MARTIN Lewis’ MoneySavingExpert has revealed the best deals on Amazon Prime Day – and the ones unlikely worth your time.

Amazon massive deal day is running for a second day and offers reductions on thousands of items.

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In his popular weekly newsletter from MoneySavingExpert, Mr Lewis highlighted his top five deals.

At the top of the list is the Shark Corded Upright Vacuum Cleaner, which is tailored for pet hair pick up and has anti-odour technology.

The item is selling today for £189.99 and was previously £264.93 on Amazon Prime – meaning a £74.94 save.

The recommended retail price for the item is also £299.99, meaning a whopping £110 save compared buying directly from the Shark online store.

The next item on the list is the Ninja Speedi 10-in-1 air fryer – a multipurpose item which can air fry, grill, steam, bake, slow-cook, and more.

The product was originally £219.99, but is now selling for £129.99, meaning a £89.01 save.

Argos is currently selling the air fryer for £169, meaning at least a 20% saving compared to buying elsewhere.

Not only this, but due to the multipurpose design of the product, buyers could potentially be saving cash on additional products such as a slow cooker, which are selling on ProCook for £49 alone.

Next up on the best deals list is the Apple Pencil (USB-C), which is selling for £64 instead of £79 – almost a 20% reduction.

Mr Lewis’ MSE team said: “This is the cheapest we’ve seen, and it’s the same price as on the July Prime Day.”

They said the next cheapest elsewhere is John Lewis, Argos and Currys where the pen can be bought for £79 – making today’s deal the best around.

Another impressive deal on the MoneySavingExpert list is the Fitbit Versa 4 which was £164 and is now £126.65.

The smart watch is made for keeping up to track with your physical well being, with a built in GPS, heart-rate monitor, and up to 6 days of battery life.

The same Versa 4 model is selling on Argos for £179, and the Google Store for £179.99, meaning at least a 30% save.

MSE said: “This is is the cheapest ever at Amazon. The previous cheapest price was £69.”

The final item on the list is the Ring Intercom, which can send you alerts via your phone or Alexa when a person visits your home.

You can also use it to unlock your home with voice demands.

It was originally selling for £99.99, but can now be bought for almost 60% less at £39.99.

Mr Lewis said the next cheapest offer can be purchased from ScrewFix, at £44.99.

Are Amazon deals all they’re cracked up to be?

However, his newsletter also warned that some deals aren’t as impressive as they seem, with some having sold cheaper in last year’s Prime Deal Day event.

For example, the Amazon Prime GHD original hair straightener seems like a good deal as is cheaper than elsewhere, selling today for £95.99 compared to £111.20 at John Lewis.

However, last July’s Prime Day it was reduced down to £90.24, making it £5.75 more expensive than it has been previously.

The same goes for the Blink outdoor cameras three-pack, a home surveillance kit, which is selling for £85.99 but was £11 cheaper last year.

The Ring Alarm pack, which comes with the Ring Alarm as well as an additional keypad and motion detection software, has generally stayed the same price at £179, and was £20.01 cheaper in May at £159.99.

While the £18.95 Calvin Klein For Him 150ml Eau de Toilette, which has been reduced from £24, was actually the same price in September.

It is, however, currently the cheapest around, with the next cheapest price being £24 from Lookfantastic.

And finally the Logitech High Performance Wired Gaming Mouse was £24.48 last August is now selling for £26.59 as a Brand Day Deal – making it £2.11 more expensive than it was previously.

This is again the cheapest around, however, with the second lowest option being £27.99 at Currys.

Overall, the MoneySavingExpert analysis shows that while a Prime membership can pay off, a deal isn’t always as impressive as it seems.

MSE also noted the disadvantages for non-Prime members, saying: “We’ve noticed numerous cases of Amazon being very cheeky, by raising the price higher than the RRP [recommended retail price] for those who aren’t Prime members.

“When you click on the “non-deal price” it hides the RRP.

“The RRP of this Lenovo IdeaPad is £219.99, but Amazon has raised the price to £250.35 for those who aren’t Prime members, effectively penalising you.”

What is Amazon Prime Day?

Amazon Prime Day is a 48-hour sale event that is taking place this year on October 8 and 9.

The last event was in July 2023, and this October marks the second ever annual event.

It’s exclusively available for Prime members, offering discounts on everything from the latest technology to sought after beauty items and top toys.

Bargain hunters look to score big savings on thousands of items, but it’s important to make sure that the publicised discount is as good as it seems.

How to compare prices

As usual we recommend readers shop around before taking reduced prices as face value.

Harry Rose, Editor of Which? magazine, said: “Amazon Prime Day may seem like the best time to snap up a good deal if you are a Prime member but don’t feel panicked into buying things you don’t need or haven’t budgeted for.

“When looking to buy something new, always do your research first by checking price comparison sites like PriceRunner and CamelCamelCamel, which not only show current prices at multiple retailers but also reveal a product’s pricing history.

“This allows you to work out whether the sale price genuinely represents good value.”

CamelCamelCamel is one of the key tools Mr Lewis references in the MoneySavingExpert article.

The website is exclusive to Amazon and allows shoppers to enter an item’s URL to reveal its price history, and see if it has previously been sold at a lower price.

You can also set up price alerts to let you know when it drops in price again.

That way you can be first in line for the lowest deals.

Other key ways to compare prices include searching for your specific product on a website and toggling in “Sort By” the cheapest items first.

You can then compare website-to-website which retailers are offering the cheapest products on specific products to help you secure the best deal.

Do you have a money problem that needs sorting? Get in touch by emailing money-sm@news.co.uk.

Plus, you can join our Sun Money Chats and Tips Facebook group to share your tips and stories

Four in five pensioners living below or just above the poverty line are set to lose the winter fuel payment under planned benefit cuts.

Earlier this year, Chancellor Rachel Reeves said the payment – worth up to £300 a year – will be scrapped for those not in receipt of pension credit or other means-tested benefits.

New analysis from Age UK suggests 10.7 million pensioners will lose this payment. This includes 82 per cent – equivalent to 2.5 million – of the 3 million pensioners living below or just above the poverty line.

Large numbers of older people who are aged over 80, disabled, living alone, and on low incomes are part of this group.

In the UK, a single pensioner with an income of less than £166 a week, after housing costs, is considered to be living in poverty, according to Trust for London.

This is just under the basic state pension of £169.50 per week. The new state pension is £221.20 a week.

Dixie, 84, is one such pensioner concerned about the changes to the winter fuel payment.

She lives on her own in a small council-run bungalow which she pays £400 a month for in rent.

Although she receives about £400 a month from a BBC pension – where she worked for seven years as a PA in the research and development division – which covers her rent, all other expenses come from the state pension alone.

Speaking to i, the mother of two said: “I pretty much have to live off the state pension which is a struggle.

“Last winter was tricky. My energy bills rose from £37 to £90 which was a huge jump but at least we were getting government support then. This year, we’re going to have to try and survive the winter without the winter fuel payment and bills are still on the up.”

Dixie said the winter fuel payment was “such a relief” when it came in and eased her money worries, which she said are “constant”.

She added: “The heating has already been on this year, but I have to ration it. I have it on for an hour at 2pm, an hour at 6pm, and then half an hour at 8pm. When it’s bitterly cold, it has to be on more, but I really try to avoid putting it on because it’s so expensive.”

The grandmother of five doesn’t have many outgoings and tries to live frugally. She relies on a small car to get her food shopping and to visit her daughter who lives in the countryside, but this is a huge expense.

This year was the first year she had to pay her car insurance monthly because £600 was just too much to pay for in one go as she usually would.

The price of the food shop, which she said has increased from around £30 to £40 a week to about £60 or £70 a week in the last couple of years, is another huge pressure.

“I do manage but the future is a frightening thought for me, particularly with energy bills still rising. It’s quite hard to manage on just the state pension and I could really do with some more government support.

“Christmas is fast approaching, and I don’t know how I’m going to afford it. I am a great-grandmother and have five grandchildren so a lot of people to buy for. They don’t expect anything, but I wouldn’t want them to go without.

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“Money is a constant worry hanging over me all the time.”

Age UK has urged the Government to keep winter fuel payments as a universal payment this year, pending the spending review in the spring.

If they choose to press on, however, it said that at the “very least” they must urgently bring in measures to greatly expand the numbers who will still receive winter fuel payments by automatically giving it to those receiving other benefits.

“This would be a partial solution but won’t help every older person on low incomes that the charity is worried about, so further help would also be required for some pensioners who only receive a low proportion of the full state pension,” it added.

Caroline Abrahams CBE, charity director at Age UK, said: “Our analysts used the most up to date data available, and their conclusions are stark. Bluntly, they show that the great majority of pensioners whose incomes take them either below the poverty line or only just above it – about four in every five, will lose their winter fuel payment following the Government’s policy change.

“There will be widespread agreement that ministers must act in the Budget to protect them – and the best way for them to do so by far is to retain winter fuel payment as a universal entitlement this winter, before giving their policy options careful consideration as part of the spending review next spring.

“However, if the Government is dead-set on pressing ahead, the very least they should do is to greatly expand the numbers of pensioners who will receive a winter fuel payment beyond the small group they have so far said will retain it.”

The Department for Work and Pensions said: “We are committed to supporting pensioners – with millions set to see their state pension rise by up to £1,700 this Parliament through our commitment to the triple lock.

“Over a million pensioners will still receive the winter fuel payment, and our drive to boost pension credit take-up has already seen a 152 per cent increase in claims. Many others will also benefit from the £150 warm home discount to help with energy bills over winter while our extension of the household support fund will help with the cost of food, heating and bills.”

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Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.

In recognition of the “negative emotional baggage” that can come after a relationship break-up, Ricardo Dublado, chief executive of Cebu Century Plaza Hotel in the Philippines, last year unveiled an unusual new staff policy: five paid days of heartbreak leave.

The time off, which can be taken annually provided the break-up is with a different person each year, was inspired by Dublado’s own experience. In the Philippines the idea is catching on: a parliamentary bill in February proposed that any worker going through a romantic break-up should be eligible for up to three days of unpaid leave. “Studies reveal the substantial toll break-ups take on individuals, affecting their emotional and mental wellbeing, leading to decreased productivity, absenteeism and higher healthcare costs,” said Congressman Lordan Suan.

Employers across the world have increasingly sought to make concessions for their workers’ personal lives, offering wellbeing days, flexible work and, in some cases, counselling services.

Some global companies may already encourage heartbreak leave under a different name. In the pandemic, employers introduced time off for wellbeing to differentiate themselves from competitors or give staff a discreet chance to look after their mental health or care for their families. Many continued, including software group Adobe, which offers six wellbeing days a year. Virgin Money gives five.

In the Philippines, Effel Santillan, human resources manager at Harbor Star Shipping Services, said employees suffering from lost love were generally allowed to take time off on a discretionary basis. “At the end of the day, the manager takes responsibility.”

UK employers including Tesco, the supermarket chain, and Metro Bank have targeted break-up support to families, signing up to the Parents Promise, created by Positive Parenting Alliance, an advocacy group. Employers make commitments to help parents who are separating from each other, including giving them a chance to work flexibly and helping them access counselling. In return, they receive support from the alliance.

Positive Parenting Alliance founder James Hayhurst wants “employers to recognise [separation] as a life event. If you’re going to separate, the employer can help you do it well.”

PwC, a signatory, said that while it did not have a specific divorce policy, working arrangements were designed to support big life events. “Everyone’s situation is unique, so we actively listen to our people to understand their needs,” Anne Hurst, the firm’s inclusion lead, said. “Our goal is to create a supportive environment that helps our people balance their personal and professional lives.”

In one 2023 study by researchers from the University of Minnesota, 44 per cent of respondents said going through divorce had a negative effect on work. People whose marriages ended reported an inability to focus or sleep and a tendency to break down in tears. “Crippling depression is slowing down my ability to socialise with my co-workers and supervisor,” said one.

However, a sizeable minority — 39 per cent — had a different experience, saying divorce was positive, freeing “up time and energy” and providing an opportunity for renewal.

The study suggested offering some help to people struggling with separation. Flexible scheduling or remote work, it said, may help employees manage “divorce-related appointments and also provide space to work . . . without placing an undue and unnecessary strain on emotional regulatory capacities”.

In the Philippines, meanwhile, Suan’s bill could face a tough hearing. Laws in the country do not guarantee time off for mental health problems on top of a statutory minimum of five days’ leave. The People Management Association of the Philippines, a professional body for human resources, has said that wellness leave is an “additional expense and additional interruption to business operations”.

Another question is whether heartbroken employees would take leave at all. Customer services worker Abigail Marquez, 27, said that in the event of a break-up she would not take advantage of the benefit as proposed in the bill, because it was unpaid. For some workers, protecting their income still takes priority over their heartache — or, as Marquez put it, “no money, no honey”.

Good morning. James Cleverly took a giant leap towards the final stage of the Conservative leadership contest yesterday. But who will join him, and should he try and game the outcome?

Pick your battles

James Cleverly won the third ballot of the Conservative leadership contest. The former home secretary secured 39 votes, pulling ahead of Robert Jenrick, who shed two votes between the second and third ballots, ending up with 31 votes, while Kemi Badenoch picked up two votes to reach 30. Tom Tugendhat, who got 20 votes, has been eliminated. Only two contestants will go through to a final vote by the party membership.

The vast majority of Tugendhat’s supporters will, if my contact book is remotely representative, swing behind Cleverly in the next round, while Jenrick and Badenoch are now in a close fight for the other members’ slot. Cleverly will have more than enough votes going spare tomorrow to choose his opponent. Which one should he pick?

On the one hand, according to both the ConservativeHome members survey and YouGov’s party members poll, Cleverly would beat Robert Jenrick but lose to Badenoch. One argument is that he should make sure he faces Jenrick because he is, on paper, much more likely to beat him.

I’m dubious about this one, though. In the past, both ConservativeHome and YouGov have overestimated the strength of the Tory right. I see no compelling reason to believe either survey has fixed that problem, and if Cleverly’s strength is being underestimated to anything like the degree that Jeremy Hunt and Rishi Sunak were in 2019 and 2022, he will comfortably beat either Jenrick or Badenoch.

On the other hand, Jenrick’s campaign team has shown itself to be more aggressive, more effective and more willing to go into the gutter. Cleverly may well have more to fear from a month in which the former immigration minister’s slick campaign machine attacks him, than one in which Badenoch wonders out loud about which part of the British state she thinks is too flabby and too generous.

Cleverly’s leadership prospects will be better served if he defeats his more formidable rival, which, according to the polls is Badenoch.

I’m also dubious about this one, because it may be that YouGov and ConservativeHome have fixed their over-representation problem and that by picking Badenoch he is starting a fight he can’t win.

My general view: life is too short to play silly tactical games. Given the parliamentary party is not large, at 121 MPs, you can always end up in a situation where the campaign tries to lend votes to a preferred opponent, some individual MPs freelance and you end up finishing third in embarrassing circumstances. (In 1990, the organisers of John Major, Michael Heseltine and Douglas Hurd’s campaigns for the Tory leadership met up for dinner afterwards to compare the size of their various promises: they discovered that about a third of their colleagues had lied through their teeth.) When you only have 121 votes to play with, you’re better off just maximising your own authority, because if you win, you will need it.

Now try this

(Georgina) Yesterday Stephen and I saw the play The Other Place, which comes with the subtitle After Antigone. It grapples with death and the aftermath. In a taut 80 minutes, the reinvented tragedy excels at ramping up the tension as the characters move within a newly renovated, sorrow ridden house, but the pace partly leaves some of the more problematic family dynamics feeling a little forced and under-developed.

Runs to November 9 at the National Theatre.

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