First-time buyers receive £27k boost as Bank of England relaxes mortgage rules
First-time buyers could soon be able to borrow tens of thousands of pounds more as the Bank of England has announced plans to scrap its mortgage affordability…
Owners of ‘leaky’ Victorian homes face £400 energy bill rise
Close to six million families face paying £400 a year more for their heating because they live in older houses. Those in older, less energy-efficient properties face…
10 hidden taxes you’re paying without realising, from energy bills to chocolate bars
In a post-Covid world, air passenger duty will raise almost £4bn a year in tax. This is equivalent to about £150 a year to our “average” household….
How to make boxing scoring fair and fix a broken sport
Judging a fight is a subjective process. In some ways the system itself – the 10-point must system – mitigates against the result in close or debatable…
Daniil Medvedev should not be thrown off the tennis tour simply because he is Russian
Has the time come at last? Despite a typically uncooperative Fifa, we may finally be reaching the point where Russian sports teams are to be banned from…
Western sanctions hammer every sector of Russian economy
Goldman Sachs analysts note that 6m of the 7.3m barrels of crude and petroleum products exported daily by Russia travels via sea – routes now largely closed,…
Axa chief on ambition: Two simple rules to reach the top
Still, he acknowledges there are lessons which can be learned. Axa has just finished ‘Project Clear’, ensuring all contracts are easier to understand – and he believes…
Vladimir Putin’s prize: the nine reasons why Ukraine’s riches matter to the world
Capturing resource-rich Ukraine would give Vladimir Putin control of a cornerstone of the global commodities market. The former Soviet state is a superpower in several crucial goods…
If Roman Abramovich really cared about Chelsea he would sell the club now
The key appeal in Roman Abramovich’s statement on Saturday evening was, “I have always taken decisions with the club’s best interest at heart”. The Chelsea owner should…
Mind the gap: How France and Ireland left their Six Nations rivals trailing
It is a strike rate founded on the frequency of entries into their opponents 22 and length of time spent with the ball when they are in…
It’s high time to crack down on London lawyers protecting Vladimir Putin’s oligarchs
The dramatic showdown between Chelsea FC owner Roman Abramovich and his business rival Boris Berezovsky in 2011 was exactly the sort of lucrative dispute the Government would…
Ukraine-Russia tensions spill over as federation official slaps Tennis Europe chief
A fracas broke out after a Tennis Europe board meeting at the weekend, as tensions surrounding Russia’s invasion of Ukraine turned personal. Police were called to the…
The Sino-Russian alliance is now a threat to Western tech supremacy
An increasingly assertive China can choose to flex its own muscles too, if it so wishes, confident that it has a sure supply of vital commodities that…
Rouble plunges and interest rates double as Russian economy reels from sanctions
In a sign of the pain to come, VTB, Russia’s second-largest bank, announced it would increase mortgage rates by four percentage points to more than 15pc. JP…
Who could buy BP’s stake in Rosneft?
BP’s ties with Russia endured Putin’s attacks in Syria, the annexation of Crimea, poisonings in Salisbury and support for Venezuela’s contested president Nicolás Maduro. The assault on…
Barry Fry exclusive: ‘How do we beat City? Go to church and hope they send their Under-12s’
‘You can’t prepare for it… you’re hoping for a miracle’ Fry, however, has not stopped smiling since the draw was made. He never faced City as a…
What sanctions has the West imposed – and how are they hurting Russia?
Bank stocks have crashed, there are reports of long queues at branches and cash points as customers seek to withdraw their deposits, particularly in foreign currencies. Credit…
Putin forces Germany to rethink nuclear power shutdown
Annalena Baerbock has been an anti-nuclear campaigner since childhood, when her family joined street protests against the deployment of atomic weapons and power plants in Germany. It…
Everton investor Alisher Usmanov has assets frozen due to close ties with Vladimir Putin
Alisher Usmanov, the influential investor at Everton, has had assets frozen by the European Union due to his “particularly close ties to Russian president Vladimir Putin”. Sanctions…
City do-gooders threaten to undermine Britain’s nuclear deterrent
Meanwhile, the decadent ESG (ethical, social and governance) investment movement is busy undermining the funding of defence. Some funds refuse to own shares in Western defence contractors. …
Putin is doomed, but he can still do awful damage
This would make Russia the sixth highest country for inflation in the world, after Venezuela, Lebanon, Zimbabwe, Turkey and Argentina. But it is not yet hyperinflation, which…
The £100m plan to make the All Blacks even stronger
Silver Lake has made this investment with decade-long intentions, but with just two of nine seats on the board of NZR’s commercial arm, they will have no input…
Container lines move to halt sailings to Russia
Container shipments to Russia risk being halted within days after a major operator suspended bookings in response to Western sanctions on Moscow. “Booking acceptance to and from…
Commuters hit by biggest rise in rail fares in almost a decade
Commuters will be hit with the biggest increase in rail fares for nearly a decade despite a steep fall in the number of train services being run. …
Chelsea trustees consider resigning as Roman Abramovich’s handover plan threatens to descend into chaos
Chelsea are adamant that no hard feelings will be held against any trustees who decide to stand down and, as an example, Hayes would be able to…