-01-2026 16:00 via theguardian.com
  Insurance practices in an age of climate volatility raise troubling questions about home ownership and housing affordability – the bedrock of the American middle classFor a few frenetic days last January, after losing their midcentury ranch home to the wildfires that ravaged Los Angeles, Jessica and Matt Conkle thought they could see a glimmer of hope.Their insurance company, State Farm, had sent emergency response teams to Altadena, where they lived, and they filed a claim right away. It
  
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• Nationwide issues statement over bonus payments into customer accounts

  27-01-2026 15:48 via express.co.uk
  The mutual has issued several bonus payments to customers in recent years
  
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• Pensioners urged to check if they're missing out on up to £5,740 from DWP every year

  27-01-2026 15:19 via express.co.uk
  This tax-free payment is "still massively under-claimed"
  
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• DWP to wipe out debts for tens of thousands of unpaid carers today

  27-01-2026 15:14 via express.co.uk
  The Department for Work and Pensions is set to begin a reassessment exercise in early 2026 that may result in debt reductions or cancellations.
  
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• Passport Office reveals how millions can save £12.50 - get new passport in just 3 weeks

  27-01-2026 14:59 via express.co.uk
  Passport applicants have been reminded that choosing to apply in a specific way can save them both money and time.
  
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• UK ministers accept $1m from Meta amid social media ban consultation

  27-01-2026 14:29 via theguardian.com
  Campaigners decry ties with ‘Trump-supporting’ tech firms after funding is accepted to develop state AI systemsUK politics live – latest updatesMinisters have accepted $1m (£728,000) from Meta, the US tech and social media company, to build AI systems for defence, national security and transport, sparking warnings about the UK government’s “alarmingly close relationship with Trump-supporting US tech giants”.The money from Mark Zuckerberg’s company
  
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• The Crusader: Second-hand seller's payment woes resolved

  27-01-2026 14:10 via express.co.uk
  A seller of second-hand clothes and accessories on Vinted is better off than she could ever have hoped a few weeks ago.
  
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• WASPI update from DWP on compensation due in weeks

  27-01-2026 13:57 via express.co.uk
  The DWP has confirmed a decision on the review of how State Pension age changes were communicated to 1950s-born women will be made soon
  
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• At Davos, tech CEOs laid out their vision for AI’s world domination

  27-01-2026 13:57 via theguardian.com
  Tech chiefs waxed poetic about AI to delegates at Davos. Plus, the ‘human’ drama of AI startups and why Tesla is thriving in TexasHello, and welcome to TechScape. This week’s edition is a team effort: my colleague Heather Stewart reports on the plans for AI’s world domination at Davos; I examine how huge investments have followed AI companies with little to their names but drama and dreams; and Nick Robins-Early spotlights how lax regulation of autonomous driving in Texas
  
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• ‘Wake up to the risks of AI, they are almost here,’ Anthropic boss warns

  27-01-2026 13:53 via theguardian.com
  Dario Amodei questions if human systems are ready to handle the ‘almost unimaginable power’ that is ‘potentially imminent’Business live – latest updatesQuarter of Britons fear losing jobs to AI in next five yearsHumanity is entering a phase of artificial intelligence development that will “test who we are as a species”, the boss of the AI startup Anthropic has said, arguing that the world needs to “wake up” to the risks.Dario Amodei, a co-fou
  
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• Can’t decide on a food delivery? Just Eat launches AI chatbot to help you choose

  27-01-2026 13:49 via theguardian.com
  Delivery firm aims to overcome ‘choice overload’ using voice assistant in its UK app, with global rollout plannedBusiness live – latest updatesIn the beginning, collecting a takeaway was the epitome of a lazy night in. Then delivery apps saved some more energy. Now, consumers can skip even bothering to read the menu as AI takes over the job of choosing the perfect evening meal.Just Eat is introducing an AI voice assistant that lets customers discuss what they might be intereste
  
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• Martin Lewis gives £10,000 ISA advice and highlights 'over 60s rule'

  27-01-2026 13:41 via express.co.uk
  Personal finance expert spoke out on BBC Podcast on question over Help to Buy ISA and LISA issues
  
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• ‘Mother of all deals’: EU and India sign free trade agreement

  27-01-2026 13:00 via theguardian.com
  Tariffs cut to zero for many industrial products, including iron and steel, plastics, chemicals and pharmaceuticalsEurope live – latest updatesBusiness live – latest updatesIndia and the EU have finalised a landmark free trade agreement, which the European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, hailed as the “mother of all deals”.The agreement comes after almost two decades of on-off negotiations between India and the EU, which vastly accelerated in the past six mont
  
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• Eurostar sent a £120 voucher instead of the £1,744 it owes me

  27-01-2026 08:00 via theguardian.com
  I was stranded in Brussels after a power failure, but the promised refund for hotels, food and transport failed to arriveEurostar is refusing to honour expenses claims after a power failure in the tunnel stranded thousands of passengers last month.Our party of four was stuck at Brussels station when all trains to and from London were cancelled for 24 hours. Eurostar staff told us to find a hotel and handed out leaflets promising that accommodation, food and transport costs would be refunded. Con
  
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• Starmer's fraught visit to China will tell us what he really thinks of the UK's place in the world | Peter Frankopan

  27-01-2026 07:00 via theguardian.com
  Does Britain have any leverage over human rights or security concerns or is it a decaying nation that cannot risk trade relations?This week, Keir Starmer will reportedly visit China. This will be the first trip of this kind by a British prime minister since Theresa May’s three-day visit to Beijing in 2018. Since then, relations between London and Beijing have become increasingly fraught, caught between growing security concerns and deep economic interdependence. Allegations of espionage an
  
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• Scotland-France ferry could relaunch amid £35bn Dunkirk regeneration plan

  27-01-2026 06:00 via theguardian.com
  French port’s green energy push, evoking second world war spirit of resilience, is seen as a testing ground for reindustrialisationA new cargo and passenger ferry service directly linking Scotland and France could launch later this year as the port of Dunkirk embarks on a €40bn (£35bn) regeneration programme it claims will mirror the second world war resilience for which it is famed.The plans could include a new service between Rosyth in Fife and Dunkirk, eight years after the l
  
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• Has the world entered an era of ‘water bankruptcy’? – podcast

  27-01-2026 06:00 via theguardian.com
  Last week, a UN report declared that the world has entered an era of ‘global water bankruptcy’ with many human water systems past the point at which they can be restored to former levels. To find out what this could look like, Madeleine Finlay speaks to the Guardian’s diplomatic editor, Patrick Wintour, who has been reporting on Iran’s severe water crisis. And Mohammad Shamsudduha, professor of water crisis and risk reduction in the department of risk and disaster reducti
  
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• California governor Gavin Newsom accuses TikTok of suppressing content critical of Trump

  27-01-2026 06:00 via theguardian.com
  Newsom launched a review of the platform, despite TikTok saying a systems failure was responsible for the issueCalifornia governor Gavin Newsom has accused TikTok of suppressing content critical of president Donald Trump, as he launched a review of the platform’s content moderation practices to determine if they violated state law, even as the platform blamed a systems failure for the issues.The step comes after TikTok’s Chinese owner, ByteDance, said last week it had finalised a dea
  
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• Access denied: why Muslims worldwide are being ‘debanked’ | Oliver Bullough

  27-01-2026 06:00 via theguardian.com
  Innocent people are being frozen out of basic banking services – and it all traces back to reforms rushed through after 9/11Hamish Wilson lives a few miles away from me, in a cosy farmhouse in the damp hills of mid Wales. He makes good coffee, tells great stories and is an excellent host. Every summer, dozens of Somali guests visit Wilson’s farm as part of a wonderfully wholesome project set up to celebrate their nation’s culture, and to honour his father’s second world w
  
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• National insurance hike and energy bills behind food price rise, say UK retailers

  27-01-2026 01:01 via theguardian.com
  Latest BRC figures show year-on-year rate of increase was 3.9% in January, up from 3.3% the month beforeRetailers have blamed rising energy bills and the chancellor Rachel Reeves’s hike in employers’ national insurance contributions for a jump in food prices, as suppliers and supermarkets struggle to absorb higher costs.The British Retail Consortium (BRC), the trade body for retailers, said prices across all goods in shops rose by 1.5% in January compared with the same month last yea
  
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• Most young adults in UK are anxious about jobs and the economy, research suggests

  27-01-2026 01:01 via theguardian.com
  Respondents to King’s Trust survey cited AI and a lack of work experience as reasons they might fail in lifeMore than seven in 10 teens and young adults in the UK say they wish they were not starting their careers in the current economic climate, according to new research from the King’s Trust.The study also found that more than a quarter of people aged 16 to 25 feel they are going to fail in life, highlighting growing anxiety among those entering the labour market. Continue reading.
  
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• Google settles privacy lawsuit for $68m over voice assistant

  26-01-2026 18:49 via theguardian.com
  Tech company denied illegally recording and circulating private conversations to send phone users targeted adsGoogle agreed to pay $68m to settle a lawsuit claiming that its voice-activated assistant spied inappropriately on smartphone users, violating their privacy.A preliminary class-action settlement was filed late on Friday night in the San Jose, California, federal court, and requires approval by US district judge Beth Labson Freeman. Smartphone users accused Google, a unit of Alphabet, of
  
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