Image copyright Getty Images The way in which home and car insurance policies are priced is to be studied by the Financial Conduct Authority. The regulator said it would look at scale of any harm to consumers from pricing practices, whom it affects and, if required, what actions should be taken to improve the market. …

Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Japan has one of the world’s most reliable railways and is known for its Shinkansen bullet trains A Japanese railway firm has stopped an unusual training drill that required employees to crouch in tunnels while trains rushed past to “feel” the wind speed. The West Japan Railway said the …

The government will not enter into further Private Finance Initiative projects, but will honour those underway, the chancellor announced in the Budget. Philip Hammond said 90% of them were signed by the Blair-Brown government, and ending them would be “putting another legacy of Labour behind us”. Labour’s policy is to bring existing PFI contracts “back …

Politics Live presenter Andrew Neil goes through the key announcements from the chancellor in his 2018 Budget. Source by [author_name]

Image copyright Getty Images The UK government must “get a grip” on spiralling costs and project delays that have plagued the Sellafield nuclear site, MPs have warned. The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) said in a report that some decommissioning projects had already been delayed by more than a decade. It said estimated budget overruns had …

Image caption Almost none of the kettles we can currently buy are designed to be repaired and re-used My kettle, that has given sterling service for several years, appears to be hankering after retirement. It’s a situation most of us are familiar with. If not the kettle, you’ll have found yourself with another appliance – …

Image copyright Getty Images Image caption In the US, social mobility is proving elusive for younger generations Do schools help social mobility and fairness? Or do they give even more advantages to the better-off? Even if they can’t make up for all inequalities, at least we might expect them to make the playing field more …

Ten years ago today, Bitcoin was born. A mysterious person going by the fictitious name Satoshi Nakamoto released a paper, saying how his new money would work. It was meant to be a global, digital currency that governments and banks couldn’t interfere with. So, a decade on, who uses it to trade? And why is …

Image copyright Melissa Holloway Image caption Freelancer Melissa Holloway Many self-employed people face a higher tax bill from 2020 when the IR35 rule is extended to the private sector. It will force thousands of contractors and freelancers to pay income tax, as well as National Insurance (NI) at the 12% rate, rather than a lower …

Image copyright Getty Images The final Budget before the UK leaves the EU has been delivered by Chancellor Philip Hammond – preparing the country for what he says is a “new chapter” for the economy. Lots of measures that will affect the money in your pocket have been announced in the speech which lasted for …