BUSINESS CLOSE: FTSE finishes on downbeat note Abrdn buys Interactive Investor oil giant Shell reveals new share buyback plan.
Rules shake-up looms for London Stock Exchange as watchdog aims to lure in more firms to the City's bourse.A ski chalet is not just for Christmas! Prices of homes in some popular resorts climb 17% in a year as wealthy buyers create 'fierce competition'.The shops becoming cash machines: You'll soon be able to get up to £50 in cashback without purchase at thousands of stores.Not on the move: Number of renters looking for a new home falls for a second month in a row, leading more landlords to freeze rents.Do YOU know how the seven-year inheritance tax rule works? Half of Britons don't - but it could save some families a tax bill after they die.Interactive Investor is sold to Abrdn for £1.5bn: DIY investing platform with 400,000 customers is snapped up by fund giant.What are 'superfunds'? Employers trying to ditch final salary pensions could dump YOU into one, but there'll be safeguards.GRACE ON THE CASE: I sent a £4,550 bank transfer for an e-bike to eBay seller after being told I'd be protected.Be sure to stay for the credits - a final delight in 100 happy minutes. My granddaughter (almost seven) found it delightful with one of her favourite scenes being Paddington's window-cleaning efforts. The film is endlessly inventive, not least in bringing to life a pop-up book of London landmarks which is at the heart of the plot, and it is stuffed full of visual gags as well as so many funny lines, a few aimed at adult viewers rather than little ones. Indeed the villain this time is less threatening than Nicole Kidman's character in the first film and played brilliantly by the ever-so- English star of "Notting Hill", Hugh Grant, who - following his success in "Florence Foster Jenkins" - shows that he is not just a pretty face. This is such a British franchise with so very many British character actors (OK, and one Irish) and so many London locations, although this is the kind of gentle London that we saw in "Notting Hill" (most notably in the prison scenes). Of course, we start with the adorable character created by Michael Bond (who died between the release of the two films), the brilliant CGI representation of our furry friend, and the purr-fect voicing by Ben Wishaw. I loved "Paddington" and - to my delight - I loved "Paddington 2" too.
0 kommentar(er)
