Society

In her statement to the House of Commons, Theresa May said that the man responsible for yesterday’s attack was British-born and had previously been investigated by MI5 ‘in relation to concerns about violent extremism’. However, May stressed that, ‘The case is historic—he was not part of the current intelligence picture.’  Now, the fact that the attacker was known to the security services will lead to questions about why a closer watch wasn’t being kept on him. But there is, frankly, a volume problem here. The number of radicalised individuals is now so large — there are several thousand Islamist extremists being monitored by MI5 — that the security services have

On this week’s podcast, we consider how refugees could be better aided, whether David Cameron might be envious of George Osborne’s ‘retirement’, and why getting trolled can be good for your career. First, as the government ends the Dubs amendment scheme, we ask whether there are better solutions to the refugee crisis. Paul Collier writes this week’s cover piece, arguing against camps and in favour of getting refugees into jobs, as soon as humanely possible. Paul joins the podcast this week, along with Kevin Watkins CEO of Save the Children. As Paul writes in the magazine: “Refugees nowadays do not have the luxury of a short-term solution. The problems they are fleeing are likely to

There’s an episode of the TV political drama The West Wing which focuses on the raising of the retirement age. After much to-ing and fro-ing it’s decided that the subject is too toxic to tackle and so it is dropped from the President’s agenda. If only art mirrored life. A new report suggests that the UK state pension age should rise to 68 by 2039 instead of the previously planned 2046. John Cridland, former director-general of the Confederation of British Industry and the author of the government-commissioned study, also rules out ‘early access’ to the state pension. The state pension age is already due to rise to 67 for both men and women

The clock’s ticking to shield your savings and investments from the taxman for the 2016/17 tax year, which ends on Wednesday 5 April. But if you’re quick, there’s still time to to take advantage of tax relief that could save you thousands of pounds. Here’s a reminder of the key allowances to make the most of before they disappear – and what the experts have to say about them. Pensions ‘You should look to maximise your pension contributions before the end of the tax year,’ says Patrick Connolly, a certified financial planner at Chase de Vere. ‘Pension contributions benefit from initial tax relief at somebody’s marginal rate of income tax.