More than 45 metres below the ground in London, almost 10,000 construction workers are racing to complete the capital’s new £15bn Crossrail train line — Europe’s biggest infrastructure project, which is due to open next year. The largely...
Read moreCourier and logistics group DX seeks a fresh start
Britain’s industrial strikes of the 1970s spawned some unexpected successes. The BBC’s Last of the Summer Wine found a whole new audience in the dark days of the 1979 ITV blackout. Doctor Who also thrived, securing record-breaking viewer figures...
Read moreStudents defend Learndirect after damning Ofsted report
Learndirect is Joe Liguori’s ticket to university. The 19-year-old hotel night manager is enrolled on an English course with the UK’s largest adult training and apprenticeships provider that should allow him to start a degree in hospitality...
Read morePension cold calls to be banned after UK fraud soars
Ministers are to ban cold calls, text messages and emails related to pensions after losses to scams reached record highs. The UK government will also tighten rules on pension transfers and on opening new schemes in an attempt to protect savers...
Read moreResearch questions image of spendthrift UK consumers
Sharp falls in the proportion of households’ income that is saved rather than spent has been interpreted as a worrying sign that British families have in recent years been living beyond their means. However new analysis by Royal London suggests...
Read moreMore than 1m UK renters open Help to Buy Isas to secure first home
More than 1m renters have opened Help to Buy Isas, a UK government-backed savings accounts designed to help people save for their first home. The tax-efficient savings scheme allows people to put away up to £200 a month towards a first home...
Read moreHalting ill-starred projects is painful but money well spent
The worst reason for persisting with a botched or ill-advised construction project is the familiar one: if we stop now, all the money we’ve spent is wasted. The proponents of London’s “garden bridge”, which was finally scrapped this week, have...
Read moreWhere to find inflation-beating cash savings accounts
This week, I banked nearly £300 thanks to a financial decision I made a year ago which took hardly any effort. By next week, for a little more effort, that figure will rise to almost £400. So what did I do? The answer may surprise you. This...
Read moreThe perils of calling the peak of the equities bull run
As share prices tumbled on that infamous Monday in October 1987, a chain of dominoes stretching from Tokyo to New York, Tim Hammett was more stunned by the reaction of his new colleagues at an investment fund in the City. The value of household...
Read moreRoyal Mail union extends deadline to settle pension dispute
Royal Mail has been set a September deadline by a trade union to resolve a simmering dispute over pension reform — or face industrial action. The Communication Workers Union said it would give the privatised postal operator until September 6 to...
Read moreElliott Advisors: activism ascendant
Churchill said that until El Alamein he had no victories; afterwards, no defeats. The war aims of activist investors in Europe are less noble. But the improvement in their success rate has been equally striking. The latest proof is a peace deal...
Read moreEmployers need to pay more into our pensions
More and more people are paying into a pension, which many see as great news. But their employers are paying in less and less. Are employers the real cause of the lack of pension savings? This subject intrigues me, because many people do not know...
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