Money blog: New best restaurant in world crowned - this is how much it costs to eat there (2024)

Every ThursdaySavings Champion founder Anna Bowesgives an insight into the savings market and how to make the most of your money...

Can you believe we are almost halfway through 2024?

Although the rate rises that we have seen this year have slowed compared with the previous couple of years, and we have even seen some falls, savers are now able to find hundreds of savings accounts that pay an interest rate higher than inflation.

The latest data from the Office for National Statistics showed inflation was still higher than predicted, however - which means the anticipated base rate cut is likely to be pushed back again – into the second half of this year.

While bad news for borrowers, this is great news for savers.

Incredibly, the latest statistics from the Bank of England show there is over £253bn sitting in current accounts and savings accounts earning no interest at all.

With top rates available paying 5% or even a bit more, that is potentially £12.65bn of gross interest that is not being claimed by savers.

So now really is the time to move your money if you have cash languishing, earning less than inflation, especially if you can lock some away with a fixed rate, as a base rate cut will happen at some stage, we just don't know when.

Easy access

If you think you'll need access to your money, an easy access account is a wise choice.

The base rate cuts that we have been waiting for are yet to start, so the top rates on offer are still paying almost as much as they were at the beginning of the year.

Fixed-term bonds

There is a strange phenomenon with fixed-term bond rates at the moment: the longer you tie up your cash, the lower the interest rates on offer.

Normally, you'd expect to be rewarded for tying up your cash over the longer term - but base rate forecasts have flipped this.

Fixed-term cash ISAs

A frequent complaint that I hear from savers is that the tax-free rates on ISAs are usually lower than the pre-tax rates on the equivalent non-ISA accounts – and this is particularly true with fixed-term accounts.

As many more savers are paying tax on their interest once again, cash ISAs are more popular than ever, as the tax-free rate of the ISA can still be considerably more than the interest earned after tax has been deducted on the non-ISA bond equivalents.

Three whiskies created by Aldi have been named among the best in the world.

The budget supermarket took home three golds at the International Spirits Challenge awards for:

• Glen Marnoch Highland Single Scotch Whisky (£18.49, 70cl)
• Highland Earl Blended Scotch Whisky(£16.89, 1L)
• Samuel Joe’s Straight Kentucky Bourbon(£14.99, 70cl)

In the single malt category, Aldi's submission beat the likes of M&S as well as premium brand Lochlea Distillery, which costs around £45 a bottle.

Other gold winners included Johnnie Walker, Jameson and Glenfiddich.

Aldi was also given three silver medals for its Highland Black Blended Scotch Whisky, Glen Marnoch Speyside Single Malt Whisky and Glen Marnoch Islay Single Malt Whisky.

"This industry recognition helps to prove that great quality doesn't have to come with a luxury price tag and customers can be confident they're saving money with us, whilst getting the best whisky taste and experience," said Julie Ashfield, managing director of buying at Aldi UK.

As we've previously discussed in the Money blog, holidaying Brits can avoid costly roaming charges by using their own travel eSim - and there's now another mainstream option to choose from courtesy of Uswitch.

UK travellers who want to use their phones abroad usually rely on their roaming plans and data passes or sign up for a local SIM at their destination, which can often require time-consuming ID checks and additional documentation.

That can be costly.

Since Brexit, the UK no longer benefits from several EU-mandated rules, including a worldwide data roaming cap of £45.

Roaming costs, especially in countries outside the EU, can now be as high as £9 for every 1MB of roaming data - equivalent to streaming Netflix for 14.4 seconds.

The savings with eSims are potentially massive, as our cost of living specialist Megan Harwood-Baynes outlined here last month...

USwitch product

Using 10GB of data in Morocco on a UK Pay As You Go network with uncapped fees would cost on average of £56,166, compared to just £17 with a USwitch eSim.

eSims are available online and are entirely digital - meaning customers don't need to visit a phone network store or wait for a physical SIM card to arrive in the post.

Most new smartphones are already compatible with eSim technology, including every iPhone released from 2018 onwards and most Samsung devices released from 2020 onwards.

"eSIMs offer them a newfound freedom that's cheaper than traditional data roaming and with none of the hassle of finding a local SIM card provider when you arrive," said CEO and co-founder of (USwitch's partner in this project) eSIM Go Zacchary Couldrick.

Asda has gone from selling the cheapest petrol out of the supermarket chains to now costing the most, according to the latest fuel price figures.

RAC says Asda's big rivals, Morrisons, Sainsbury's and Tesco, all sold a litre of unleaded petrol for 2.1p less on average at the end of May.

Diesel was also coming out costlier at Asda, with the supermarket 2.5p per litre more expensive than the rest of its supermarket competition.

Drivers are being urged - by the RAC - to change their refuelling habits to find the best prices.

What makes up the cost of a litre of petrol?

The price you pay for fuel at the pumps is governed by wholesale fuel prices, which are affected by several factors.

These include the global price of crude oil, which itself is governed by supply and demand and oil refinery production and capacity.

Distribution costs, fuel duty (currently 52.95p a litre in the UK), VAT (currently at 20%) and profit margins dictated by fuel retailers all come into account when working out why prices of fuel rise and fall.

Fuel duty rate and VAT largely stay the same, though oil prices and the strength of the pound to the US dollar (refined fuel is sold in dollars per metric tonne) can cause prices to be extremely volatile.

How have UK petrol prices changed in the 21st century

Unleaded fuel in 2000 had an average cost of 80.35p, while the average cost of diesel in the same year was 81.73p.

The lowest average cost for unleaded petrol in the last 24 years came in 2002, where the average was 73.5p. Diesel also had its cheapest average cost in this year at 75.6p.

Unsurprisingly, the most expensive average prices for fuel have fallen in recent years. In 2022, the average cost of unleaded fuel was 165.06p and the average cost of diesel was 178.13p.

By Emily Mee, news reporter

We've all been there. You have a bad day and you need a little pick-me-up - so you head straight to your favourite website to buy something new.

That hit of dopamine you get when buying something is what many businesses rely on - and no one seems to understand it better than fast fashion brands.

But not only is this hurting our wallets, it's also harming the planet.

In the final part of our psychology of shopping series, we spoke to fair fashion campaigner Venetia La Manna (@venetialamanna) - who advocates for a more sustainable approach to clothing - about the little tricks fast fashion companies use to get people to spend, spend, spend...

Always in a rush - and slippery floors

Many of the techniques fashion companies use involve ensuring people feel rushed to make purchasing decisions.

Ms La Manna says websites and social media pages are set up to make them look "very immediate" so we "always feel like we have to buy something before it's gone" - meaning you're not able to sit with a purchase and think about whether you need it.

Fast fashion companies also keep an eye on trends and push out products as soon as possible to make sure people are "buying very, very quickly without necessarily much thought".

And the sense of urgency is not just limited to online stores.

Ms La Manna says physical clothes shops will make sure their floors are slippery "so you can almost whizz around with more ease".

Often they will also have loud music to encourage "shopping in a frenzy".

They know what you want

Fashion sites use "highly advanced" search engine optimisation to find out what kind of products their customers are searching for and push these items to them, Ms La Manna says.

They also work with popular online influencers and get them to post affiliate links - meaning if you want to look like your favourite influencer or celebrity, you can buy what they're wearing "in just a few clicks".

Ultimately, they are making things "very easy to buy" and often have shopfronts on popular social media sites like Instagram and TikTok.

Plus, there is the issue of affordability.

Many are driving their prices down so low that "it makes you feel like 'hey, why not' when it's cheaper than a sandwich or a coffee", Ms La Manna says.

Heaters at the entrance

Physical shops use other techniques to entice customers to buy.

For example, Ms La Manna says the heat changes when you go into the shop so you're "invited into a warmer environment".

Shops are also set out in a specific way, often placing cheaper items near checkouts and easy outfit formulas near each other.

The dopamine hit

With lots going on in the world, we may be more susceptible to falling into the spending trap than ever.

"The world is really heavy and people are struggling. Buying fast fashion or buying stuff gives us a momentary hit of dopamine, and of course we need that - when we're suffering, when we're feeling low, [shopping] is an easy one to reach for," Ms La Manna says.

Despite practising "slow fashion" - trying to buy less and more consciously - for years, Ms La Manna says she still has moments where she feels that buying something would make her feel better.

But she says it's possible to get much-needed dopamine hits from elsewhere - including by being active in your community, or by taking your time to find something you really, really want (ideally secondhand!).

Why does it matter?

Aside from being bad for your wallet, Ms La Manna says overconsumption is also bad for the planet and for the garment workers making your clothes.

She says many big fashion companies don't pay their garment workers a fair living wage - with many unable to provide food for their families, living in poverty and lacking paid time off.

The overproduction of clothing is also harming communities in the global south who are left to deal with vast piles of unwanted items, she says.

The majority of clothes taken to charity shops or recycling bins don't end up being resold - instead they are shipped off largely to places in the global south, where communities are "left to deal with a problem that's not theirs".

For more information on slow fashion, Ms La Manna suggests checking out The Or Foundation, Remake and the Clean Clothes Campaign.

P Diddy has sold off his stake in the media company he founded more than a decade ago.

The rapper, whose real name is Sean Combs, released his shares of Revolt with the company saying the have been fully redeemed and retired.

Revolt has not disclosed how much Combs was paid for his stake in the hip-hop news and entertainment company, which he founded in 2013.

It also announced a new ownership structure that will give its employees an equity stake in the company.

The move comes after several lawsuits were filed against Combs, accusing him of sexual assault and rape.

In November, he was sued by R&B singer Cassie, who said he subjected her to a years-long abusive relationship that included beatings and rape.

Combs settled the lawsuit with Cassie, whose full name is Casandra Ventura, a few days after it was filed.

Three in five secondary school teachers and nearly 80% of primary school teachers are spending their own money on supporting students, according to new research.

A report by the National Foundation for Educational Research, based on a survey of 1,282 teachers and senior leaders, found a quarter of teachers had already spent £100 of their own cash on their pupils or school this academic year.

Some 79% of primary school teachers and 62% of secondary school educators reported spending their own money at some point.

And nearly one in five primary and 17% of secondary teachers said they were spending money on meeting pastoral needs such as providing food or clothes.

Jude Hillary, the NFER's co-head of UK policy and practice, said the report"clearly highlights the high level of need among young people".

She said teachers were "going above and beyond to meet pupils' pastoral needs using their personal funds" and the "unrecognised" support was coming at a time when staff themselves are facing their own cost pressures.

Tesco has started re-stocking its packs of a dozen eggs online, after lengthy supply issues forced them to stop selling them.

The supermarket had already re-started selling them in stores, but online shoppers had to buy two packs of six eggs if they wanted 12, costing them very slightly more.

The shortages began in the autumn of 2022 as farmers left the industry or pulled back on production due to rising costs.

An outbreak of bird flu last year also impacted the sector.

Customers of Loveholidays have had their travel plans thrown into chaos after the parent company of two of its partners unexpectedly went bust.

In a post on Facebook, the holiday firm said FTI Group, which owns YouTravel and Meeting Point, had filed for insolvency.

As a result, the accommodation and transfer arrangements of some travellers have been affected.

A "small number" of hotels have already started contacting Loveholiday travellers, asking them to pay for their rooms again.

In the comments of the post, one person said they had been "threatened to be removed by police" for refusing to pay again.

"We are supposed to go home Thursday evening and worried our transfers and flights might be affected because we are refusing to pay again," Scott Love wrote.

"Shambles this and has ruined our holiday for me, my partner and three children."

Several other people commented, asking the provider to tell them if their trip had been impacted.

Loveholidays said it was "working hard" to honour its customers bookings and "minimise disruption" to any holiday.

It also said it was "absolutely committed" to covering costs and was working with affected customers, and the hotels involved, to make sure that happens.

Those who are on holiday and need support have been advised to contact the holiday support team by calling the number on their booking documents.

"If you're travelling with us soon and are wondering if your holiday is affected: Please don't worry. There is nothing you need to do - our team is working hard to honour any impacted bookings with another partner," Loveholidays added.

Sky News has contacted the company for comment.