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UK homeowners face higher bills for renovation work as builders grapple with soaring material costs and shortages of essentials ranging from concrete and timber to taps and roof tiles in a booming housing market. “It is a bit like going to Sainsbury’s and them not having any bread, milk or eggs in,” said Paul Bence, …

When a lorry ploughed into a row of telephone poles on an Oxfordshire highway in March, an entire village was cut off from the outside world. It wasn’t until three weeks later that phone lines and broadband were reinstated in Rousham, near Bicester. Only gradually did residents then realise that they had been reconnected to …

The average cost of insuring an electric car in the UK is £45 less than the cost of covering a petrol or diesel car, according to research from the website Comparethemarket.com. Analysis of annual premiums in the first three months of the year showed electric car drivers were charged an average of £566, while petrol …

Lockdown spurred some people to start yoga, crack on with DIY or watch more Netflix. For others, it prompted them to splash out on their very own green oasis. Owen Gardner, 46, and his wife, Anya, 48, who live in Farnborough in Hampshire, decided to buy 2.2 hectares (5.5 acres) of woodland in Surrey last …

Gary Lineker’s political tweets could help the presenter avoid a £4.9m tax bill, as part of a continuing dispute about whether he should be classed as a freelance worker for the BBC and BT Sport. The Match of the Day host is involved in a long-running legal case over whether he owes substantial back taxes …