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Self Assessment customers use monthly payment plans to pay £46 million in tax
More than 20,000 Self Assessment customers have used HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) online monthly payment plan service since April to spread the cost of their tax bill, totalling £46 million so far, it has been revealed. Where customers are struggling to pay their bill in full, the self-serve TimeContinue Reading
Hardman Pepe annoyed his dad by sleeping with his mum in bed until he was 17
FORMER Real Madrid hardman Pepe revealed he slept in bed with his mum until he was 17 – much to the annoyance of his dad. The Portuguese centre-back, 38, now captains Porto but grew up in Brazil before leaving for Europe when he turned 18. 1 Veteran Porto defender PepeContinue Reading
Cuba’s COVID vaccines: the limited data available suggests they’re highly effective
The western world has written plenty about its high-profile COVID vaccines: the mRNA products of Pfizer and Moderna, viral-vectored jabs from AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson, and those that are just emerging, such as Novavax’s protein-based vaccine. Many countries are relying on them for protection. But not Cuba. It’s beenContinue Reading
Hopefully it will be all about a ‘Bear Hug’ tonight!
Asean Legend meets median time-handicap requirement in division one of a Novice Stakes over seven furlongs of Kempton tonight when the obligatory lavish eight-race Winter ‘Wednesday-nighter’ affords a couple of half-decent wagers for two-year-old aficionados like myself. Weather conditions are grim and so the usual sparse crowd might be cuddledContinue Reading
Symptoms, vaccine evasion and a new ‘offshoot’: What we know now about the omicron Covid variant
Lab technicians in the Gamaleya National Research Center for Epidemiology and Microbiology in Russia. Bloomberg | Bloomberg | Getty Images It’s been two weeks since South Africa reported the omicron Covid variant to the World Health Organization and now it’s spreading around the globe. In the last fortnight, experts haveContinue Reading
A year of COVID vaccines: how the UK pinned its hopes on the jab – and why those hopes are under threat
A year ago, Margaret Keenan made history. On December 8 2020, she became the first person in the world to receive the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine outside of a clinical trial. Ninety-year-old Keenan described it as the “best early birthday present”. It was a moment of shining hope in what had beenContinue Reading
Twitter has banned posting of images of people without their consent – here’s why that’s a good thing
Twitter recently announced that it will no longer allow “the sharing of private media, such as images or videos of private individuals without their consent”. The move takes effect through an expansion of the social media platform’s private information and media policy. In practical terms, this means photos andContinue Reading
‘Friends for life’: how living with locals helped refugees feel at home in a new country
The service provided by Takecarebnb showed benefits for refugees and their hosts. Author provided The large-scale evacuations from Afghanistan mean Afghan refugees are expected to settle in Europe, the UK and the US in the coming years. Many European countries have struggled with welcoming and integrating refugees, and are inContinue Reading
Discounted theatre tickets on offer to support West End recovery
T ickets to some of London’s biggest theatre shows will be on offer at a discounted price in the new year as part of an effort to attract visitors back to the West End. On Tuesday, Mayor of London Sadiq Khan joined photographer Rankin and stars of West End showsContinue Reading
Writing history: 30 years on, a former Moscow correspondent reflects on the end of the USSR
The Soviet anthem hailed the socialist union that it celebrated as “indestructible”. Yet 30 years ago this week, the then Russian president, Boris Yeltsin, together with the leaders of Ukraine and Belarus, signed the agreement that created the Commonwealth of Independent States. It was the end for the Union ofContinue Reading