Author: INDEPENDENT

For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emailsSign up to our free breaking news emailsSign up to our free breaking news emailsThe FTSE 100 ended in the green on Friday, outperforming European peers, despite downbeat economic news ahead of next week’s Budget.The index closed up 12.06 points, 0.1%, at 9,539.71.The FTSE 250 ended 20.98 points lower, 0.1%, at 21,363.37, while the AIM All-Share fell 5.56 points, 0.8%, to 735.64.For the week, the FTSE 100 was down 1.6%, the FTSE 250 fell 2.1%, and the AIM All-Share declined 1.4%.Figures showed…

Get the latest entertainment news, reviews and star-studded interviews with our Independent Culture emailGet the latest entertainment news with our free Culture newsletter Get the latest entertainment news with our free Culture newsletter “Queen of Versailles” Jackie Siegel has shared her kids’ hilarious response to seeing the new musical based on their mom’s life.The Queen of Versailles — which shares a name with the 2012 documentary that followed Siegel’s life as she and her late husband, Westgate timeshare magnate David Siegel, set out to build a 90,000 square-foot mansion in Florida — opened November 9 at New York City’s St…

For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emailsSign up to our free breaking news emailsSign up to our free breaking news emailsHouseholds are expected to learn that their energy bills will fall slightly from January when Ofgem announces its latest price cap on Friday.Experts at Cornwall Insight have said they expect Ofgem’s price cap to drop by 1% because of lower wholesale energy prices.This would result in a £22 decrease to an average bill of £1,733 a year for a typical household from January 1.However, the slight reprieve for…

Get the latest entertainment news, reviews and star-studded interviews with our Independent Culture emailGet the latest entertainment news with our free Culture newsletter Get the latest entertainment news with our free Culture newsletter The text came through on a Tuesday afternoon. “This is the Queen of Versailles. I can’t wait to meet u.” Jackie Siegel — the socialite-turned-reality star whose life of unapologetic excess first transfixed audiences in the 2012 documentary The Queen of Versailles — has spent more than two decades building a 90,000-square-foot palace in Florida and an equally baroque public persona to match. Now, her story has…

For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emailsSign up to our free breaking news emailsSign up to our free breaking news emailsNvidia’s sales computing chips powering the artificial intelligence craze surged beyond the lofty bar set by stock market analysts in a performance that may ease recent jitters about a Big Tech boom turning into a bust that topples the world’s most valuable company.The results announced late Wednesday provided a pulse check on the frenzied spending on AI technology that has been fueling both the stock market and much…

Get the latest entertainment news, reviews and star-studded interviews with our Independent Culture emailGet the latest entertainment news with our free Culture newsletter Get the latest entertainment news with our free Culture newsletter Jason Isaacs and Tom Felton had a heartwarming reunion at the latter’s Broadway production of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, in which he reprises his iconic role of Draco Malfoy. Felton, 38, who starred as Draco opposite Isaacs as his on-screen father Lucius in the Harry Potter film series, joined the play’s cast at the Lyric Theatre in New York City last week. The long-running show…

For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emailsSign up to our free breaking news emailsSign up to our free breaking news emailsFour major players in the travel industry have had their adverts banned by the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) for misleading customers.The ASA ruled that Booking.com and hotel groups Accor, Travelodge, and Hilton all used “from” price claims for hotel rooms that overstated how many were available at the advertised rate.With only a limited proportion of rooms genuinely offered at the advertised prices across various dates, the ASA deemed…

For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emailsSign up to our free breaking news emailsSign up to our free breaking news emailsAn escalating number of UK firms are looking to take their business abroad amid weakening economic growth at home and concerns about tax hikes, Santander has found.Nearly half of businesses, or 47%, are considering international expansion, according to its latest trade barometer.This is up from a third who said so earlier this year, and more than double the 21% that said so in autumn 2023.The bank said a…

Get the latest entertainment news, reviews and star-studded interviews with our Independent Culture emailGet the latest entertainment news with our free Culture newsletter Get the latest entertainment news with our free Culture newsletter Arvind Ethan David remembers the very first time he encountered Douglas Adams’s The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. “A copy was lying about in my grandmother’s house,” he explains. “I must have been about 12, and I distinctly recall going, ‘Can books do this?’”Adams’s words, he says, “do something different to you”. “More than any other novelist, he reaches into your brain, sort of tickles it, and…

For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emailsSign up to our free breaking news emailsSign up to our free breaking news emailsA boom in the use of weight loss drugs is having “massive repercussions” for the tailoring industry, a Savile Row boss has said.Sean Dixon, co-founder of tailor Richard James, said its cutters were having to make big adjustments or remake suits entirely because of some customers’ rapid weight loss.The businessman pointed to the trend happening among male customers, many of whom are aged in their 40s and 50s.“Male…