National Insurance tax calculator: how much more you will pay when it rises in April
However, the move will break a key Tory manifesto pledge not to raise income taxes, NI or VAT and comes alongside a five-year freeze in NI thresholds,…
Questor: buy now before others spot this enormous discount
We are always on the lookout for big discounts but Questor has never come across one of 90pc before. The trust in question is Riverstone Energy, which…
Klarna’s new credit card accused of leaving ‘shoppers at risk’
Myron Jobson, of Interactive Investor, the fund shop, said: “It sounds like a credit card, and it looks like one too, but crucially from a regulatory perspective,…
‘I’m 85 and made £40k on Bitcoin – but should I invest my grandchildren’s inheritance more sensibly?’
David Henry, investment manager at Quilter Cheviot, said: Simplicity is underrated, so Mr Hallgren should start by combining the two portfolios given they both have the same…
Flat buyers flood back to cities hunting for a bargain
A return to offices and the end of Covid restrictions has forced bargain-hunting property buyers back into city centres and boosted interest in flats. Demand for apartments…
Investors flee to gold as fear grips stock market
However, Duncan MacInnes, who co-manages the Ruffer Investment Company, said he believed the jury was still out on gold’s capacity to act as an inflation hedge. “It…
‘Landlords have the power now’: London rental market descends into Wild West of bidding wars
Massive price jumps Mr Tsuman noted a three-bedroom house in Finchley, north London, that was previously let for £2,750 per month. “We put it on for £2,900….
Lexus NX350h review: the hybrid that defines sensible
Equipment levels are pretty generous, with all the toys you’d expect and almost the full suite of safety and advanced driver aids including emergency steering assist, radar-based…
As schools struggle with rising Covid levels, families like mine fear more exam chaos
A GCSE examiner in the South East of England told me that with disruption set to continue over the coming months, he no longer believes public exams…
The 5 best high-street wines to mark the end of Dry January
Light and whistle-clean whites: Chapel Down Flint Dry 2020, Kent, England (12.5%, Morrisons, £14 down to £11 until Feb 15) A snappy, refreshing, positively Spring-like blend of…
Why your wine is boozier than you may realise
The Wine Society email after the festive period was just what I wanted because, after discovering that an English Hogmanay could be every bit as overwhelming as…
Pancake Day 2022: When is Shrove Tuesday, why is it celebrated and what are the best pancake recipes?
The most indulgent day of the year is almost here again. No, we’re not talking about Easter, it’s Pancake Day. The one date in the calendar when…
Six ridiculous jobs that only the rich and famous need help with
There’s a good chance you did not see the photograph shared by the heiress Millie Mackintosh on social media this week of her supposedly chaotic kitchen storage….
Why Shakespeare – and Del Boy – gave us the phrases that live longest
So it seems wrong to think that once upon a time we scattered our speech with noble phrases from the Bible and Shakespeare, but now can only…
Will a cough ever be ‘just a cough’ again?
The UK has upped its capacity for delivery of lateral flow tests to seven million a day, while 100,000 more PCR booking slots per day have been…
Vladimir Putin is about to make a fatal mistake
One of the familiar refrains from senior military leaders about the deepening Ukraine crisis is how one minor miscalculation could easily lead to all-out conflict. The prevailing…
Why Boris should stay
New allegations about Boris Johnson arise fairly frequently, and perhaps the Gray report in particular will expose some serious wrongdoing that means he’ll have to go. But…
The Maida Vale hero should not be left dangling on police bail for a month
It is often said that justice delayed is justice denied and a man called Abraham is finding that out the hard way right now.Abraham seems to have…
The whole point of ‘To Kill A Mockingbird’ is that it’s difficult
My 14-year-old son recently read To Kill A Mockingbird. He found it hard going at first, getting to grips with the alien context, language and atmosphere of…
Someone please tell my husband to take off his mask once and for all
Here at Woods Towers, battle lines are being drawn. I’m crying freedom and loading the trebuchet to smash the last strictures of Plan B in England. Hurrah!…
Germany’s pacifist rot undermines Nato itself
‘This is a very clear signal: we stand by your side.” Somehow Germany’s defence minister managed to say that without a trace of irony as she announced…
There’s no case for the remaining Covid restrictions
The lifting today of most of the remaining restrictions imposed in England to combat the spread of Covid is a moment for celebration. We have, of course,…
Heated Pen Farthing debate ensured animal spirits ran wild in the Westminster jungle
With friends like Jacob Rees-Mogg, who needs enemies? In defending his boss, the Commons Leader’s tactics have moved from scorched earth to something closer to a full-scale…
On Holocaust Memorial Day, one Auschwitz survivor shares her story: ‘I was dying when I heard someone shouting, We’re free!’
Susan Pollack was just 14 when she was taken to Auschwitz. Here, she shares her story I was brought up in Felsögöd, a small village (roughly 3,000…
A gown with 2kg of handsewn pearls? It could only be Valentino couture
Valentino’s catwalk had a distinctly sexy, not to say fetish, vibe. Guests were instructed to wear head-to-toe black and the first look was a black strapless mini…