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Important information: The value of investments can go down as well as up so you may get back less than you invest. Investors should note that the views expressed may no longer be current and may have already been acted upon. This is a third-party news feed and may not reflect Fidelity’s views.

Friday newspaper round-up: National Express, Southend airport, pensions

(Sharecast News) - More than 3,000 National Express bus drivers in the West Midlands have voted to strike over pay, starting on 16 March, the same day as the next RMT train strike. The Unite union said members voted 96% in favour of industrial action, on a turnout of 72%. The workers will begin "all-out continuous" strike action on Thursday 16 March, the union said, with industrial action to carry on until the dispute is resolved. - Guardian Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz declared almost a decade ago that 2014 "was the last year in which the United States could claim to be the world's largest economic power." It was, he claimed, the start of the "Chinese century". He was wrong: the US remains the world's largest economy. Yet experts keep predicting that China will soon become the preeminent global superpower, now believing that China's GDP will overtake America in the late 2030s. - Telegraph

Hooking up millions of electric vehicles, heat pumps and other devices to the UK's electricity grid could save up to £4.7bn a year by the end of this decade, the energy watchdog has predicted. Ofgem on Thursday set out proposals for how the electricity grid of the future could work, using technology to ensure infrastructure is used as efficiently as possible. - Telegraph

Esken, the listed company spun out of the old Eddie Stobart trucking business that plans to create a sixth London airport at Southend, has announced that it is to sell the empty site as well as other assets. The former Stobart Group changed its name to Esken, which means "arise" in old English, in an attempt to get away from a controversial past punctuated by High Court litigation. - The Times

An ambitious state-backed project intended to enable everyone in Britain to see all their pension arrangements on one screen has been delayed because of the complexity of connecting the first pension schemes. The government said yesterday that "additional time" was needed for pensions providers to meet the deadline of August 31 to connect to the central computer system of the "pensions dashboard programme". - The Times

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(Sharecast News) - Andy Burnham moved to calm volatile bond markets on Wednesday as surging borrowing costs threatened to wreck plans for his government's crucial first budget next month. After a days-long sell-off of government bonds - and with the chancellor, John Healey, facing the prospect of sharply reduced spending power, Burnham used his first appearance at prime minister's questions to promise decisions would be "grounded in fiscal responsibility". - Guardian
Wednesday newspaper round-up: defence spending, LSEG, Sports Direct
(Sharecast News) - The chancellor, John Healey, must be prepared to raise taxes for middle earners if he wants to fund significantly higher defence spending, the Resolution Foundation thinktank has said. Healey resigned from Keir Starmer's government in June, protesting against what he argued was the then prime minister's failure to adequately fund defence. - Guardian
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(Sharecast News) - A house near a top state secondary school costs an extra £40,000 on average, according to research that reveals education premiums that rank alongside some private school fees. The average property in a postcode district that includes a top 50 state secondary commands a price tag of £415,791, compared with £375,217 across the wider local authority areas in which those schools are located, a UK-wide analysis by the estate agent Yopa found. - Guardian
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(Sharecast News) - A clampdown on "rogue bailiffs" has been launched by Andy Burnham amid concerns that vulnerable people are being overcharged and face aggressive behaviour. In the latest in a series of "everyday fixes" to ease the cost of living and "make Britain fairer", the prime minister said he was strengthening the rules that apply to bailiffs in England and Wales to better protect people in debt. He also announced measures to target "cowboy" tradespeople, including builders who rip off homeowners. - Guardian

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