Mortgage approvals a third higher in November than last year

Mortgage approvals in Britain were more than a third higher in November than a year earlier as government subsidies for homebuyers helped the property recovery gather pace.

UK looks ill-prepared if a global currency war breaks out

Rumours of war are in the air. Currency war, that is. The US treasury has forged an alliance with Brussels to attack Germany's beggar-thy-neighbour approach to the rest of the eurozone.