Mo Farah will find himself under pressure today as he prepares to respond over the Panorama investigation that this week made doping allegations about his coach, Alberto Salazar, and his training partner, Galen Rupp.
Paula Radcliffe has admitted being shocked by the Nike Oregon Project drug allegations and called for a thorough investigation.
Tell me this, will you miss money? I ask the question because there has been a wave of publicity about the fact that cash is losing popularity. Figures from the Payments Council reveal that the total number of cash payments made by consumers, businesses and financial firms in the UK fell to 48 per cent last year, from 52 per cent in 2013, the first time that “non-cash” payments have topped those made with hard currency.
Back in March 2014, I questioned whether UK borrowers had ever had it so good; however, some 15 months later, the deals and rates on offer for people with a decent credit record are better than ever.
Bargain Hunter is always on the lookout for fresh insights into how to make the most of our money, and a new book is packed full of them. Money Made Easy is written by Mark King and Laura Whitcombe, editor and deputy editor of Moneywise magazine.
The Essenden bid story drags on. For the second time, the City’s takeover panel has extended the offer deadline. The possible deal for the No Pain, No Gain portfolio constituent was announced in March, with negotiations expected to be completed by 19 April. The cut-off was then put back until last weekend.
According to recent figures from the Investment Association, the UK All Companies sector has recently seen record outflows. I expect this can partly be explained by mounting worries in the run-up to the general election in May. Yet, as I often mention in this column, making short-term investment decisions based on the unknown outcome of a certain event can prove costly.
This sounds juicy. Have comparison sites been caught cheating?
The Halifax Clarity credit card is a good way to pay abroad as it has no hidden currency loading fees or transaction charges. We’ve consistently recommended it for holidaymakers.
Q | I took partial retirement from the Civil Service in March 2012 and received a lump sum. I then completely withdrew from the pension scheme. I was told my WPS [Widow’s/Widower’s Pension Scheme] refund would be paid on full retirement. The WPS refund is paid to unmarried employees who pay the full married person’s contributions to the Civil Service Pension Scheme.
There was fresh woe for troubled Scottish Power this week after campaigners wrote to MPs about a £75m warranty misselling scandal stretching back 15 years. The energy supplier has been under fire from readers after a customer services upgrade left tens of thousands of people facing the wrong charges or other problems.
A mortgage at less than 1 per cent? That’s what the Chelsea building society launched yesterday in an attempt to attract potential borrowers. The rate on its new deal is actually just 0.98 per cent for the moment. That’s lower than you or anyone you know with a mortgage is paying, isn’t it?
You know you are grown sentimental when you start counting the cygnets on the duck pond in the park to be sure none has perished since you counted last. None has, you will be pleased to hear. Eight last week, and eight this. Each the colour of egg yolk dipped in pale ale. I can’t describe their softness because neither of the swans guarding them will let me get close enough to take a cygnet in my hand and stroke it.
A two-year-old boy has been removed from his parents and may be put up for adoption because they were heavy smokers and his health was suffering. Is it right for the state to take such drastic action? What if those parents choose to carry on smoking and have more children?
Jeremy Paxman sat back in his chair, the better to show off his manly torso, and crossed his legs, revealing a teasing hint of ankle and Paul Smith sock. The studio lights bounced off his silver mane, giving him the air of something not quite mortal. Then, with a laconic jerk of an eyebrow, a sultry curl of his lip, he purred, “You all right, Ed?”
Discerning travellers have always headed to the charming, unspoilt north and west of Mallorca – where they enjoy music festivals in Deia, cycling in the Tramuntana mountains and wildflower walks along the coast, not to mention Michelin-starred restaurants, delicious local wines and sublime evenings listening to exquisite choral concerts in Palma’s handsome cathedral.
A recent report into sexual offence legislation wants the law to change, so that a person who is severely intoxicated loses the capacity to consent to sex.
By now, two years afterwards, few people will recall the case of Lucy Meadows. It was just another of those British media squalls that suddenly brew, rage for a spell and then blow over fast with few traces left behind – except among the victims. This cyclone of fury swirled around the life, and death, of a dedicated primary school teacher who through no choice of her own became the target of a tabloid “character assassination” of stupendous crudity and cruelty.
Picture an internal condom. The chances are you’re thinking of something which resembles a carrier bag: unsexy and funny looking, and definitely not at the cutting edge of technology.
In 2012, the internationally renowned anti-bribery expert Alexandra Wrage was recruited to help reform Fifa. By 2013 she had resigned, publicly citing frustration at an unwillingness to tackle corruption and endemic sexism at the highest levels of the organisation.
Given my homosexuality, ethnicity, and total disdain for Ukip, it might come as a surprise that I think they should be allowed to join this year’s London LGBT Pride. Since their application to send members was accepted, there has been a considerable backlash from the LGBT community and its allies towards the event's organisers – shouldn't I be joining them?
Sylvie Guillem’s goodbye is a long one. The farewell tour of this astonishing dancer takes in much of the world and lasts the whole year. Those of us who have just seen her week of farewell shows at London’s Sadler’s Wells know what the world of dance will miss. This 49 year-old phenomenon was mesmerising, stretching her body into impossible shapes, and even in her farewell tour eschewing the usual “best of” retrospective to premiere new and experimental work.
It was known as the 'Eighth Wonder of the World' – the first tunnel under a river, in this case the River Thames. Built by Marc Brunel, and his son, Isambard Kingdom Brunel, the Thames Tunnel opened in 1843, delighting visitors enough to earn that hyperbolic name.
The death of Charles Kennedy has revived a debate inside the Liberal Democrats and Labour about whether the two parties should return to one of his causes – forging a progressive, anti-Conservative alliance.
GCSE Maths: an indignity I can now admit, a year on, that I barely survived unscathed. So it was that I couldn’t help but feel a rush of relief to have evaded the fate of this year’s lambs to the slaughter: the poor chumps who sat an Edexcel GCSE Maths paper this week that was, to all accounts, plain weird.