Author: LoveWorld UK

UK house prices suffered their sharpest annual drop in 14 years, as the seasonal summer slump and high mortgage costs dragged on sales. Data released by Halifax, Britain’s biggest mortgage lender, showed that prices fell by 4.6% in August, marking the biggest year-on-year decrease since 2009. It means that the price tag of the typical UK home has dropped by about £14,000 over the past 12 months to £279,569. That is the lowest level since early 2022, but still leaves average prices £40,000 higher than before the pandemic, when lockdowns fuelled demand for larger homes in a “race for space”.…

Britain’s biggest housebuilder has warned that conditions will “continue to be difficult” for the housing industry over the coming months as potential buyers struggle with the rising cost of home loans. Barratt Developments said “short-term demand has been impacted by mortgage affordability challenges” and it was reducing construction sharply in response, but also reported £705m in annual profits. Housebuilding across the UK contracted sharply in August, according to separate data from the construction purchasing managers’ index published on Wednesday by S&P Global. The measure of activity fell to its second-lowest since the first pandemic lockdown in May 2020. The UK…

COVID-19 cases among vaccinated seniors soared in 2021, according to newly disclosed data that was acquired by U.S. health agencies but wasn’t presented to the public. Humetrix Cloud Services was contracted by the U.S. military to analyze vaccine data. The company performed a fresh analysis as authorities considered in 2021 whether COVID-19 vaccine boosters were necessary amid studies finding waning vaccine effectiveness. Humetrix researchers found that the proportion of total COVID-19 cases among the seniors was increasingly comprised of vaccinated people, according to the newly disclosed documents. For the week ending on July 31, 2021, post-vaccination COVID-19 cases represented 73…

The City regulator said it will take “prompt action” if a bank or financial service outright denies service to politicians rather than basing the decision on risk. The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) made the promise on Tuesday as it launched a review into how firms are treating politically exposed persons (PEPs) in the UK. Under international anti-money laundering rules that were incorporated into British law, financial services are required to scrutinise PEPs, their families, and known associates more closely. Although the FCA published guidance in 2017 to clarify that firms must assess the risks of PEPs individually rather than applying a generic…

The council’s head of finance took the dramatic decision on Tuesday to issue a section 114 notice, indicating that it did not have the resources to balance its books. Woking, Croydon and Thurrock are among the other councils to have made similar announcements recently after botched investment projects and deep funding cuts. But the contagion spreading to Europe’s largest local authority, which hosted last summer’s Commonwealth Games, is likely to intensify pressure on Rishi Sunak’s government over the legacy of 13 years of austerity. The notice means all but essential spending will be halted, in order to protect core services. It…

Just days before the government suddenly ordered schools in England to close buildings at risk of collapse due to the presence of reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (Raac), another – somewhat smaller – school buildings story hit the headlines. Three virtually brand-new schools were suddenly told to close by the Department for Education (DfE) with immediate effect because of safety fears. A further two primary schools, it later emerged, had to be demolished before completion. The schools minister, Nick Gibb, was forced to admit there were issues with the structural integrity of the buildings and said they may not be able to…

The London-listed discount retailer B&M European Value Retail is poised to swoop on scores of Wilko stores as hopes falter of a broader rescue deal involving the HMV owner. Sky News has learnt that B&M could announce the acquisition of around 50 Wilko shops as soon as Tuesday morning, with the chain’s administrators said by industry sources to be on the brink of announcing the first closures from its estate. One retail executive said that Doug Putman, who had been edging towards a rescue deal in recent days, was now engaged in talks about reshaping the transaction to incorporate approximately…

Labour would back the government if it introduced a “Martha’s rule” in England to make it easier for patients and their families who believe their concerns are not being taken seriously by medical staff to get a second medical opinion. Appearing on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, the shadow health secretary, Wes Streeting, said he was moved to tears listening to the mother of Martha Mills, who died when doctors failed to admit her to intensive care. Martha, who would have been 16 on Monday, died in 2021 after developing sepsis while under the care of King’s College hospital NHS foundation trust in south London.…

Tottenham have confirmed the transfers of Davinson Sánchez and Tanguy Ndombele to Galatasaray. While the English transfer window shut on Friday night, other transfer windows around Europe remain open and the Turkish club Galatasaray have moved for two players Spurs viewed as dispensable. Ndombele joins Galatasaray on loan for the remainder of the season, with the option to make the move permanent, while Sánchez, who has featured twice under Ange Postecoglou this season, has secured a permanent €15m transfer. The departures of the duo will be a boost to Postecoglou, who has repeatedly made clear his desire to trim a…

Key Brexit figure and Nigel Farage ally Richard Tice had a loan rejected from a major bank because it deemed him a “reputational risk” for being the leader of the Reform UK party, a financial document has shown. The Reform UK party leader Richard Tice has claimed he was debanked because of his political views after he applied to Swiss Re for a business loan in April last year. An internal document, seen by The Epoch Times, shows that Mr. Tice’s company Quidnet Capital was rejected as he was a “reputational risk.” Explaining the “reason for decline,” in the report Swiss Re…