Money blog: BBC licence fee to rise; Jurgen Klopp's former mansion is most viewed on Rightmove - have a look inside (2024)

A cryptocurrency entrepreneur has kept his promise and eaten a banana he bought for $6.2m (£4.9m).

Justin Sun snapped up viral art piece Comedian - consisting of a single banana duct-taped to a white wall - in an auction at Sotheby's in New York last week.

The Chinese-born businessman immediately revealed his plan to destroy the artwork by enjoying the fruit as a snack and at a news conference today, he delivered on his word.

At a Hong Kong hotel, the 34-year-old took a bite and told reporters: "It's much better than other bananas. It's really quite good."

After purchasing Comedian, Mr Sun previously said the piece "represents a cultural phenomenon that bridges the worlds of art, memes, and the cryptocurrency community".

The former rented home of Jurgen Klopp has topped the list of Rightmove's most viewed properties this year.

The mansion in the town of Formby, about 14 miles north of Liverpool, comes with its own swimming pool complex, an entertainment building and a gym.

It was put on the market in October at an asking price of £4.25m.

"This is an exceptional home in a beautiful part of the country. Many will be aware of the property's recent history, and we look forward to playing a part in its future," William Goulden, head of sales at Berkeley Shaw, who listed the property, said.

The second most viewed house is a refurbished 19th century Grade II listed Georgian house on Britain's most expensive street - Knightsbridge Green in central London.

It comes with direct views of Buckingham Palace, nine bedrooms, a lift and a £45,000,000 price tag.

A grand 12,000 sq ft Glasgow mansion, designed in the 1870s and formerly used as an Italian consulate also made the list...

... along with a £750,000 eight-bedroom home in Lancashire and a historic grade abbey near Oxford.

The TV licence fee will rise by £5 to £174.50 in April, the government has announced.

The increase follows a £10.50 increase this April after the fee been frozen for two years.

The licence fee, which provides the BBC with funding, is upped based on the annual Consumer Price Index inflation rate.

The Department for Culture, Media and Sport said this practice will continue until 2027 to "provide the BBC with funding certainty".

Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy said: "The BBC provides much-needed programming for households across the country, including children's education, world-class entertainment and trusted news for all people in all parts of the UK.

"I want to see it thrive for decades to come."

However, she said there will be an "honest national conversation about the broadcaster's long-term future" through the Charter Review.

"In the short term, we are providing the BBC with funding certainty, while supporting thousands more households facing financial hardship to spread the cost of a TV licence," she added.

By law, UK households have to pay the fee if:

• They watch or record programmes as they're being shown on any TV channel
• Watch or stream shows live on any online TV service such as All4 or YouTube
• Download or watch any BBC shows on iPlayer

The rules apply to any device, including TVs, laptops, phones and tablets.

However, there are concessions available for people who are aged 75 and or over and receive Pension Credit, blind people, those who live in qualifying residential care and are disabled or over 60 and businesses that provide overnight accommodation.

Waitrose has opened its first convenience store in six years.

The store in Hampton Hill in southwest London comes as the supermarket looks to expand its estate and build on its partnerships with Welcome Break and Shell.

Similar shops are set to open in Spaldwick, Cambridgeshire and Rotherham, South Yorkshire in the coming months.

A third location will open in 2025 with more planned if successful.

The Hampton Hill store will also be the first to feature a hatch to allow delivery riders to make collections more easily.

Thousands of households have received cold weather payments in recent weeks, but millions more could be eligible, Uswitch has said.

The one-off £25 payment is given to eligible people for every seven-day period when the temperature drops below 0C in their area.

The Department of Work and Pensions started dishing them out last week as snow blanketed towns across the UK.

Ben Gallizzi, energy expert at Uswitch, said 6,000 households have been paid and nearly four million are eligible for the assistance this winter.

"Cold weather payments may help many vulnerable households to keep the heating on when they might not be able to afford it," he said.

"Nearly £30m was paid out in 2023-24, and higher bills this winter mean the payments are more important than ever."

If you're entitled to the payments, you will receive them automatically to your bank account within 14 days of the temperature limit being triggered.

People who claim the following benefits are eligible:

• Pension Credit
• Income Support
• Income-based Jobseeker's Allowance
• Income-related Employment and Support Allowance
• Universal Credit
• Support for Mortgage Interest

You can check if the payments have been triggered in your postcode here.

A brewing company has been accused of "wiping out" UK heritage after deciding to axe a number of beers from being sold at pubs.

Carlsberg Marston's Brewing Company has announced 11 beers will no longer be served in pubs across the country after reviewing its product line.

The delisted beers are:

• Banks's Mild
• Banks's Sunbeam
• Bombardier
• Eagle IPA
• Jennings Cumberland Ale
• Mansfield Dark Smooth
• Mansfield Original Bitter
• Marston's Old Empire
• Marston's 61 Deep
• Ringwood Boondoggle
• Ringwood Old Thumper

The Campaign for Real Ale said the decision will have a "huge impact" on pubs and pub-goers.

The organisation's cider and perry campaigns director and vice chair Gillian Hough said: "This is another example of a globally owned business wiping out UK brewing heritage.

"This loss of consumer choice is the inevitable outcome of a brewing conglomerate run by accountants and the bottom line.

"This is a sad and disappointing decision that puts both the history and the future of British brewing in jeopardy."

Beer company Carlsberg paid £206mn to take full control of the brewing joint venture it had with the pub operator Marston's in July.

The original joint venture, in which Marston's previously had a 40% stake, was announced in May 2020 with a view to creating one of the UK's biggest brewing, beverage and distribution businesses.

The July deal effectively made Carlsberg the UK's biggest player in cask ale - giving it full ownership of brands such as Marston's Pedigree, Hobgoblin, Wainwright, Young's, Courage, Banks's, Jennings Cumberland Ale and McEwan's.

Months later, Carlsberg Marston announced it would close the 150-year-old Banks's Brewery in Wolverhampton as part of restructuring.

Carlsberg Marston has been asked for comment.

ByOllie Cooper, live news reporter

Welcome to the next part of my series on fitness supplements - where I aim to discover whether they are helping you get ripped, or you're getting ripped off.

I've enlisted the help of performance nutritionistAndrew PettsandArj Thiruchelvam, personal trainer and head coach at Performance Physique, to analyse 12 different supplements every lunchtime over the next two weeks - and today we're looking at mass gainers.

Mass gainers

These products are targeted at people, particularly young men, who are looking to put on size.

You may want to gain weight to get bigger muscles, get stronger or just as a challenge.

The process, known as "bulking" in the gym community, requires a lotof eating to stay in a considerable calorie surplus.

For example, I need around 2,700 calories a day to maintain my weight, known as "maintenance" calories.

When looking to bulk, I need to consume at least 3,300 calories a day if I want to gain 0.5kg a week, or nearly 4,000 if I want to put on 1kg every seven days.

You can calculate your maintenance calories here in just a few seconds.

These may just sound like numbers - but anything over 3,000 calories is surprisingly difficult to eat every day, especially if you've got an eye on what you're putting into your body.

Anyone who has "bulked" before knows the pain of waking up full, bloated and queasy, and needing to get three crumpets and a bowl of protein oats down you before you leave the house.

That's where these mass gainers come in - marketed as a calorie-dense and light powder that can be added to shakes and won't break the bank.

What actually are they?

"Mass gainers are usually protein powders with extra carbohydrate and sometimes creatine included," Andrew explains.

These powders usually contain maltodextrin, a carbohydrate compound that's used in food and drinks as a thickener, sweetener and stabiliser - and in mass gainers to raise their calories.

Marketing suggests that they're "easy calories" - ie, they have a lot of calories for not much room in your stomach, leaving space for more food later.

The problem is that's not really the case.

When we looked at protein powder earlier in the week, we discussed a serving size of 25g, which you could add to a shake or something else.

Most mass gainer products recommend anywhere between 100g-350g a serving.

It doesn't matter what's in it - that amount of powder mixed with milk is going to sit heavy - so that's brings into question whether it's worth pursuing at all, seeing as you may as well just eat food.

On top of that, it makes it rather expensive.

Even with cheaper brands, that's more than a pound a serving, with middle-of-the-road offerings nearly £5 a shake.

Other negatives

Remember, we're looking at a supplement - something that should be added to a balanced diet, not replacing meals.

"My worry is the nutrients you are missing out on by not having a balanced meal in favour of a shake could be detrimental to your overall health," Andrew says, "and if you're full up on a massive shake, then you won't want to eat [real food]."

That's doubly bad - skipping real meals because you're full of the shakes means fewer calories and fewer health benefits.

Alternatives

"A well-rounded meal with vegetables is far more beneficial," Arj says, giving mass gainers a low 4/10.

And if you want extra calories via a shake as a reward after a stint in the gym, Andrew's advice would be to "go for a whey or pea protein (and possibly creatine) shake after a session and eat a balanced meal pre and post-training that includes carbohydrates, protein, fats and lots of colour via veggies and fruits".

The verdict: Somewhat counter-intuitive and expensive

The advice from our experts is clear - just eat real food.

If you're packing on size, we're afraid there's no real way around being in a calorie surplus, but we're sure that there are easier, cheaper and healthier ways of doing it than by forcing large servings of mass gainers down.

You can read the other parts of this series below...

By James Sillars, business and economics reporter

Around half the UK's mortgage holders face paying higher rates over the next three years, the Bank of England has warned as its battle against inflation continues to drag on longer than hoped.

Its latest financial stability report - released twice a year - showed 4.4 million homes were set to refinance on to higher rates.

But it added that around a quarter of borrowers were expected to benefit from lower rates, based on current market pricing, as rates have dropped from the highs seen in 2023.

The central bank's financial policy committee also saw a risk ahead - without directly referring to Donald Trump's warning around raised US trade tariffs when he takes office - that higher trade barriers could hit global growth.

It said such barriers would feed uncertainty about inflation, potentially causing volatility in financial markets.

"A reduction in the degree of international policy cooperation could hinder progress by authorities in improving the resilience of the financial system and its ability to absorb future shocks," the report said.

When it came to the UK specifically, the Bank said that its latest stress tests of the UK banking system had raised no concerns.

The report was released against a backdrop of weak expectations for a third interest rate cut this year when the Bank's rate-setting committee meets in a few weeks' time.

Just 13% of financial market participants expect a reduction to 4.5% on 19 December.

That is because all the data the Bank's relies on, to judge whether a cut to borrowing costs is appropriate, contains red flags.

The headline measure of inflation is back above the monetary policy committee's 2% target at 2.3% following a sharp leap from 1.7% in October due to rising energy costs.

Some other stubborn elements include prices for services.

Another stumbling block has come from the pace of wage growth, which the Bank fears will stoke demand in the economy, and therefore price growth as a result.

There have been no dissenters on the future path for rates, if recent remarks by Bank rate-setters are anything to go by.

All have spoken of the need for a "gradual" approach.

That does not bode well for millions of new borrowers - and those whose loans are tied to Bank rate - though deals for things like fixed rate mortgages have eased in line with the two interest rate cuts announced by the Bank to date in 2024.

Separate figures released earlier in the morning by the Bank suggested confidence remained that borrowing costs were on a downward path, however, as mortgage approvals and lending rose in October.

The number of mortgages approved was at its highest level since August 2022, the data showed.

However, a slight drop in demand for consumer credit and higher savings rates also suggested continued caution over the slowing economic outlook.

It is further evidence of caution among households in the run-up to the budget, which, the government had warned, would be "tough".

ByJames Sillars, business and economics reporter

Oil prices are on course to end the week 3% down.

Brent crude is trading at $72 a barrel, in a move that should help arrest recent upwards ticks in fuel pump costs.

The easing this week has mainly been driven by the Israel-Hezbollah ceasefire.

That has calmed fears of a wider Middle East conflict that could disrupt global supplies.

Underlining the lack of activity due to the US Thanksgiving holiday yesterday, with Black Friday also allowing for a long weekend across the Atlantic, the FTSE 100 is off to a flat start.

It is up by less than a point at 8,281.

A lack of data and corporate results means there is little direction.

Shares of Direct Line were a further 2% up, following a hike of 41% yesterday, on the back of its rejection of a takeover by its larger insurance rival Aviva.

That followed a report by the FT suggesting Aviva was in direct contact with major Direct Line investors.

It could signal a hostile approach ahead.

Nando's has announced plans to open over a dozen more restaurants this financial year after a boost in sales - despite some "uncertainty".

The chicken chain said "strong customer demand" has led to sales surpassing pre-pandemic levels.

Rob Papps, Nando's group chief executive, said that although the firm was working against an "uncertain" backdrop, it was pushing forward with investment - including the opening of 14 new restaurants.

Sites have already opened in Edinburgh, Newcastle, Doncaster, Taplow, Bognor, Watford, Northampton and Belfast.

The company opened 17 restaurants in the year to February 2024 - 11 in the UK and Ireland.

Mr Papps warned that "despite the improved sales performance", Nando's was facing "ongoing cost pressure" due to energy, labour and food price rises.