Why 2019 will not mark the death of the high street January 2, 2019 When HMV went into administration in 2013, disgruntled employees used the retailer’s Twitter account to give live updates of the “mass execution” at the beleaguered music firm. However, ahead of last week’s announcement that the the 97-year-old business was collapsing for a second time, passwords for all its social media accounts were changed to avoid [...]
Sadiq Khan proposes council tax hike to tackle ‘brutal reality’ of violent crime December 20, 2018 London mayor Sadiq Khan has said he will increase council tax by the maximum amount possible to tackle violent crime in the capital. Khan's proposal would see his share of council tax increase by 9 per cent, or £26.28 a year in cash terms, for an average Band D council tax payer, taking the overall precept [...]
DEBATE: With student debt now blowing a hole in the government’s budget, should tuition fees be cut? December 20, 2018 With student debt now blowing a hole in the government’s budget, should tuition fees be cut? Iain Mansfield, a former senior civil servant, says YES. This week’s decision to reclassify student loans has exposed the myth that tuition fees were the only way of making mass higher education affordable – they were never affordable, just off [...]
The changes that could shake up your finances in 2019 December 19, 2018 We Brits approach 2019 with a sense of dread, waiting with bated breath to find out how (and if) the UK leaves the European Union on 29 March. There’s no doubt that Brexit will affect various corners of our finances, but perhaps the real game-changer for our money will be the ongoing push to make [...]
Theresa May’s #My100Days challenge: Prioritise business post-Brexit December 19, 2018 Earlier this year, I heard about a new Twitter initiative, known as the #My100Days challenge. The campaign encouraged everyone to think about what they could accomplish over the course of 100 days. Commitments ranged from spending more time with family and friends to getting involved in volunteering projects. With exactly this length of time left [...]
France will tax Amazon and Facebook as tech tax talks with the EU falter December 18, 2018 France expects to pull in around €500m (£450m) each year as it introduces a new tax on major technology companies such as Amazon and Apple. Speaking in Paris, finance minister Bruno Le Maire said he would push ahead with the tax plans after talks to establish an EU-wide version collapsed earlier this month, AFP reported. [...]
AA wins multi-million-pound contract to service VW cars December 18, 2018 The AA today secured a two-year extension to its contract with Volkswagen in a deal worth tens of millions of pounds. The breakdown cover provider will continue to cover all new vehicles in the Volkswagen group, which includes Audi, Seat and Skoda, the company said today. The two companies have worked together since 2014, and [...]
Halo Top ice cream defrosted from the startup doldrums to become a retail success December 17, 2018 Junk food is, rightly, under assault. This year, we’ve seen the introduction of a sugar tax on soft drinks, and last month London mayor Sadiq Khan announced a ban on junk food advertising on the capital’s public transportation network. This comes after tougher TV advertising rules introduced last year, which meant that ads for food [...]
UK banks taxed almost double the amount of the rest of the FTSE 100 December 17, 2018 UK banks pay nearly double the amount of tax compared to the rest of the FTSE 100, new data has revealed. The five biggest banks paid an effective tax rate – the rate at which a corporation’s profits are taxed – of 42 per cent last year, almost twice as much as the 23 per [...]
Michael Cohen claims Donald Trump directed him to make hush money payments December 15, 2018 Donald Trump's former lawyer Michael Cohen claims the US president ordered him to make hush money payments. Cohen, who has been sentenced to three years in prison, claims he followed "a bad path" in being loyal to Trump but would "not be the villain" in the story, in an interview with US broadcaster ABC. "He [...]