Martin Wolf (and others) rightly look on the prospect of a trade war with foreboding (Opinion, November 11).

But in asking ourselves how we got here, we cannot ignore the politicians and commentators who relentlessly (and wrongly) blamed trade for every economic harm to voters; who mindlessly bandied about phrases like neoliberal hyperglobalisation, without bothering to distinguish between loss of competitiveness and actual unfair trade; and who failed to be honest with people about the need for change.

For instance the Biden White House abandoned multilateralism, blocking the only international system for governing trade, and based their policy on the maxim that imports are bad, while telling voters foreign ownership was damaging to US jobs. Their cheerleaders took the same line.

You reap what you sow, and that is what is now happening.

John Alty
Former Permanent Secretary, UK Department for International Trade
London E9, UK

Joe Biden is right in urging Democrats to stop the blame game and move to reconciliation (Report, November 8). While Democrats also need to do much needed introspection, they should heed Biden’s advice and start working with Donald Trump on a few issues where there is room for agreement.

Immigration is one such issue. American voters clearly sided with Donald Trump. They do not accept illegal border crossing under the guise of asylum seeking as an acceptable way to enter the US. Democrats need to concede that those showing up on the southern border are predominantly economic, not political refugees. Most do not need to be entered in a lengthy asylum adjudication process. What they need instead is a quick hearing with border agents who are authorised to deny entry on the spot. Some in the party would call such an approach harsh. But that is what the voters want and expect.

Having conceded on the southern border crossings issue, Democrats should work with Trump on expanding the legal immigration system, focusing on ensuring there are workers to meet the continuing needs in not just high skill industry but also in agriculture, healthcare, senior care, etc. Orderly migration at an expanded scale should be the goal.

The second area for co-operation should be legalisation of the so-called “dreamers”, undocumented immigrant youth brought to the US as minors. They have been waiting for action far too long.

Perhaps Trump would now be receptive to the idea since the recent election has indicated that not all of them are destined to be inevitable Democrats.

Inder Sud
Reston, VA, US

MANY of us put in a 40-hour week for a less than rewarding salary – but one savvy man has revealed how he earns up to £6,000 for just 12 hours of work a month. 

Rick Woodrow, 30, from Colchester, has spent the last 12 years building an impressive collection of ‘90s and ‘00s designer pieces, streetwear, and sportswear.

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Rick’s eye for vintage fashion has earned him 157,000 followers on Instagram, who buy his vintage goods in their droves, earning him a tidy profit. 

“I got into charity shopping when I was 18 and it was there that I developed a love for vintage and secondhand clothing,” Rick remembers.

“Finding unique pieces that no one else would have and the buzz of finding something amazing amongst a load of tat is what keeps me digging even 12 years later. 

“I remember finding a Nike t-shirt in a charity shop for 99p and selling it on ebay for £20.

“I realised then that this would be a serious business to get into.”

After his first success with that fateful Nike t-shirt, Rick grew his vintage empire from his bedroom in the evenings, while working his 9 to 5 day job as an estate agent.

Going full-time freelance

After selling clothes online for six months, and making more money working three or four hours in the evenings than he was making in his full-time role, he realised leaving to build his online business was the sensible thing to do.

So, he quit his job and created his own website, promoted his items on Facebook groups, attended pop-ups all over the country and grew his social media presence.

He sources items from Italy, Asia and the UK, travelling regularly to restock and often buying products from his followers. 

Rick now mainly sells his items on his own website and on Whatnot, the leading live-stream shopping platform(@RicksRetro). 

“I go live on Whatnot between three and five times a week,” Rick explains.

“I love it as it’s a really easy way to display my products and it’s nice to engage with an audience. 

“Often, online selling can be monotonous for a seller so it’s nice to have a community that I’ve built up and will tune in and have a laugh with.” 

Rather than passively watching through a screen, he is involved with the community that he’s built, even finding personal connections with them – including one time finding a long-lost cousin.

Rick attributes his financial success to doing plenty of research and being well-prepared before beginning his live-streaming sessions. 

“It’s all in the prep,” he explained.

“I start by sourcing high quality, desirable items that I know my client base like. 

“I then make engaging videos to build suspense and often run deals to entice customers. 

“Once on-stream I try to remain fun, fair and fast. You have to be fun, likeable and engaging to retain people’s interest. 

“By being fair I am prepared to budge on prices and also happy to pander to customers’ needs and asks,” he added.

“You also need to be fast: there’s no time to dilly dally. Show an item, show the next, show the next.” 

The key to getting more sales

Holding a viewer’s attention is crucial in getting more sales, according to Rick. 

“When I show an item, I will banter with viewers and maybe even tell a brief story about where I sourced it or share knowledge relating to the item – but I always try to keep it brief,” he adds.

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“If I have 100 people viewing, most likely 90% aren’t interested in the item I’m displaying, so you don’t want to drag it out because that’s how you lose viewers.” 

With research from Whatnot showing that 70% of Brits regularly shop vintage or secondhand, rising to 84% among 18-to-28 year olds, it’s no surprise that Rick is sure the vintage clothing market will continue to grow. 

“People are conscious of the environmental impact of fast fashion, so are choosing to shop sustainably rather than contribute to mass-produced items that eventfully hit landfill sites,” he explains.

“Shopping vintage is also cheaper than buying the brand-new equivalent. It also allows you to wear unique clothes that you won’t see everyone else wearing.”

The rise of vintage coupled with new selling platforms is offering entrepreneurial types new opportunities to flog their favourite items for a profit.

Rick highly recommends live-streaming as a way to make an impressive income, and says building an online presence and knowing your stuff are the key ingredients to becoming a success. 

“In this industry, you have to adapt to what’s hot,” he concluded.

“Assess the market, look at what’s hot and try to find those items for a good price. 

“Also, create popping social channels. Everyone is online now and online is limitless. 

“Make cool, engaging videos and watch new followers roll in.

“Also – do your research on identifying real versus fake. Know how much an item sells for before buying something you’re not clued up on.

“Live-streaming is the next new thing. This is how the kids are shopping and it’s the kids that keep this industry alive.”

Do you need to pay tax on items sold on Vinted?

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QUICK facts on tax from the team at Vinted…

• The only time that an item might be taxable is if it sells for more than £6,000 and there is profit (sells for more than you paid for it). Even then, you can use your capital gains tax-free allowance of £3,000 to offset it.
• Generally, only business sellers trading for profit (buying goods with the purpose of selling for more than they paid for them) might need to pay tax. Business sellers who trade for profit can use a tax-free allowance of £1,000, which has been in place since 2017.
• More information here: vinted.co.uk/no-changes-to-taxes

The struggling genetic testing company 23andMe says it will cut 40% of its workforce, or 200 jobs, as it fights for survival.

The once-popular DNA-testing site will also halt work on therapies it was developing.

Last year, the company said hackers had managed to gain access to personal information of millions of its users.

23andMe’s share price has fallen by more than 70% this year, as its co-founder and chief executive Anne Wojcicki tries to turn the business around.

The company said it expects to incur one-off costs of $12m (£9.3m), including severance pay, for the plan that will result in savings of $35m.

“We are taking these difficult but necessary actions as we restructure 23andMe and focus on the long-term success of our core consumer business and research partnerships,” Ms Wojcicki said.

The company also said it is considering what to do with the therapies it had in development, including licensing or selling them.

23andMe is a giant of the growing ancestor-tracing industry. It offers genetic testing from DNA, with ancestry breakdown and personalised health insights.

In December last year, 23andMe confirmed that hackers had accessed details of about 6.9 million of its users.

In some cases this included family trees, birth years and geographic locations, the company said. But the stolen data did not include DNA records, it said.

Its customers included famous names, from rapper Snoop Dogg to multi-billionaire investor Warren Buffett.

LAW firm Harcus Parker is revisiting the UK’s costliest consumer scandal with the belief that lenders owe a further £18 billion in compensation for a new PPI claim. 

The first court hearing for its claim will take place in October and, if successful, Harcus Parker expects the average claimant to receive between £2,500 and £3,000 in compensation. In some extreme cases, customers might receive up to £10,000.

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Find out if you’re eligible for compensation

You can find out if you’re eligible for compensation by filling out this form on Harcus Parker’s website. 

While the deadline for mis-sold PPI claims closed in 2019, this new case is different.

This deadline was for mis-sold PPI, not for the commission which was sold on these policies. Here’s how it works…

What is PPI?

PPI – an abbreviation of Payment Protection Insurance – was a form of cover sold alongside credit cards, mortgages, loans and other lending.

It promised to cover the cost of your borrowing if you lost access to your regular income – for example, if you fell ill or were made redundant. 

Depending on the policy, it could cover the entire cost of the credit or just a set number of repayments. 

Like other forms of insurance, these policies were bought by paying a premium.

Lenders would either add the cost of the premiums to your credit or make it payable through a separate fee. 

PPI was first sold in the 1970s, according to the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), the industry watchdog.

But it was in the 1990s and 2000s when the largest number of policies were sold. 

In 2009, the sale of single-premium PPI policies was banned. 

How was PPI mis-sold?

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Check your eligibility for PPI compensation for free

When it was legal to sell PPI, most of these policies were mis-sold. 

Lenders would often add the price of this cover to their customers’ credit without informing them.

In some cases, lenders lied and told customers PPI was compulsory.  

In other examples, some people were sold a policy they were never eligible to claim under. 

Around 65 million PPI policies were sold in the UK, and this resulted in banks paying out around £38 billion in compensation to their customers. 

This makes it the UK’s costliest consumer scandal – and Harcus Parker believes there are a further six million customers who remain uncompensated. 

Why is the PPI scandal being looked at again? 

PPI was a profitable product for most banks and lenders.

So, they often incentivised their employees to sell these policies by offering decent commissions, with Harcus Parker stating that some lenders were earning around 75% of the price of the policy. 

In other words, for every pound you paid for PPI, your lender was taking 75p in commission.

Since this wasn’t made clear to customers at the time of purchasing their PPI, the law firm believes they should be compensated. 

The banks and credit cards took advantage of their position to secretly profiteer behind your back. This money should be repaid

Spokesperson at Harcus Parker

“For a start, this new claim is easy to understand.

“The banks and credit cards took advantage of their position to secretly profiteer behind your back. This money should be repaid,” said a spokesperson at Harcus Parker. 

To challenge this claim, Harcus Parker is launching a group litigation.

This means it’s representing as many eligible claimants as possible under one challenge to resolve the common issues between them.

This should make processing these claims easier than reviewing the same issues thousands of times. 

So far, over a million people have visited this page, and over 300,000 have joined Harcus Parker’s group litigation. 

We are hoping that this group’s legal action will put an end to PPI claims once-and-for-all in a simple and civilised manner

Damon ParkerSenior partner at Harcus Parker

“We are hoping that this group’s legal action will put an end to PPI claims once-and-for-all in a simple and civilised manner,” said Damon Parker, senior partner at Harcus Parker. 

Martin Lewis, consumer champion and founder of MoneySavingExpert.com, previously said in a podcast that generally he’s against using claims handling firms.

But in this instance, he thinks it’s too complicated for people to handle themselves. 

How this is linked to the Plevin case? 

The legal challenge is closely linked to the Plevin case in 2014. 

You can read more about this case here, but in essence, it ruled in favour of the claimant Susan Plevin against her lender Paragon Personal Finance under the Consumer Credit Act.

She argued she was not properly informed that 72% of her PPI policy was used for commission. 

Did I have PPI and how do I make a claim?

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Join Harcus Parker’s legal challenge

One of the easiest ways to find out if you had PPI, and if you’re eligible for compensation, is to use Harcus Parker’s website. 

The form takes less than 60 seconds to complete and, if you are eligible, you’ll be added to the group claim automatically. 

To make your eligibility check as quick as possible, make sure you have your relevant documents at hand. 

This includes any evidence of the credit agreement you believe had PPI.

Acceptable documents include a credit agreement or statement showing that you paid PPI premiums. 

If you don’t have these documents, you can still check your eligibility with Harcus Parker.

Instead, it’ll reach out to your lender for further details – which may take some time. 

The “no win, no fee” agreement with Harcus Parker

Harcus Parker’s group litigation works on a “no win, no fee” model.

In other words, if the challenge fails, and you don’t earn any compensation, you won’t be charged any fees by the law firm. 

It’s only if it successfully wins back compensation that you’ll pay the company a fee for its services. 

This stands at 35% of your compensation plus VAT.