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We are proud to offer the largest Ranieri & Olympic motor boat fleet in the area of Zakynthos island. We provide only new luxury motor boats (2013-2014-2015) with center consoles and electrical power-trim. Providing personal service from first contact through delivery and then return of the boat. Our qualified staff will teach you the basis rules of driving and handling a motorboat. We are located at the Keri Lake Main Road on the west part of Laganas bay, in the zone C of the National Marine Park of Zakynthos (N.M.P.Z). Keri Lake is the best start point for people who want to rent a boat and explore the ecosystem of National Marine Park of Zakynthos. Give yourself the opportunity to be captain of a Ranieri or an Olympic motor boat and explore the dozens of beaches that are inaccessible by other means and why not discover your own private isolated beach. Rent a boat and enjoy Marathonisi, the famous turtle island of Laganas bay. Sail safely around the sea area of the National Marine Park of Zakynthos, watch and take unforgettable photos of the sea turtles Caretta – Caretta and the Mediterranean seal Monachus – Monachus. Explore the beautiful and wild west sea caves and the famous Keri caves.

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More Things To Do in Zante

Zanteisland

• General information
• How to reach Zakynthos
• Zakynthos' maps
• Local food and recipes
• Dictionary english-greek
• 1 - Shipwreck
• 2 - Marathonissi
• 3 - Kerì's lighthouse
• 4 - Porto Limnionas
• 5 - Kerì Caves
• 6 - Bochali
• 7 - Blue Caves
• 8 - Night life
• 9 - Gerakas
• Western coast
• Eastern coast
• Turtles bay
• National Marine Park of Zakynthos
• Map and rules of the marine park
• Caretta-Caretta turtles
• Strofades islands
• Restaurants
• Fun & Sports
• Shops & traditional products
• Pubs & snack bars
• Car/scooter/boat rentals
• Alykes and Alikanas
• Keri and Limni Keri
• Villages in the north
• History of Zakynthos
• Churches and Monasteries
• Historical places
• Shipwreck and the west coast
• Keri Caves and Marathonissi
• Vassilikos and the south
• Blue caves and the wild north
• Between Alykes and Tsilivi
• Zakynthos town and Bochali

• RESTAURANTS

The Big Blue Motorboats Rental - Limni Keri

DESCRIPTION

Ranieri shark 17, ranieri shark 19.

• To reach private beaches and caves
• Shower on board
• No boat licence is required
• Engine 30 hp
• Safety-New satellite location finder system

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Location and map.

You will find us on the seaside of Limni Keri.

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Contact details, the big blue motorboats rental, +30 694 4751040 / +30 694 7819803, organize your holiday:.

• PUBS & SNACK BAR

Zakynthos island:

• general information
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• marine park

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Renting Luxury Motor boats Is What We Do! We are proud to offer the largest Ranieri & Olympic motorboat fleet in the area of Zakynthos island. We provide only new luxury Ranieri & Olympic motorboats (2013/2014/2015) with center consoles and electrical power-trim. Providing personal service from first contact through delivery and then return of the boat. Our qualified staff will teach you the basis rules of driving and handling a motorboat. We are located at the Keri Lake Main Road on the west part of Laganas bay, in the zone C of the National Marine Park of Zakynthos (N.M.P.Z). Keri Lake is the best start point for people who want to rent a boat and explore the ecosystem of National Marine Park of Zakynthos.

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Money blog: 'Should I top up my national insurance and could it really get me £6,000 extra?'

Welcome to the Money blog, your place for personal finance and consumer news and tips. Today's posts include a Money Problem on the benefits or otherwise of topping up your national insurance. Leave your problem or consumer dispute below - remember to include contact details.

Monday 19 August 2024 09:30, UK

• Energy bills to rise 9% this winter - forecast
• Kellogg's shrinks size of Corn Flakes

Essential reads

• Money Problem : 'Should I top up my national insurance and could it really get me £6,000 extra?'
• Couples on how they split finances when one earns more than other
• Best of the Money blog - an archive of features

Tips and advice

• All discounts you get as student or young person
• Save up to half price on top attractions with this trick
• Fines for parents taking kids out of school increasing

Ask a question or make a comment

By Jimmy Rice, Money blog editor

Every Monday the Money team answers your Money Problems or consumer disputes. Find out how to submit yours at the bottom of this post. Today's question is...

I'm 62 and have 10 years of gaps in my national insurance record as I worked for my parents' import business without a fixed wage during most of my twenties and thirties, and had periods of unemployment in my fifties. What are the benefits of topping up before I retire in a few years and can I really get £6,000 added to my pension for every £900 I put in?  Tony, Palmers Green

This is a question many people approaching retirement will be asking themselves, Tony.

First, it's worth us outlining why your national insurance record matters and who can top up.

If you reached pension age after 6 April 2016 you need 10 years of NI contributions to get a state pension - and 35 years to get the full £221.20 a week. Before that 2016 date, it's 30 years.

People may have gaps in their record for numerous reasons including: being unemployed, on a low income, self-employed, having worked abroad, or having taken a break from work to raise a family.

Ordinarily, you can pay voluntary contributions for the past six years - but currently there's an extended period meaning a man born after 5 April 1951 or a woman born after 5 April 1953 can pay voluntary contributions to make up for gaps between April 2006 and April 2016.

The deadline for this is 5 April 2025.

How much could topping up earn you?

It would cost £907.40 to cover all NI contributions from the 2023-24 tax year - each year is different but this is a good guide. Going back to your question, if you went on to enjoy 20 years of retirement, you would get back £6,000. It would take just three years to get your £907.40 back.

Who might want to think twice?

Just to stress, as always, that this post is not intended as financial advice. Instead, we're outlining things you should think about.

The first thing anyone should consider is if they'll fill gaps naturally through working - in which case there'd be no point topping up. Given your age, Tony, it could be an option for you - but check your state pension forecast  here .

There are lots of other things to factor in and you should seek independent financial advice.

Wealth management firm  Charles Stanley  says a key consideration is whether a higher pension would either:

• Drag you into paying tax when you retire;
• Mean you no longer qualify for certain benefits.

"You might not benefit from the full amount of extra money as some will be taken in income tax," they say.

"In addition, boosting state pension income can affect entitlements to means-tested benefits. Notably, if you claim pension credit, which tops up the income of very low earners over state pension age, any increase in the state pension would normally reduce an award. This often means that you would be no better off paying voluntary contributions."

Another consideration - and this isn't something most people want to contemplate - is that if you don't think you'll live long enough into retirement (you might be in ill-health or have a terminal illness) to benefit from topping up, then it's probably not worth it.

People should also look into whether they could transfer contributions from their spouse or civil partner .

One more way to top up

Which? advises: "Ensure that you are getting any NI credits you are entitled to before contemplating paying voluntary NI contributions for a particular year. 

"These are free and will apply, say, if you are caring for a child in the family as a parent or grandparent, claiming statutory sick pay or looking after a sick/disabled person."

If you're below state pension age, you can contact the Future Pension Centre to see if you'll benefit from topping up - they're on 0800 731 0175. If you already claim the state pension, call the Pension Service on 0800 731 0469.

Again, before taking any action you should seek independent financial advice.

If you do decide to top up, you'll need a Government Gateway account.

On there, you can see gaps, the cost of filling them and how much you could benefit - you can then pay online.

This feature is not intended as financial advice - the aim is to give an overview of the things you should think about. Submit your dilemma or consumer dispute via:

• The form above - you need to leave a phone number or email address so we can contact you for further details;
• Email [email protected] with the subject line "Money blog";
• WhatsApp us here.

By Daniel Binns, business reporter

Weapons maker BAE Systems is the big loser on the FTSE 100 this morning, with its shares down almost 3% in early trading.

It comes following reports over the weekend that the German government is planning to scale back aid to Ukraine in its war with Russia – in what would be a blow to the arms industry.

German media said ministers are set to slash support for Kyiv to 6% of current levels by 2027 in their upcoming budget.

However, the government there has rejected the reports and has denied it is "stopping support" to Ukraine.

Whatever the truth, the reports appear to have spooked traders.

Other companies involved in the defence sector, including Rolls-Royce Plc and Chemring Group, are also down more than 2% and 1% respectively on Monday.

It comes amid a slight slump in early trading, with the FTSE 100 down just over 0.2%, although the FTSE 250 is up 0.07%.

Gainers this morning include housebuilders Barratt Developments, up 1.5%, and Redrow Plc, which is up almost 3%.

Barratt said today it intends to push ahead with a planned £2.5bn merger with its rival despite concerns from the competition regulator.

Meanwhile, the price of oil is down amid concerns of weaker demand in China.

Ongoing ceasefire talks in the Israel-Hamas conflict have also raised hopes of cooling tensions in the Middle East, which would help ease supply risks and worries.

A barrel of the benchmark Brent Crude is currently priced at just over $79 (£61).

On the currency markets, this morning £1 buys $1.29 US or €1.17.

Winter energy bills are projected to rise by 9%, according to a closely watched forecast.

The price cap from October to December will go up to £1,714 a year for the average user, Cornwall Insight says.

It would be a £146 rise from the current cap, which is controlled by energy regulator Ofgem and aims to prevent households on variable tariffs being ripped off.

The cap doesn't represent a maximum bill. Instead it creates an average bill by limiting how much you pay per unit of gas and electricity, as well as setting a maximum daily standing charge (which all households must pay to stay connected to the grid).

Ofgem will announce the October cap this Friday.

"This is not the news households want to hear when moving into the colder months," said the principal consultant at Cornwall, Dr Craig Lowrey.

"Following two consecutive falls in the cap, I'm sure many hoped we were on a steady path back to pre-crisis prices. 

"However, the lingering impact of the energy crisis has left us with a market that's still highly volatile and quick to react to any bad news on the supply front.

"Despite this, while we don't expect a return to the extreme prices of recent years, it's unlikely that bills will return to what was once considered normal. Without significant intervention, this may well be the new normal."

Cornwall Insight warned that the highly volatile energy market and unexpected global events, such as the recent escalating tensions in the Russia-Ukraine war, could see prices rise further at the start of the new year.

To avoid this vulnerability, Cornwall Insight said domestic renewable energy production should increase and Britain should wean itself off energy imports.

Kellogg's appears to have shrunk its packets of Corn Flakes. 

Two of its four different pack sizes have reduced in weight by 50g, according to The Sun. 

What used to be 720g boxes are now 670g, while 500g boxes have become 450g. 

The newspaper says the 670g boxes are being sold for £3.20 in Tesco - the same price customers were paying for the larger box back in May. 

The 450g boxes are being sold for £2.19, only slightly less than the previous price of £2.25.

Other supermarkets have similar pricing, although in Morrisons the price has gone down in proportion to the size reduction.

The 250g and 1kg pack sizes remain unchanged. 

Kellogg's has said it is up to shops to choose what they charge, but Tesco said the manufacturer should comment on pricing. 

Sky News has contacted Kellogg's for comment.

A spokesperson is quoted by The Sun: "Kellogg's Corn Flakes are available in four different box sizes to suit different shopper preferences and needs. 

"As the cost of ingredients and production processes increase, it costs us more to make our products than it used to.

"This can impact the recommended retail price. It's the grocer's absolute discretion and decision what price to charge shoppers."

WHSmith has launched a café brand as it seeks to expand into the food-to-go market.

The first café is in Princess Anne Hospital in Southampton and offers teas and coffees, hot breakfasts and pastries

Its branding is the same as the Smith Family Kitchen food-to-go range launched three months ago.

WHSmith UK travel managing director Andrew Harrison said: "Whether it's in a hospital or on their journeys, customers tell us that quality food and drink options are what they prioritise most in the different locations we serve.

"That's why we have been doubling down on our food ranges and formats to ensure our customers don't need to compromise on quality or value, as demonstrated today with the launch of Smith's Kitchen."

Thanks for popping into Money, our live blog for consumer and personal finance news and tips, as we kick off a new week. Here are five reasons to pop back over the coming days...

Topping up your national insurance

Coming up this morning is this week's Money Problem , focusing on a question from reader Tony, in Palmers Green, who wants to know if he could really add £6,000 to his retirement pot with a £900 top-up to his national insurance.

Bring back Spangles

Thousands of you have got involved in our Bring It Back series in the last few weeks, suggesting the old-school sweets or treats that you'd love to see revived. This week, published first thing tomorrow, we're looking at a classic that's been mentioned time and again in our comments section - Spangles. We'll be hearing what Mars had to say about a potential return.

Why should you pay with credit card?

We'll also take a deeper dive into one of the most common pieces of consumer advice: that you should try to pay on credit card for big purchases. Why do you get extra protection, how does it work and what is and isn't covered - we'll have all the answers in Tuesday's Basically .

Yorkshire pudding secrets from top Yorkshire chef in Cheap Eats

Anyone who makes their own Yorkshire puddings - or wants to - should check back on Wednesday morning as one of Yorkshire's top chefs, James Mackenzie from the Michelin-starred Pipe and Glass in South Dalton, picks his Cheap Eats in East Yorkshire and at home - revealing his secrets for perfect/huge Yorkies, including a common mistake many people make.

Everything to know about savings and mortgages

Every Thursday we hear from Savings Champion founder Anna Bowes, who offers some advice for making the most of your spare cash and reveals the best rates on the market right now. Then on Fridays we do similarly with mortgages, hearing from industry experts on what anyone seeking to borrow needs to know at the minute before rounding up the best rates with the help of the guys from Moneyfacts.

We've got lots of others tips and features planned for this week, so bookmark  news.sky.com/money  and check back from 7am each weekday - or 8am on Saturday for our weekend feature.

The Money blog is produced by the Sky News live team, with contributions from  Bhvishya Patel, Jess Sharp, Katie Williams, Brad Young, Ollie Cooper and Mark Wyatt, with sub-editing by Isobel Souster. It is edited by Jimmy Rice.

By Emily Mee , news reporter

Openly discussing how you split your finances with your partner feels pretty taboo - even among friends.

As a consequence, it can be difficult to know how to approach these conversations with our partner or what is largely considered fair - especially if there's a big imbalance salary-wise. 

Research by Hargreaves Lansdown suggests in an average household with a couple, three-quarters of the income is earned by one person. 

Even when there is a large disparity, some couples will want to pay the same amount on bills as they want to contribute equally. 

But for others, one partner can feel resentful if they are spending all of their money on bills while the other has much more to spend and is living a different lifestyle as a result. 

At what stage of the relationship can you talk about money?

"We've kind of formally agreed there is some point in a relationship you start talking about kids - there is no generally agreed time that we start talking about money," says Sarah Coles, head of personal finance at Hargreaves Lansdown. 

Some couples may never get around to mentioning it, leading to "lopsided finances". 

Ms Coles says if you want to keep on top of finances with your partner, you could set a specific date in the year that you go through it all. 

"If it's in the diary and it's not emotional and it's not personal then you can properly go through it," she says.

"It's not a question of 'you need to pull more weight'.  It's purely just this is what we've agreed, this is the maths and this is how we need to do that."

While many people start talking about finances around Christmas, Ms Coles suggests this can be a "trying time" for couples so February might be a "less emotional time to sit down". 

How do you have the conversation if you feel the current arrangement is unfair?

Relationship counsellor at Relate , Peter Saddington, says that setting out the balance as "unfair" shouldn't be your starting point. 

You need to be honest about your position, he says, but your conversation should be negotiating as a couple what works for both of you. 

Before you have to jump into the conversation, think about: 

• Letting your partner know in advance rather than springing it on them;
• Making sure you and your partner haven't drunk alcohol before having the conversation, as this can make it easy for it to spiral;
• Having all the facts to hand, so you know exactly how much you are spending;
• Using 'I' statements rather than 'you'. For example, you could say to your partner: "I'm really worried about my finances and I would like to sit down and talk about how we manage it. Can we plan a time when we can sit down and do it?"

Mr Saddington says if your partner is not willing to help, you should look at the reasons or question if there are other things in the relationship that need sorting out. 

If you're having repeated arguments about money, he says you might have opposite communication styles causing you to "keep headbutting". 

Another reason could be there is a "big resentment" lurking in the background - and it may be that you need a third party such as a counsellor, therapist or mediator to help resolve it. 

Mr Saddington says there needs to be a "safe space" to have these conversations, and that a third party can help untangle resentments from what is happening now. 

He also suggests considering both of your attitudes to money, which he says can be formed by your early life and your family. 

"If you grew up in a family where there wasn't any money, or it wasn't talked about, or it was pushed that you save instead of spend, and the other person had the opposite, you can see where those conversations go horribly wrong. 

"Understanding what influences each of you when it comes to money is important to do before you have significant conversations about it."

What are the different ways you can split your finances?

There's no one-size-fits-all approach, but there are several ways you can do it - with Money blog readers getting in touch to let us know their approach...

1. Separate personal accounts - both pay the same amount into a joint account regardless of income

Paul Fuller, 40, earns approximately £40,000 a year while his wife earns about £70,000. 

They each have separate accounts, including savings accounts, but they pay the same amount (£900) each a month into a joint account to pay for their bills. 

Paul says this pays for the things they both benefit from or have a responsibility for, but when it comes to other spending his wife should be able to spend as she likes. 

"It's not for me to turn around to my wife and expect her to justify why she thinks it's appropriate to spend £150 in a hairdresser. She works her backside off and she has a very stressful job," he says. 

However, their arrangement is still flexible. Their mortgage is going up by £350 a month soon, so his wife has agreed to pay £200 of that. 

And if his wife wants a takeaway but he can't afford to pay for it, she'll say it's on her.

"Where a lot of people go wrong is being unable to have those conversations," says Paul.

2. Separate personal accounts - whoever earns the most puts more into a joint account

This is a more formal arrangement than the hybrid approach Paul and his wife use, and many Money blog readers seem to do this in one form or another judging by our inbox.

There's no right or wrong way to do the maths - you could both put in the same percentage of your individual salaries, or come up with a figure you think is fair, or ensure you're both left with the same amount of spending money after each payday.

3. Everything is shared

Gordon Hurd and his wife Brenda live by their spreadsheet. 

Brenda earns about £800 more a month as she is working full-time while Gordon is freelance. Previously Gordon had been the breadwinner - so it's a big turnaround.

They each have separate accounts with different banks, but they can both access the two accounts. 

How much is left in each account - and their incomings and outgoings - is all detailed in the spreadsheet, which is managed weekly. 

Whenever they need to buy something, they can see how much is left in each account and pay from either one. 

Gordon says this means "everyone knows how much is available" and "each person's money belongs to the other". 

"We have never in the last decade had a single disagreement about money and that is because of this strategy," he says.

Money blog reader Shredder79 got in touch to say he takes a similar approach. 

"I earn £50k and my wife earns just under £150k. We have one joint bank account that our wages go into and all our outgoings come out of. Some friends can't get their head around that but it's normal for us."

Another reader, Curtis, also puts his wages into a joint account with his wife. 

"After all, when you have a family (three kids) it shouldn't matter who earns more or less!" he says. 

Reader Alec goes further and says he questions "the authenticity of any long-term relationship or the certainly of a marriage if a couple does not completely share a bank account for all earnings and all outgoings". 

"As for earning significantly more than the other, so what? If you are one couple or long-term partnership you are one team and you simply communicate and share everything," he says. 

"Personally I couldn't imagine doing it any other way and I do instinctively wonder what issues or insecurities, whether it be in trust or something else, sit beneath the need to feel like you need to keep your finances separate from one another, especially if you are a married couple." 

A reader going by the name lljdc agrees, saying: "I earn half of what my husband does because I work part-time. Neither of us has a solo account. We have one joint account and everything goes into this and we just spend it however we like. All bills come out of this too. Sometimes I spend more, sometimes he spends more."

4. Separate accounts - but the higher earner pays their partner an 'allowance'

If one partner is earning much more than the other, or one partner isn't earning for whatever reason, they could keep separate accounts and have the higher earner pay their partner an allowance. 

This would see them transfer an agreed amount each week or month to their partner's account.

Let us know how you and your partner talk about and split finances in the comments box - we'll feature some of the best next week

The centre-point of a significant week in the economy was inflation data, released first thing on Wednesday, that showed price rises accelerated in July to 2.2%.

Economists attributed part of the rise to energy prices - which have fallen this year, but at a much slower rate than they did last year. 

As our business correspondent Paul Kelso pointed out, it felt like the kind of mild fluctuation we can probably expect month to month now that sky high price hikes are behind us, though analysts do expect inflation to tick up further through the remainder of the year...

Underneath the bonnet, service inflation, taking in restaurants and hotels, dropped from 5.7% to 5.2%.

This is important because a large part of this is wages - and they've been a concern for the Bank of England as they plot a route for interest rates.

On Tuesday we learned average weekly earnings had also fallen - from 5.7% to 5.4% in the latest statistics.

High wages can be inflationary (1/ people have more to spend, 2/ employers might raise prices to cover staff costs), so any easing will only aid the case for a less restrictive monetary policy. Or, to put it in words most people use, the case for interest rate cuts.

Markets think there'll be two more cuts this year - nothing has changed there.

Away from the economy, official data also illustrated the pain being felt by renters across the UK.

The ONS said:

• Average UK private rents increased by 8.6% in the 12 months to July 2024, unchanged from in the 12 months to June 2024;
• Average rents increased to £1,319 (8.6%) in England, £748 (7.9%) in Wales, and £965 (8.2%) in Scotland;
• In Northern Ireland, average rents increased by 10% in the 12 months to May 2024;
• In England, rents inflation was highest in London (9.7%) and lowest in the North East (6.1%).

Yesterday, we found the UK economy grew 0.6% over three months to the end of June. 

That growth rate was the second highest among the G7 group of industrialised nations - only the United States performed better with 0.7%, though Japan and Germany have yet to released their latest data.

Interestingly, there was no growth at all in June, the Office for National Statistics said, as businesses delayed purchases until after the general election.

"In a range of industries across the economy, businesses stated that customers were delaying placing orders until the outcome of the election was known," the ONS said.

Finally, a shout for this analysis from business presenter Ian King examining what's gone wrong at Asda. It's been one of our most read articles this week and is well worth five minutes of your Friday commute or weekend...

We're signing out of regular updates now until Monday - but do check out our weekend read from 8am on Saturday. This week we're examining how couples who earn different amounts split their finances.

Each week we feature comments from Money blog readers on the story or stories that elicited most correspondence.

Our weekend probe into the myriad reasons for pub closures in the UK prompted hundreds of comments.

Landlords and campaigners, researchers and residents revealed to Sky News the "thousand cuts" killing Britain's boozers - and what it takes to survive the assault.

Here was your take on the subject...

I've been a publican for 19 years. This article is bang on! It's like you've overheard my conversations with my customers - COVID, cost of living, wages - the traditional British boozer going out of fashion. (My place: no food, no small children). Hey Jood

I own a small craft ale bar or micropub as some say. The current climate is sickening for the whole hospitality sector. This summer has been ridiculously quiet compared to previous ones. Micropubs were on the rise pre-COVID, but not now even we're struggling to survive… Lauren

I am an ex-landlord. It's ridiculous you can buy 10 cans for £10 or one pint for £5 now. It's not rocket science, it's a no-brainer: reverse the situation. Make supermarket beer more expensive than pub beer, then people will start to go out and mix again rather than getting drunk at home. Ivanlordpeers

Bought four pints of my regular drink at a supermarket for less than one pint in our local pub. It's becoming a luxury to go to a pub these days. Torquay David

Traditional pubs are being taken over by conglomerates who don't sell traditional beer, only very expensive lager, usually foreign, and other similar gassy drinks. How can they be called traditional pubs? Bronzestraw

The main reason for pubs closing is twofold! 1: The out-of-reach rents that the big groups charge landlords. 2: Landlords are told what stock they can hold and restrict where they can purchase it from. Strange, but most pubs belonged to the same groups! A pub-goer

Less pubs are managed now, pub companies are changing them to managed partnerships, putting the pressure onto inexperienced young ex-managers. Locals complain that their local pub has gone. but they don't use them enough. Can government regulate rents and beer prices for business owners? John Darkins

I was a brewery tenant in Scotland for many years and sequestrated because of the constant grabbing at my money by greedy brewers who wanted more and more. I made my pub very successful and was penalised by the brewery. James MacQuarrie 

The only reason pubs are closing is locals only use them on Boxing Day, New Year's Eve, and one Sunday a year. Plus breweries don't need pubs, they sell enough through supermarkets! Use them or lose them. Peter Smith

The closing of pubs is a terrible shame. I still go to my local and have great memories of getting drunk in many in my hometown. They are important places in society. As someone once said: "No good story ever started with a salad." Kev K

It's the taxman killing pubs. £1 of every £3 sold. Utter disgrace. Stef

I go with my girlfriend, Prue, every day to my local. It's a shame what's happening to prices. It used to be full of people and joy but now it's a ghost town in the pub since prices are too high now. I wish we could turn back time and find out what went wrong. Niall Benson

Minimum wage is around £11 and the tax threshold is £12,600 per year. How can you possibly afford a night in a pub out when a pint costs between £3 and £8 a pint on those wages? Allan7777blue

Unfortunately, the very people who have kept these establishments going over the years (the working man) have been priced out, and they're paying the price. Dandexter

The pubs are too expensive for people to go out regularly as we once did a decade or so ago. People's priorities are on survival, not recreation. Until the living wage increases beyond an inflation that wages haven't risen above in years, then we will see shops, pubs, etc. close JD

Who wants to spend hard-earned money going into a pub that's nearly always empty. It takes away one of the main attractions - socialising. Michael

Monzo has been named the best bank in the UK for customer satisfaction, according to a major survey. 

More than 17,000 personal current account customers rated their bank on the quality of its services and how likely they would be to recommend to friends or family. 

Digital banks made up the top three, with Monzo coming out on top, followed by Starling Bank and then Chase. 

Some 80% of Monzo customers said they would recommend the bank. 

The digital banking app said topping the tables "time and time again" was not something it would "ever take for granted". 

Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) was bottom of the ranking for another year. 

The banks with the best services in branches were Nationwide, Lloyds Bank and Metro Bank. 

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10 Terrific Gena Rowlands Performances to Stream

She delivered vulnerable portraits in movies as varied as “A Woman Under the Influence,” with John Cassavetes, and the drama “The Notebook.”

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By Esther Zuckerman

Gena Rowlands, who died Wednesday at the age of 94, was widely regarded as one of the best actresses of her generation, known for her vulnerable portraits of women in states of crisis. Her most acclaimed performances came through her prolific and intensely creative collaboration with her husband, the director, writer and actor John Cassavetes , who gave her parts like the housewife in turmoil in “A Woman Under the Influence.” Even after his death in 1989, Rowlands would continue to work with family members, starring in the directorial efforts of their son, Nick, and her daughter Zoe. And while she became a star of the 1970s with films that broke new ground in independent cinema, in her later years she was introduced to a younger generation, thanks to Nick Cassavetes’s blockbuster tear-jerker, “The Notebook.” Here is where to watch some of her best work.

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Perhaps the first true example of the magic Rowlands and John Cassavetes could make together came in the form of “Faces.” (Before that, she had an uncredited role in his debut, “Shadows,” as well as a part in his more conventional “A Child Is Waiting,” starring Judy Garland.) But “Faces,” made on a shoestring budget , was the project that started to reveal how unique their partnership could be. In Cassavetes’s drama about tensions between a married couple played by John Marley and Lynn Carlin, Rowlands is Jeannie, a call girl who becomes entangled with the husband in the equation. In Cassavetes’s tight close-ups and long takes you can see how Rowlands embodies the naturalistic milieu he was developing. When we first meet Jeannie she’s a good-time gal, partying with much older men, singing “Jeanie with the Light Brown Hair,” but soon her eyes snap into focus, unwilling to be denigrated, as she develops affection for Marley’s character.

‘A Woman Under the Influence’

How to introduce someone to the wealth of Rowlands’s talents? Have them watch “A Woman Under the Influence.” In what is the most quintessential of her films directed by Cassavetes, she plays Mabel Longhetti, a housewife and mother in the midst of a breakdown that shape-shifts as the film progresses. Rowlands plunges you into the whirlwind of Mabel’s emotional instability with a ferality that is genuinely unnerving. There’s a danger to Mabel in the way she haphazardly gathers neighborhood children in her yard and makes them dance to “Swan Lake,” and also a joy in her tumultuousness. When she returns home from the hospital later in the movie, you can’t help but feel sad at the timid way she tiptoes around her home, the mania just brimming under the surface, eventually breaking through. Rowlands once called Mabel “my favorite role of all time because it was just so well written and it felt so real.”

‘Opening Night’

“Opening Night” was barely seen upon release — it didn’t have a full-fledged run in New York until 1991, after Cassavetes had died — and yet now the film is regarded as one of the best examples of Rowlands’s talents. As Myrtle Gordon, an actress floundering as her new play, “The Second Woman,” is set to premiere, Rowlands gives a performance one can describe as genuinely haunted. She is visited by the ghost of a young fan who was hit by a car during the show’s out-of-town tryout, but that spectral presence, vital and sexual, also represents Myrtle’s own battle and the burden she feels playing an aging woman onstage. If she performs the material well, it’s a death sentence for her career, as aging is for so many female stars. The horror of this notion infiltrates each one of Rowlands’s movements.

Buy or rent on most major platforms

Far from the women on the verge she plays in “A Woman Under the Influence” and “Opening Night,” the title character here allows Rowlands to be tough as nails and ferocious. “Gloria” is still considered one of Cassavetes’s most mainstream films, released by Columbia Pictures, and he directed the movie largely at the request of Rowlands, who wanted the part . Gloria is a mobster’s former girlfriend, who becomes the unwilling caretaker of a 6-year-old boy (John Adames) when his entire family, her neighbors, are murdered in a contract killing. She’s a woman without a maternal instinct who likes her life the way it is and is resentful of the disturbance. Even as her affection for the kid grows, she never loses her rough edge, which Rowlands portrays with a smirk and a rasp in her voice. When she wields her pistol in heels and skirts, you never for a second doubt this woman can handle herself.

‘Night on Earth’

According to a 1996 article in The New York Times , Rowlands was still reeling from Cassavetes’s 1989 death when she signed on to play a passenger in Winona Ryder’s cab in this omnibus from Jim Jarmusch. The director explained that he would get calls from Cassavetes collaborators like Peter Falk, Ben Gazzara and Seymour Cassel making sure Rowlands was doing well. He said : “Like, Peter Falk, who I have still never even met, would call and say: ‘Jarmusch? It’s Falk. How’s Gena? Everything good?’” Onscreen, she’s a sharp presence as a frustrated casting director who gets in the taxi of a punkish young woman. Rowlands is in full Hollywood hotshot mode, skeptical but intrigued by her uncouth driver, who calls her mom. Even when they are supposedly bonding you see the shark in Rowlands, trying to figure out how this character can be of use to her.

‘The Neon Bible’

Stream on Tubi ; rent or buy on Amazon Prime Video

The steady theatrical frames of the British auteur Terence Davies feel far removed from the kinetic style of Cassavetes, but Davies’s camera reveres Rowlands just as much as her husband’s did. Davies cast Rowlands in his adaptation of the John Kennedy Toole novel of the same name, which follows a boy named David in the 1930s and ’40s Georgia. Rowlands plays David’s glamorous Aunt Mae, whose stories of being a singer enchant him and offer a window into a world behind his conservative town. Rowlands has a luminousness in the role that accurately conveys how the young David sees her, but she is careful to also show the cracks that David can comprehend only as he ages.

‘Unhook the Stars’

The Cassavetes clan has a habit of keeping things in the family, so when Nick Cassavetes directed his first feature, he naturally cast his mother in the lead. At the time, he told The Times how his mother respected his status as director: “There will always be relatives to whom you will never not be the kid who picked his nose or did something stupid. But Gena never puts that on you. She took me and the project very seriously.” The film itself is a bit treacly, about a suburban widow, Mildred (Rowlands), who starts taking care of the son (Jake Lloyd, pre-“Star Wars”) of her troubled neighbor (Marisa Tomei). It’s unusual to see Rowlands in a role so sweet.

‘She’s So Lovely’

Rowlands took a smaller part in Nick Cassavetes’s follow-up, “She’s So Lovely.” The dark comedy is based on a script by his father, and, as Janet Maslin wrote in her review for The Times , you can imagine that the lead role, played here by Robin Wright, could have at some point gone to Rowlands herself. Wright portrays Maureen, an alcoholic in a tumultuous marriage with Eddie (Sean Penn), Wright’s husband at the time. Midway through the movie a 10-year jump occurs, and Maureen is now a suburban mother, and Eddie is newly released from a mental institution. Rowland appears at the beginning of this section as Miss Green, a counselor who attends to Eddie. As he quakes, Rowland projects a no-nonsense mentality tinged with empathy.

‘The Notebook’

Nick Cassavetes’s announcement in June that Rowlands was suffering from Alzheimer’s disease was a punch in the gut to anyone who had seen her in his romance “The Notebook.” In an interview upon the revelation, he said : “It’s so crazy — we lived it, she acted it, and now it’s on us.” Onscreen, she played the older version of Allie, whose husband (James Garner) dutifully reads her the story of their romance without her realizing for most of the film that she’s the woman in the story. While at the time the scintillating chemistry between Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams, as the youthful Noah and Allie, was the main draw for audiences, Rowlands’s detailed portrayal of a woman who has lost touch with herself is what gives the film its emotional weight.

‘Broken English’

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In addition to lending her talents to her son’s films, Rowlands also appeared in her daughter Zoe R. Cassavetes’s directorial debut, “Broken English.” In the indie romantic comedy Rowlands is the mother of the heroine, Nora Wilder, a New York hotel concierge (Parker Posey) trying to find love. The film follows Nora and has a shaggy quality that is reminiscent of John Cassavetes’s work. Rowlands is elegant and funny as a mother disappointed that her daughter hasn’t found a match yet.