Renters looking for rental property decorating tips that won’t cost a fortune or risk their deposit have practical guidance to draw on from B&Q chief executive Graham Bell and interior designers Lara Clarke and Lydia Lloyd. With higher average mortgage rates and hefty deposits putting homeownership out of reach for many, more people are renting for longer, and making a temporary space feel genuinely personal has never mattered more.The good news, according to the three, is that a free weekend and a modest budget can go a long way. None of their suggestions require knocking down walls or angering a…
Author: Helen Rourke
Helen Rourke
Helen Rourke trained as a chartered accountant and spent fourteen years in financial services before starting to write. She qualified at a mid-tier firm, moved in-house to a media company's finance team, and spent her last years as a finance director at a creative agency, which gave her an unusual vantage point on both sides of the balance sheet. She writes about personal finance, tax, pensions, and the money questions people ask at dinner parties but never ask their accountant. She explains numbers without condescension and has no interest in making simple things sound complicated. Helen lives in North London. She files her own tax return on the first day it opens and considers this a character flaw.
A Strait of Hormuz tanker attack has thrown fresh scrutiny on President Donald Trump’s assurances that the waterway is safe for shipping, after an oil tanker was struck by an unidentified projectile off the Omani coast, the UK Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) agency confirmed.The UKMTO said the incident was reported on Tuesday. A fire broke out on the vessel but was subsequently extinguished, all crew members were reported safe, and an investigation is under way. The strike is the latest in a run of sporadic attacks that have kept ships away from one of the world’s most important energy corridors,…
The Meta child safety settlement covering nearly every US state has been approved by a federal judge, with the social media company agreeing to pay up to $18 billion to 48 states, the District of Columbia, and three US territories over the next decade. According to the BBC, the deal was approved by U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers, bringing to a close a trial that had barely lasted a week in an Oakland, California courtroom.The settlement resolves claims that Meta’s platforms, Facebook and Instagram, harmed children and violated federal and state child privacy laws. Meta has denied any wrongdoing…
Robert Jenrick has announced that a Reform UK HMRC tax rebate of £30 would be applied to the bills of taxpayers kept on hold for more than half an hour, in a policy unveiled at a media conference in central London.Jenrick, Reform’s economy spokesman and a former Conservative MP, said HMRC’s treatment of taxpayers was ‘offensive to working people’ and pledged that a Reform government would also tie the pay of senior HMRC officials to customer service performance targets. To prevent abuse of the scheme, he said the credit would be limited to two claims per taxpayer in any given…
The Arctic and Antarctic are home to some of the planet’s most fragile ecosystems, from ice-dependent seabirds to the marine life that relies on stable polar conditions. A new book published this month puts these environments at the heart of a wider conversation about how scientific research itself can be conducted with less waste and a lighter environmental footprint, just as Türkiye prepares to host COP31. The Zero Waste Foundation launched “Zero Waste in the Polar Regions” on 7 August, a book prepared together with the TÜBİTAK (Scientific and Technological Research Council of Türkiye) Polar Research Institute. Ten days later,…
The Ofgem energy price cap October increase will push the average annual dual-fuel bill to £1,723, a rise of £60 a year or £5 a month, landing just as colder weather sets in and household budgets come under renewed pressure.The 4% increase, driven by higher wholesale gas costs, takes bills to their highest level in three years. Around 22 million households in England, Wales and Scotland on variable tariffs will feel the change directly. A further 11 million, or roughly 35% of billpayers, are on fixed deals and will see no immediate change.What is behind the price rise?Wholesale gas costs,…
Oil prices fell sharply on Wednesday as a proposed Strait of Hormuz shipping deal took shape between Iran and Oman, and the United States moved away from military options in favour of economic pressure on Tehran, easing fears of a disruption to Gulf energy supplies.International benchmark Brent crude futures for October delivery declined 2.62% to $86.26 a barrel, while US West Texas Intermediate futures for October dropped 2.56% to $80.25 per barrel. The moves reflected a broad easing of the risk premium that had built up in oil markets over fears of conflict in the region.Sanctions, not strikes: the US…
Iran and Oman’s discussions over an Iran Oman Hormuz shipping route have thrown up a direct contradiction with Washington, after Muscat said the two countries are planning a joint mission to clear mines from the strait that the US says have already been removed.The Strait of Hormuz is one of the world’s most important chokepoints for oil exports. Hundreds of millions of barrels of crude pass through it each year, making it a pressure point of enormous economic consequence whenever tensions rise in the region.What Iran and Oman agreed in TehranOman’s Foreign Minister Sayyid Badr bin Hamad Albusaidi travelled to…
Washington’s latest round of measures against Tehran, marketed internally as an ‘economic D-Day’, faces a fundamental problem with Iran trade sanctions impact: the countries doing the most business with Iran are either unwilling or unable to stop. From China and Turkey to Pakistan and Armenia, a network of trading relationships has built up over decades that US pressure alone may struggle to unravel.Iran has lived under near-continuous American economic pressure since the Islamic Revolution of 1979. Over that period, it has forged trade ties with nations that have their own reasons to keep commerce flowing regardless of what Washington says.China:…
Oil prices dropped sharply on Tuesday as markets absorbed the escalating stand-off over Iran economic D-Day sanctions, with Brent crude falling 3% to $89.40 a barrel, its lowest point since 13 August, and US West Texas Intermediate sliding 3.2% to around $82.32 a barrel.The falls extended a decline already under way on Monday, when Brent prices dropped by a further 3%. Despite the rhetoric from Washington and Tehran growing more confrontational by the day, investors appear to be looking past supply risks in the region for now.Washington’s ‘greatest financial offensive ever’The White House has been building towards this pressure campaign…
