Charlotte McDonald

BBC News • 7th February 2023

Trial of scrapping train return tickets extended

In 2020 it trialled scrapping return tickets on journeys from London to Leeds, Newcastle and Edinburgh, which saw the cost of a super off-peak single ticket from London to Edinburgh cut to £73.70 rather than £146.40, or £147.40 for a super off-peak return.

This trial has been viewed as successful and will be rolled out across the rest of the LNER network. Mr Harper told rail industry leaders in speech on Tuesday that the government would then "carefully consider the results of those trials" bef

BBC News • 30th January 2023

Video streaming subscriptions fall by two million in 2022

"Brits' love of streaming remains as strong as ever, but the effect of high inflation meant consumers were forced to make difficult choices to balance their finances," said Dominic Sunnebo, Kantar's global director of entertainment on demand.

"That financial pressure increasingly meant cutting back on video streaming subscriptions, particularly where households often had three or more different services in the same household."

"I always found myself flicking though it and not finding good cont

BBC News • 15th December 2022

Royal Mail strikes: Shops say don't risk buying Christmas gifts online

Andrew Goodacre, the chair of Bira, said that if customers want to be confident of getting their Christmas gifts on time, their best bet was to go and buy them in person.

"We would always say that anyway as we'd always promote a healthy vibrant High Street, but when there's so much disruption, not just with postal strikes, but rail strikes too, if customers want certainty on Christmas orders, best to order online, and collect in store."

BBC News • 12th December 2022

UK economy will get worse before it gets better, warns chancellor

The UK economy will get worse before it gets better, Chancellor Jeremy Hunt has said after figures revealed it shrank further between August and October.

The economy contracted by 0.3% during the three months as soaring prices hit businesses and households and the UK is expected to be heading into recession.

He said: "These figures confirm that this is a very challenging economic situation here and across the world.

Over the three months, economic activity in the UK slowed across all the main

BBC News • 10th November 2022

John Lewis, Tesco and Lidl tone down Christmas ads

"But this advert is not about "go and buy things". This advert is about saying how can you as an individual show kindness to someone else who may need it. I think that's quite an important message at Christmas."

In the final scene, we meet Ellie, a young teenager clutching her skateboard as she waits to enter her new foster home. The reason for the man's efforts become clear, as we realise he was trying to master the skill of skateboarding in order to connect with Ellie.

"Not everyone is able

BBC News • 9th November 2022

Kids' Christmas toy pester-power limited by cost of living

The value of sales in the UK toys market in the first nine months of the year is down 5% compared with the same period last year, NPD analysis suggests.

"Parents are being stronger with pester power and saying 'no' at low price points, but they are not over-indulging at the highest prices either," Ms Symonds said.

Despite the predictions of stagnant or falling sales, retailers will be hopeful that the timing of Christmas Day boosts sales. It falls on a Sunday, giving them a full shopping week

BBC News • 2nd November 2022

Prison job advert banned for racial stereotyping

It had argued the campaign showed photos of real officers and prisoners, and the type of engagement they have.

But the ASA found the advert was "likely to cause serious offence on the grounds of race, by reinforcing negative stereotypes about black men".

It ruled that the advert must not appear again in this form and told the MoJ to ensure it avoided causing serious offence on the grounds of race.

The inmate is shown wearing an afro pick comb in his hair and the image was taken within a worki

BBC News • 1st November 2022

Pandemic furniture star Made.com nears collapse

In a statement, the firm said it had "received proposals" from interested parties. However, it also said it was likely the company would have to be "wound up" and delisted from the stock exchange before any sale could be agreed.

'Many questions to be answered'

BBC News • 27th October 2022

Kanye West is escorted out of Skechers 'unannounced and uninvited'

Shoe brand Skechers claims it had to escort Ye, known as Kanye West, from its corporate offices in Los Angeles after he showed up "unannounced and uninvited".

The scandals are likely to hit the rapper's income and he has lost his position in Forbes magazine's list of billionaires. The magazine estimates the loss of the Adidas partnership has cut his net worth from $1.5bn (£1.3bn) to $400m.

The rapper has previously been diagnosed with bipolar disorder, a mental health condition that affects yo