Running out of energy to deal with this British Gas mix-up
1 HR AGO - Final demands and a debt recovery firm sent in, as it insists I live in Glasgow when I’m in HoveI Expand
1 HR AGO - Final demands and a debt recovery firm sent in, as it insists I live in Glasgow when I’m in HoveI am having a nightmare situation with British Gas that they seem unable to resolve. I moved into my home in Hove last December. British Gas was the provider, but I immediately switched to Octopus having settled my final bill. I later received a letter from British Gas stating that I owed money for gas and electricity. My surname was misspelled and the debt applied to an address in Glasgow.I have never in my life been to Glasgow. British Gas blamed a computer error and told me the account had been cancelled, but more letters arrived about the same bill. I was again reassured that the account had been cancelled. Then came a red “final demand”. Continue reading... Collapse
How Rishi Sunak could kickstart UK's post-lockdown economy
3 HRS AGO - Chancellor expected to announce comprehensive tax and spending packageCoronavirus – latest Expand
3 HRS AGO - Chancellor expected to announce comprehensive tax and spending packageCoronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverageRishi Sunak is preparing to announce a wide-ranging package of tax and spending measures to kickstart Britain’s economic recovery from the coronavirus lockdown.Designed to cushion the blow from rising unemployment and to help businesses back to their feet, the summer economic update on Wednesday comes as Britain grapples with the worst recession in living memory. Related: Rishi Sunak’s mini-budget will be the most leftwing in years. Can Labour capitalise? | Larry Elliott Related: Chancellor set to announce £3bn green investment package Continue reading... Collapse
The pandemic has exposed the dark underside of fast fashion's supply chains | Niloufar Haidari
17 HRS AGO - Boohoo and other brands known for their influencer-to-landfill pipelines have come under scrutiny Expand
17 HRS AGO - Boohoo and other brands known for their influencer-to-landfill pipelines have come under scrutiny during this crisisAren’t you so over lockdown life? I am. After three months of “namastaying-inside” wearing my crop-top ensembles and glamming up on the weekends for Zoom drinks with my besties, I was more than ready to step outside last weekend. No, this isn’t something I made up: namastay-inside is a phrase recently coined by the fast fashion retailer Boohoo in order to sell more cheap garments to young women.Boohoo, the online fast-fashion brand run by the billionaire Kamani family that also owns boohooMan, Pretty Little Thing and MissPap (among others) is so ubiquitous that it has become shorthand for a mythical person: the Boohoo babe who pouts down at us from billboards, promising that we too can look this good if we buy a £6 polyester bodycon dress made in a UK sweatshop where some workers can be paid as little as £3.50 an hour. The outfit of her mythical male counterpart mirrors Collapse
Coronavirus: Workers offered regular COVID-19 tests 'face mounting tax bill', chancellor told
18 HRS AGO - HMRC guidance published this week states that COVID-19 tests purchased by employers are treated as Expand
18 HRS AGO - HMRC guidance published this week states that COVID-19 tests purchased by employers are treated as a taxable benefit in kind. Collapse
One in seven UK workers could be unemployed this year, OECD warns
20 HRS AGO - Five million people could be unemployed in the UK by the end of this year if a second wave of Expand
20 HRS AGO - Five million people could be unemployed in the UK by the end of this year if a second wave of coronavirus hits, economists have forecast. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development Collapse
UK house prices in longest decline since 2010
21 HRS AGO - UK house prices have fallen for four months in a row, the longest sustained decline in a decade, Expand
21 HRS AGO - UK house prices have fallen for four months in a row, the longest sustained decline in a decade, according to Halifax. The mortgage lender said average sold prices slipped 0.1 per cent in June, Collapse
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Summer statement: the UK's Covid-19 economic crisis in five key charts
2 HRS AGO - Ahead of Rishi Sunak’s statement we look at public finances, economic growth, jobs, retail and the Expand
2 HRS AGO - Ahead of Rishi Sunak’s statement we look at public finances, economic growth, jobs, retail and the housing market Rishi Sunak is preparing to deliver his set-piece tax and spending update on Wednesday against the backdrop of a deep recession and the threat of a sharp rise in unemployment.Here are five key charts that will underpin the policymaking behind the chancellor’s announcement. Continue reading... Collapse
Scam calls will rise as lockdown eases, says UK trading standards
8 HRS AGO - Fraudsters likely to exploit coronavirus fears and prey on people self-isolating at Expand
8 HRS AGO - Fraudsters likely to exploit coronavirus fears and prey on people self-isolating at homeCoronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverageTrading standards bosses have warned of an imminent spike in scam telephone calls as Covid-19 lockdown measures ease and call centres around the world – including bogus ones operated by criminals – start to reopen.Between the end of March and May the percentage of nuisance calls made to UK homes as a proportion of total calls was much lower than the usual average of 37% a month, as all office-based call centres were forced to close. Continue reading... Collapse
Coronavirus: Workers offered regular COVID-19 tests will not face increased tax bill, Treasury confirms
9 HRS AGO - The Treasury confirms to Sky News it will introduce a new income tax exemption for COVID-19 tests Expand
9 HRS AGO - The Treasury confirms to Sky News it will introduce a new income tax exemption for COVID-19 tests provided by employers. Collapse
No business need at all now for a Chinese nuclear plant in the UK
13 HRS AGO - Halting Huawei hurts 5G rollout and Sino-British ties, but stopping a Chinese nuclear power plant Expand
13 HRS AGO - Halting Huawei hurts 5G rollout and Sino-British ties, but stopping a Chinese nuclear power plant in Essex has no fallout at allGet ready for the “new Huawei”, says the word from Westminster, meaning another flare-up in UK-China business and political relations, this time over Chinese involvement in our nuclear power programme.Ditching state-owned China General Nuclear Power Group (CGN) would indeed be a political development on a political par with a Huawei exclusion. The 2016 agreement, which imagined CGN’s “progressive entry” into the UK’s “resurgent” nuclear ambitions was given maximum hype at the time by both Beijing and David Cameron’s government. Continue reading... Collapse
Ineos may scrap plan to build new 4x4 vehicle in Wales - and opt for France instead
17 HRS AGO - The industrial giant led by Sir Jim Ratcliffe is looking at the option of buying a Mercedes-Benz Expand
17 HRS AGO - The industrial giant led by Sir Jim Ratcliffe is looking at the option of buying a Mercedes-Benz factory in France instead. Collapse
UK house prices fell for fourth month in a row, says Halifax
21 HRS AGO - Figures cover first full month English estate agents were open after coronavirus closureHouse Expand
21 HRS AGO - Figures cover first full month English estate agents were open after coronavirus closureHouse prices have fallen for the fourth month in a row for the first time since 2010, though at the same time inquiries about new mortgages have surged, according to the Halifax.Average UK house prices fell by 0.1% in June, which was the first full month that England’s estate agents were open for business again after the housing market there was allowed to restart on 13 May. Continue reading... Collapse
Coronavirus: BoE postpones governor talk with Tory backbenchers
22 HRS AGO - The Bank said the rare meeting had been arranged prior to the scheduling of Risihi Sunak's Expand
22 HRS AGO - The Bank said the rare meeting had been arranged prior to the scheduling of Risihi Sunak's statement on Wednesday. Collapse
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Summer statement: the UK's Covid-19 economic crisis in five key charts
2 HRS AGO - Ahead of Rishi Sunak’s statement we look at public finances, economic growth, jobs, retail and the Expand
2 HRS AGO - Ahead of Rishi Sunak’s statement we look at public finances, economic growth, jobs, retail and the housing market Rishi Sunak is preparing to deliver his set-piece tax and spending update on Wednesday against the backdrop of a deep recession and the threat of a sharp rise in unemployment.Here are five key charts that will underpin the policymaking behind the chancellor’s announcement. Continue reading... Collapse
Summer statement: Rishi Sunak plans temporary job creation scheme for under-25s
10 HRS AGO - Six-month placements aim to help those hardest hit by the Covid-19 lockdownSummer statement - the Expand
10 HRS AGO - Six-month placements aim to help those hardest hit by the Covid-19 lockdownSummer statement - the key announcementsCoronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverageRishi Sunak will respond to growing fears of a surge in youth unemployment from Britain’s pandemic-scarred economy on Wednesday with a £2bn temporary job creation scheme for the under-25s.Amid evidence that the fallout from the Covid-19-enforced lockdown has hit vulnerable young workers harder than other age groups, the chancellor will use his summer statement to announce that the government will fund six-month job placements for an estimated 350,000 18- to 24-year-olds. Related: Rishi Sunak’s mini-budget will be the most leftwing in years. Can Labour capitalise? | Larry Elliott Continue reading... Collapse
Fast fashion creates misery, and that's a bad look | Bidisha
17 HRS AGO - Cheap, throwaway clothing was past its sell-by date even before the Leicester garment factory Expand
17 HRS AGO - Cheap, throwaway clothing was past its sell-by date even before the Leicester garment factory reports. Brands like Boohoo need to change their act – and so do consumersDuring lockdown, everyone’s id has been allowed to float untethered. Obsessions, manias, strange desires and perverse fantasies have risen to the surface as the conventions of normal life melted into a free-floating miasma of Netflix and pasta bakes.Judging by the spike in sales of fast fashion, many people across the nation are buying outfits for an alternative fantasy life rather than their homebound realities. In their imagined Sliding Doors timeline they’re having brunch cocktails on a hotel balcony in Ibiza or dancing the night away in “the club”. And so they logged on to cheap clothing sites and bought a polyester playsuit, some bold separates and a nylon dress in a snappy print that will fall apart after three wears.We pay more or less for the clothes depending on each brand’s marketing spin, but the workers are Collapse
Frontline workers in UK set to pay extra tax for Covid-19 tests
18 HRS AGO - Rishi Sunak told treating employer-bought tests as a ‘benefit in kind’ will deter key worker Expand
18 HRS AGO - Rishi Sunak told treating employer-bought tests as a ‘benefit in kind’ will deter key worker checks and reduce payCoronavirus – latest updatesSee all our coronavirus coverageRishi Sunak, the chancellor, is under pressure to reverse a decision to force frontline workers to pay income tax on Covid-19 tests purchased by their employers, warned that it risks deterring people from getting checked for the coronavirus.HMRC guidance published this week states that workers will face a taxable benefit in kind when their employer pays for coronavirus testing. The taxation will cause a reduction in take-home pay. Continue reading... Collapse
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