Huw Pill warns combined effect of national insurance and minimum wage rises have ‘acute’ effect on youth employment

The negative effect of a combined increase in employers’ taxes and minimum wages has been “particularly acute” for young people, the Bank of England’s chief economist has warned.

Huw Pill said on Tuesday that the increase in national insurance contributions (NICs) from April last year and the government’s efforts to equalise the “national living wage” had caused a particular problem for young people trying to find jobs.

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After an immature winter, Harry Brook's mature and majestic century against Pakistan proved he is England's leader for the future, writes Matthew Henry.

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New Vic, Newcastle-under-Lyme
The cast in this four-person capsule telling of the Conan Doyle thriller bring vigour and charm but it’s hard to discern any point to the exercise

To get the measure of how tiresome this Sherlock Holmes adaptation is, you just have to think of its antecedents. The joke is that there are only four actors to represent the famous detective, his sidekick John Watson, various members of the Baskerville family, plus servants, neighbours and yokels, not to mention number 221B Baker Street, windswept moorland a country pile. The impossibility of achieving such a task comes at the expense of theatre itself: the shaky props, the hasty costume changes and the over-stretched stage manager.

Laughing at the medium is an old idea. But when, say, Victoria Wood did it in Acorn Antiques, she had a reason. Yes, daytime TV soaps were an easy target for satire, but a target nonetheless. And when the National Theatre of Brent attempted two-man epics such as Wagner’s Ring Cycle or The Messiah, the crazy ambition was funny in itself.

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Boxing greats Manny Pacquiao and Floyd Mayweather agree a professional rematch at Sphere in Las Vegas in September.

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Arsenal passed the north London derby test with flying colours as Premier League title race looks likely to go to the wire, says chief football writer Phil McNulty

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Scotland captain Sione Tuipulotu hails his side's "ugly" Six Nations victory in Cardiff as they earn a fourth straight win over Wales for the first time in 99 years.

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Philanthropist and mother of Elisabeth, James and Lachlan Murdoch died at home in Palm Beach, Florida

The author and philanthropist Anna Murdoch-Mann, the ex-wife of the Australian media tycoon Rupert Murdoch, died at her home in Palm Beach, Florida, on Tuesday. She was 81.

Murdoch-Mann’s death was reported Friday by the New York Post, one of her ex-husband’s media properties.

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