Of no account
Nigel Farage claimed that his bank has told him it will be closing his accounts, without giving him a reason, although he suspects it is because of his political views. Is it possible to live without a bank account?
– According to the Financial Conduct Authority, there are 1.3 million adults in Britain who are ‘unbanked’.
– A third of them do not want to have a bank account, sometimes because they have got into trouble with debt in the past.
– There are 7.45 million ‘basic’ bank accounts designed to offer essential functionality for handling payments, without offering credit and other services.
Around the houses
How is the volume of housing sales holding up across the UK?
May 2016 83,000
May 2017 96,490
May 2018 95,340
May 2019 97,050
May 2020 46,160
May 2021 102,980
May 2022 99,760
May 2023 74,360
Source: HMRC
Independent thinking
Orkney council debated a motion to look at ‘alternative forms of government’, which could include becoming a crown dependency, a self-governing territory – or joining Norway (assuming Norway would want it).
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