International News

UK house price inflation at +6.9% Average UK annual house price growth was +6.9% in October, up from +3.5% in October last year. Although this is a slight easing from the growth of more than +7% in August and September, the average rate of growth over the last three months is higher than at any time since 2014, underlining the strength of current market conditions. The trend for annual growth will be a continued slowing, although the path not may be linear. The easing in the pace of price gro...

Consumers are being asked to "respect" new rules on mandatory face masks in shops in England this week following the emergence of a new Covid variant. The British Retail Consortium, which represents the industry, said it is up to the police to enforce the measure. "However, customers are asked to respect the rules and be considerate to their fellow shoppers and to hard-working shop staff," it said. Violence against retail staff has increased during the pandemic. The Co-op, which prev...

SIMON Cowell is set to make a multi-million-pound profit on his London home that he never really lived in. The music mogul has put his Wimbledon house on the market for £18m, after buying the southwest London home for £15m in 2019. Simon bought the sprawling property for himself, partner Lauren Silverman, 44, her son Adam, 15, and their son Eric, seven. But when they realized the 14-mile commute to Eric's school could take up to two hours, they decided to remain living in t...

In early November, Ryan Williams watched an enormous crane lift a small aluminum pod high over his house in Manchester, UK, and lower it into his suburban garden. The pod was a solution to the problem many people are facing in the hybrid work environment – how do you work effectively from home when you have nowhere to get work done? Williams, 32, found running his social-media marketing company, KOMI, from his dining table, worked fine for the first few months of the pandemic. But when ...

Wild deer have roamed its parkland for hundreds of years, you might bump into locals like Tom Hardy and Holly Willoughby in the corner shop, and it contains some of London’s smartest urban villages. Little wonder that the residents of Richmond upon Thames are the happiest people in London. Rightmove’s annual Happy at Home Index measures a series of factors, from the friendliness of the locals to the quality of local amenities, to access to open space, to establish which are the...

A woman who has left Hong Kong for the UK due to concerns over freedoms has spoken about struggles to find housing. The UK recently introduced a visa giving Hong Kong residents the right to come and live in the UK and eventually become citizens. Eunice Wun, who moved to Solihull, said leaving Hong Kong behind meant she had no employment records and was unable to have a credit check. Buying and renting in Hong Kong is very different to the UK, she said. Ms Wun, who moved with her husb...

The online bank Atom Bank has introduced a four-day work week for its 430 staff without cutting their pay. Employees now work 34 hours over four days and get Monday or Friday off, when previously they clocked up 37.5 hours across the whole week. Boss Mark Mullen told the BBC it was inspired by the pandemic and would help improve wellbeing and retain staff. However, employees will have to work longer hours on the days that they are in. "Before Covid, the conventional wisdom was you ha...

LONDON, Nov 21 (Reuters) - Charging points for electric vehicles will be required to be installed in new buildings in Britain from next year under new legislation to be announced by Prime Minister Boris Johnson, his office said in a statement on Sunday. It said the regulations would lead to up to 145,000 extra charge points being installed in England each year in the run-up to 2030, when the sale of new petrol and diesel cars will end in Britain. The requirement will apply to new homes and...