UK retail sales fell by 1.5% in December in the latest sign that consumers were feeling the strain of falling real pay over the crucial Christmas shopping periodGreg Clark: powers exist to claw back Carillion bonuses Carpetright shares plunge after major profits warningDignity cuts price of funerals amid price warPound edges higher against the dollar to above $1.39 1.32pm GMT Greece has won rare praise today from EU commission’s chief spokesperson, Margaritis Schinas, fuelling hopes that debt relief talks could soon be in the offing. Helena Smith reports from Athens:Four days after MPs endorsed more biting austerity measures and reforms in a rowdy parliamentary vote, Greece’s fiscal progress was roundly applauded by the man more usually associated with tough words for the country. 1.19pm GMT Back in 2015, Yanis Varoufakis said he Alexis Tsipras whether he was “completely stupid”* after the Greek prime minister agreed to a demand by international creditors in for large primary surpluses.Speaking to Parapolitika radio about his time as Greek finance minister, Varoufakis said: I told him: ‘Are you completely stupid? What did you get in return?’ And he said: ‘Oh, did I do something stupid? It’s OK, we’ll take it back’.Varoufakis told Tsipras he was ‘stupid’ to accept surplus goals https://t.co/5WYZxorz68 pic.twitter.com/BnxIgdJ9mG Continue reading…
Via: UK retail sales fall sharply in December – business live
Categories: English News