Lincoln City became the first non-league club since Queens Park Rangers in 1914 to win a place in the FA Cup quarter-finals. But what happened in 1914?
— There were only 40 league clubs and QPR won a bye through the early rounds.
— They drew 2-2 with Bristol City before winning 2-0 in a replay.
— They beat Swansea and Birmingham (2-1 each) to reach the quarter-finals, where Liverpool beat them 2-1.
— Liverpool lost the final 1-0 to Burnley, the team Lincoln beat last weekend.
— That final was the last held at the Crystal Palace, which had been its venue since 1895.
Mega mergers
Unilever rejected a £115 billion takeover offer from Kraft Heinz. What happened after huge mergers that did go through?
—Vodafone paid £112 billion for German telecoms giant Mannesmann in 2000 but suffered hefty related losses.
— RBS paid £49 billion for Dutch bank ABN Amro in 2007, leading to its emergency bailout by the government.
— AOL paid $165 billion (then £82 billion) for Time Warner in 2000. It was a disaster and they demerged in 2009.
— Kraft Heinz was itself merged less than two years ago. In July 2015 the combined company was worth $46 billion and its share price was $77. This week it was $96.
Raising questions
The government proposed letting companies use the Consumer Prices Index (CPI) instead of the Retail Prices Index (RPI) as a basis for rises in defined-benefit pension schemes. What would a pension starting at £10,000 a year be worth now?
King Charles and Harry won’t be reconciling any time soon
RETIREMENT
CPI RISE
5 years ago
£10,718
10 years ago
£12,580
15 years ago
£13,758
20 years ago
£14,653
25 years ago
£16,514
Source: ONS
Going rates
A controversial business rates revaluation will give some High Street shops larger bills and some Amazon distribution centres lower ones. How much does it cost to set up a small shop?
Modern irritations seem to come in threes. No sooner do you trip over a Lime bike ‘parked’ on its side in the middle of the pavement than you discover that the self-checkout in the Co-op has a handwritten note stating ‘out of order’ taped to it and the man in front of you in the
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