United Kingdom

    Uber has transformed the taxi business since it was launched in 2008 (Picture: [copyright]) An Uber driver charged a drunk passenger £102 for a journey that should have cost £15 after taking a 20-mile detour around London, when he fell asleep in the back. Daniel Kaizen, 26, complained his journey was five times longer than it needed to be, after using the app to order an Uber from Old Street in central London to Wood Green in the north in the early hours of Easter Monday. The car went east towards Barking before taking the North Circular back around to the final destination. A screenshot from Mr Kaizen's phone shows the route taken was far from direct. It was not until the next morning Mr Kaizen saw the route and said: “I nearly spat out my tea laughing at the route”. He s...

    A stamp duty hike for people purchasing second properties such as buy-to-let investments and holiday homes comes into force from Friday. The move will mean that people buying a second home will pay three percentage points above current stamp duty rates. While it could put off some investors and lead to some pushing up rents to offset their costs, it could also provide some aspiring first-time buyers with a window of opportunity. The new rates of stamp duty land tax (SDLT) will apply to purchases of additional residential properties in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. In the recent Budget, the Government confirmed that big investors will not escape the stamp duty hike, despite their contribution to the housing supply. A consultation had considered whether it may be appr...

    George Osborne’s budget is handing a tax cut averaging £3,000 to some of the wealthiest people in the country who make up just 0.3% of the population, the shadow chancellor, John McDonnell, has said. Labour is calling for the cut in capital gains tax (CGT) to be scrapped, saying it would give investors already making money about the same, on average, as the government had planned to take from disabled people under changes to benefits. The party is planning to campaign against the CGT cuts in the coming weeks to apply more pressure on the chancellor following Iain Duncan Smith’s shock resignation as work and pensions secretary, when he branded Osborne’s budget “deeply unfair”, triggering the scrapping of the disability benefit cuts. McDonnell said Osborne was the “bankers’ ...

    Prominent members of Glasgow’s Muslim community have called for calm and solidarity following the fatal stabbing of a shopkeeper whose messages of interfaith harmony united his multicultural community. Police have confirmed that the man arrested in connection with Thursday evening’s killing – which is being treated as “religiously prejudiced” – was also a Muslim. Following the revelation, Humza Yousaf, the Scottish government’s only Muslim minister, immediately responded in a tweet: “No ifs, no buts, no living in denial – vile cancer of sectarianism needs stamped out wherever it exists – including amongst Muslims.” Asad Shah, whose final Facebook update, posted a few hours before his death, offered Easter greetings “to my beloved Christian nation”, was a member of the Ahma...

    Leaving the EU could cut the cost of Easter eggs, pro-Brexit campaigners claimed. Unilateral trade deals with chocolate-producing countries Indonesia, Nigeria and Brazil could remove punitive tariffs imposed by Brussels on imports of cocoa-based sweet treats, Vote Leave said. As much as £1.28 of the cost of a £10 egg was accounted for by such charges. it calculated, which are levied on chocolate products but not raw cocoa beans So-called tariff escalation is criticised for discouraging industrial development. Spokesman Robert Oxley said: 'Pro-EU campaigners are constantly rabbiting on about the supposed benefits provided by the EU. "But consumers will be hopping mad to find out that the EU is actually making Easter more egg-spensive. "As well as putting up the price of foo...

    The Vote Leave group has published a list of 250 business leaders who are backing the campaign for Britain to leave the EU. It includes former HSBC chief executive Michael Geoghegan, Tim Martin, chairman of JD Wetherspoons and Carphone Warehouse founder David Ross. Vote Leave has also announced its Business Council will be chaired by John Longworth, who resigned as director general of the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) earlier this month. It followed his suspension for saying the UK's long-term prospects could be "brighter" outside the EU despite the BCC maintaining a neutral position. Mr Longworth said he was "delighted" to be joining the Brexit campaign, adding: "This is the most important political debate of a generation. "Many firms struggle with relentless interfe...

    There's currently an enormous sum placed on the table right now by investors—and if the strategy pays off, investors will probably prefer their profits to be paid in any currency except for the pound. According to Bloomberg, at least $15.5 billion has been placed on a bet that pays off if the pound falls in value. Essentially, if the pound exchange rate with the dollar drops below $1.3502, which is about 4% less than it is now, the investors clean up. The force driving these wagers is a referendum on June 23 in which Brits will be deciding whether to stay in the European Union or perform what's known as a Brexit—which, contrary to popular belief isn't when you quietly stumble out of a party without saying goodbye. Although polls betray very little about what will actually...

    An entertainer has prevented a tabloid newspaper from printing details of his extramarital affairs in a case that is expected to trigger a fresh round of legal battles between celebrities and newspapers over privacy injunctions. The well-known individual who is referred to in the judgment of the case by the initials PJS, and his wife, referred to as YMA, are both described as public figures. He is reported to have had a “three-way sexual encounter” with another couple more than four years ago. The couple approached the editor of the Sun on Sunday newspaper, Steve Kennedy, in January this year and told him about their relationship with PJS. The paper, which planned to publish the story, contacted the entertainer’s lawyers, initiating a courtroom dispute. But the court of ap...

    A mother accused of stamping her infant daughter to death continued to claim child benefits for her for six months after her death, a court has heard. Kathryn Smith, 23, is currently on trial alongside her former boyfriend Matthew Rigby accused of murdering 21-month-old Ayeeshia Jane Smith. A jury has heard how Ayeeshia died from a rip to the heart which was caused by either by a powerful foot stamp or from being violently shaken which caused a fatal heart attack. Doctors said the little girl - who had also bitten through her own tongue - was so severely injured she looked like a car crash victim. Kathryn Smith and Matthew Rigby (pictured) are accused of killing the 21-month-old girl and separately of causing or allowing her death Smith, who denies murder, told Birmingham ...

    The British security agencies worry that Islamic State is plotting large-scale terrorist attacks in the UK by coordinated commando-style groups similar to those in Brussels and Paris. Isis propaganda videos frequently identify the UK as a major target and intelligence officers repeatedly caveat conversations by saying it is only a matter of time before there is a successful attack in the country, whether lone wolf-style or a large-scale assault. The agencies stopped seven plots last year but stress over and over again they do not believe their luck – and operational efficiency – is going to hold forever. The threat level in the UK is “severe”, meaning an attack is designated as “highly likely”. That sounds alarming but it would need specific information to raise that to th...