How Instagram conquered the antiques world January 20, 2022 It was a classic case of love at first sight. Over breakfast I’d spotted my ‘forever-table’ on Instagram, and by that afternoon my partner and I were en route to a residential street in Brixton to pick it up. The caption gave some dimensions and the price; the seller’s bio read ‘shop via the grid’. [...]
Decentralized finance surpasses 3 million users ahead of major Ethereum upgrade August 2, 2021 CryptoCompare’s data shows that the price of Bitcoin (BTC) went sideways throughout the week, starting at around $38,000 and dropping to a $36,000 low before surging and testing the resistance at $42,000, which it failed to break through. Ethereum’s ether, the second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, moved in a similar way throughout the week, from [...]
The vaccine rollout has been a success but it has still fallen prey to Whitehall inefficiency June 17, 2021 Dominic Cummings has yet again attempted a forced exorcism of Matt Hancock from the government. To the ex-special adviser, the Health Secretary represents everything wrong with Whitehall and its bureaucracy: a failure to innovate, to find creative solutions or to ensure pinch points of stasis in existing symptoms do not become endemic. In this, at [...]
It’s pensioners, not first-time buyers, who should get stamp duty relief January 18, 2018 Stamp duty is in the news again. Earlier this week, Labour’s shadow housing minister, John Healey, called on the government to extend the tax break introduced in the November Budget to first-time buyers who use the shared ownership scheme. Policies that are seen to help struggling first-time buyers always go down a treat from [...]
What are reservation agreements, and could they really stop gazumping? October 25, 2019 A sale falling out of bed at the eleventh hour is one of the biggest bugbears for those wanting to move home. But the government has now proposed a solution in the form of ‘reservation agreements’, which it now plans to trial early next year. Under this system, which is common in Europe, both buyers [...]
Pandora Papers leak: Putin, Tory donors and the King of Jordan among the rich and powerful with financial secrets exposed October 3, 2021 The secret deals and hidden assets of the world’s most powerful politicians and billionaires have been revealed in the biggest leak of financial offshore data in history. More than 100 billionaires, 30 world leaders and 300 public officials’ undercover dealings have been exposed in a joint investigation by BBC Panorama with the Guardian and other [...]
Energy crisis deepens as Bulb enters special administration amid soaring wholesale costs November 22, 2021 Bulb has collapsed into administration amid soaring wholesale energy costs that have caused 21 suppliers to cease trading since September.
Let’s take a look at the world of crypto exchanges July 2, 2021 Alex Lightman delves into the world of crypto exchanges, explains how they work and the role they play in our use of cryptocurrency.
UK house prices end 2020 on record high but growth slows January 8, 2021 UK house prices ended 2020 on a record high, but the pace of growth slowed towards the end of the year, the latest figures showed. House prices in the UK were 0.2 per cent higher in December than the previous month, reaching an average value of £253,374. On an annual basis, property prices jumped six [...]
Britain’s decarbonising its transport but it’s losing the race against time July 20, 2021 Dozens in Germany and Belgium have died in flooding. This month Canada recorded its three warmest days ever. The planet is warming, provoking more extreme weather, disrupting fragile ecosystems, threatening planetary catastrophe. We need action quickly to meet the targets the global community has set to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The Mayor of London wants London [...]