Unemployment in the UK has dropped to the lowest levels witnessed in more than a decade, as the strength of hiring helped to push up pay growth.The unemployment rate slid to 5pc in the quarter to April, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS). The fall came as a surprise to economists, who had anticipated that the jobless rate would remain unchanged at 5.1pc. Employment was also strong, rising by 55,000 in the three-month period, if below the 60,000 expected by

Fifty years ago this week Barclaycard issued the first credit cards in the UK. Half a century on, consumers are used to a range of convenient ways to pay, but back in 1966 there was a feeling of change when people tried to brandish their exciting new plastic cards. The company sent out some 1.25 million plastic cards to Barclays customers from 29 June 1966 and while some sent them back or never used them but many embraced the new way of paying. At the time, the bank said: "[B

If you want to know what happens when a country leaves the European Union, you might as well ask the Inuit. Greenland is the only other country ever to have left the EU - or the European Economic Community (EEC) as it was back in 1985. Residents of Greenland - including the Inuit - appear to have done well out of leaving, but then their only export is fish. So can residents of the UK expect to net similar gains, or are our personal finances destined for the deep freeze? The P