Your BT bill could be about to increase but there is a simple way to beat the hike
BT customers who subscribe to Sport and TV bundles via the telecoms provider could soon see their monthly bills go up. The company has confirmed that some users will see things increase by up to £6 per month or £72 a year. The hikes include an extra £2 per month for the cost of BT TV and £4 per month for some BT Sports packages. BT says that anyone unhappy with the new bills can leave penalty-free. READ MORE: BT price rise: Some customers set for higher broadband, mobile, TV and landline bills
Source:Express
September 20, 2020 06:00 UTC
Supreme court: Democrats rally in bid to stop Trump filling Ginsburg's seat
Photograph: J Scott Applewhite/AP“American people should have a voice in the selection of their next supreme court justice,” McConnell said. “Let me be clear,” the minority leader, Chuck Schumer, told Senate Democrats in a conference call on Saturday, according to a source. The New York congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said Ginsburg’s death should “radicalize” progressive voters and motivate them to vote for Biden. On Saturday night, hundreds were expected at a vigil for Ginsburg on the steps of the supreme court. Speaking on MSNBC, Clinton urged Senate Democrats “to use every single possible maneuver that is available” to stop McConnell filling the vacancy.
Source:The Guardian
September 20, 2020 04:52 UTC
Labor rift as Joel Fitzgibbon defies party on medium-term target for cutting emissions
Labor’s resources spokesman Joel Fitzgibbon has declared Labor does not need to set a medium-term target for emissions reductions, defying party leader Anthony Albanese and contradicting its climate spokesman, Mark Butler. Albanese told the National Press Club in June Labor would set a medium-term target for the 2030s “based on science”, and Butler has made that commitment several times since the 2019 election. But asked about a 2030s target on Sunday, Fitzgibbon told Sky News: “The government sets targets, the opposition doesn’t. Others think Labor could commit to a process for setting a medium-term target if it won government at the next election, but not the target itself. Despite the fact Butler and Fitzgibbon are very obviously at loggerheads, Fitzgibbon said their differences were around emphasis rather than substance.
Source:The Guardian
September 20, 2020 04:18 UTC
Mishcon de Reya targets insurers over Covid damage ‘resilience’ claims
Some insurers have refused to pay out on claims for business damage caused by Covid-19A leading law firm is putting together a court case against 12 insurers for refusing to pay out on claims for business damage caused by Covid-19. Mishcon de Reya is preparing the group action after the High Court ruled in favour of policyholders in most cases, after examining contracts from 16 insurers. The decision will affect about 370,000 companies with £1.2bn worth of claims, according to City watchdog the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), which brought the claim on behalf of businesses interrupted by the pandemic. Mishcon is planning a case against insurers with contracts that include a “resilience” policy devised by broker Marsh. It was used by FTSE 100 giant RSA and examined in the High Court.
Source:The Times
September 19, 2020 23:07 UTC
New lockdown threat: ‘Without help we’ll see many, many boarded-up places’
To help make up the money he lost during lockdown, Peter Hunter had planned to keep his outdoor gin bar open during autumn and winter for the first time. The co-owner of Botanical Garden in Liverpool’s trendy Baltic Triangle had hoped to capitalise on people’s desire to socialise outdoors. Instead, with tighter restrictions on the size of gatherings and a 10pm curfew ordered for Merseyside, he will soon close for the year. “You know how much you are going to lose when the doors are closed; you don’t know how much you are going to lose if you stay open,” said Hunter, 32. “We have been left in limbo.”A curfew on Merseyside has killed hopes of an autumn recovery for Peter Hunter, second right, who runs a gin barIt is a sentiment shared by other hospitality bosses — and by chancellor Rishi Sunak, who
Source:The Times
September 19, 2020 23:07 UTC
Beauparc tipped to pick up Leeds waste firm LSS Waste Management
Beauparc Utilities, a waste and energy group headed by Eamon Waters and backed by the private equity giant Blackstone, is back on the acquisition trail. The group has moved to boost its UK operations with a deal to buy Leeds-based LSS Waste Management, strengthening its presence in the city and in the West Yorkshire region. Beauparc already owns Associated Waste Management (AWM), also based in Leeds. LSS’s West Yorkshire facility has permits to process 350,000 tons of waste annually. Beauparc Group revenues in
Source:The Times
September 19, 2020 23:07 UTC
Are my partner’s credit problems a death sentence for our relationship?
My long-term boyfriend and I are moving in together and I’ve recently found out he owes £20,000 on credit cards. Now I’m worried his attitude to spending is going to cause us problems down the line. In every other respect, things are perfect; so much so, we’re planning to get married, buy a home and start a family in the next few years. But I have always been very strict about saving and not spending too much, when he seems to have difficulties in this area. Under his proposed arrangement, we would both end up paying off his debts each month, which doesn’t seem
Source:The Times
September 19, 2020 23:07 UTC
Death of Libor leaves small firms with a headache
It has not been an easy year for Dionne Johnson. Her business, Bespoke Brows in Solihull, Birmingham, had to close for six months, finally reopening last month. The government’s furlough scheme gave her a lifeline, allowing her to retain her two full-time staff. Johnson, 39, fears another lockdown as Covid-19 flares again, which could leave her little choice but to take out a bank loan. “If we aren’t clear on our borrowing costs, we can’t see where this is going to take us
Source:The Times
September 19, 2020 23:07 UTC
What to do when your fund manager leaves you
One of M&G’s longest serving fund managers is to step down after a decade of dire performance, and those who still have money in the fund are being urged to consider alternative homes for their cash. Tom Dobell, 55, joined the fund management house in 1992. He has been the lead manager for the £1.4 billion M&G Recovery fund since 2000. Value investing is where stock pickers aim to select investments that are undervalued. The fund had been a top pick for wealth managers such as Hargreaves Lansdown for years, helping it to grow to a peak
Source:The Times
September 19, 2020 23:07 UTC
Young investors make mistakes, so stop gloating and help us out instead
When you’re saving for your first home, it can seem impossible to know where — or whether — to invest your deposit. It’s not a short time–span, particularly if you’re buying alone or live in the southeast of England, where vast sums of your salary are hoovered up in rent, meaning that saving can be slow going. The need to save more only increases the pressure to avoid making investment mistakes. Invariably investment professionals concentrate their efforts on older savers, an undoubtedly more lucrative part of the market. You have to cut out the noise from people keen to tell you that the best investment is the family home, which is especially demoralising when all you want in the first place is some help making
Source:The Times
September 19, 2020 23:07 UTC
Clean Bandit’s Luke and Jack Patterson on the bone‑marrow transplant that bonds them
LukeJack is six years older than me and has always been a massive inspiration; I’ve always looked up to him. Not a lot of people know this, but when I was born I needed two bone-marrow transplants and Jack was the donor. I had this rare condition that meant I couldn’t make white blood cells. I didn’t have an immune system so I couldn’t fight off infection, so I was kept in hospital until I was one. Jack started Clean Bandit with his friends at Cambridge University
Source:The Times
September 19, 2020 23:07 UTC
India Knight reviews a lightweight oil for frizz‑free hair
It seems incredible to think now that when I was a teenager the only hair product that existed was hair gel. I think about this a lot, because technically it has to mean that everybody’s hair looked like absolute crapola. Which it did, but that was more because of 1980s trends than because of the gel. Speaking of which, please watch Schitt’s Creek (Jocelyn’s hair reminded me). This gel business was particularly tough on curly or wavy hair.
Source:The Times
September 19, 2020 23:07 UTC
Landlords quake as the roof falls in on values
Hammerson, owner of Victoria Gate in Leeds, was forced to sell heavily discounted shares last monthWhile he was out on a bike ride last Tuesday, Mark Bourgeois was defecated on from a great height by a bird. Bourgeois, who runs Hammerson’s shopping centres in the UK and Ireland, tweeted a selfie the next day after the government extended the moratorium on landlords’ ability to evict tenants for not paying rent. Beneath a photo of his besmirched face, he wrote: “Yesterday this happened. Today feels like a repeat.”The three-month extension of the moratorium in place since March tightens the squeeze on an industry that is coming apart at the seams. Retail landlords have struggled to collect half the rent due this year, raising the prospect of more corporate failures as well as multibillion-pound writedowns for their lenders.
Source:The Times
September 19, 2020 23:07 UTC
Money Matters: Die is cast for demise of defined benefit schemes
If I asked 10 people on the street how long they thought pensions had existed, what do you think they would say? Since the 1960s, the formation of the state, or Victorian times? Some speculate that the reason was to quell possible revolt by retired soldiers. Yet in AD6, Augustus even had the foresight to set up a fund called the “aerarium militare” to meet future liabilities. This arrangement would now be called a non-contributory funded defined benefit scheme.
Source:The Times
September 19, 2020 23:07 UTC
Home of the Brave is going to need courage
I have enjoyed an extended love affair with America since I first went there 40 years ago. It is not just the world’s richest and most powerful nation; in many respects, it is also the most free and friendly. This has been a terrible year for the entire West, thanks to the pandemic — and thanks to misguided government interventions, such as lockdowns, which have made the damage much worse. Somehow, the US seems to have suffered more turmoil than almost any other big country. This is partly because it has a highly dysfunctional healthcare system, and inevitably its weaknesses have been exposed by Covid-19.
Source:The Times
September 19, 2020 23:07 UTC