Holidays at risk in strike
A three-day strike that may hit holidaymakers needing swift passports started today.
Nearly 3,000 passport staff will leave their posts in a row over pay and the Government's office closure programme.
The strike will hit the UK's seven regional passport offices and 68 interview offices, the Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS) said.
For an extra charge, new documents can usually be obtained in one day but this is unavailable during the strike.

Halfords bucks trends
Car parts and bicycles chain Halfords today defied the retail gloom elsewhere on the high street after boasting better than expected first-quarter profits.
Continued demand for its car maintenance goods and a pick-up in sales of bikes and camping equipment helped the company grow like-for-like sales by 1.7%. Sales would have been better still – at 3% – if the firm had benefited from an Easter in the quarter.

Expansion scaled back
The owner of building trade supplier Howden Joinery said today it had scaled back its expansion plans amid uncertain economic conditions.
Galiform has opened 15 UK depots so far this year – taking its estate to 451 – but indicated it would only open five more sites in the remainder of the year. The company was MFI before shedding the retail side in 2006.

Financial advice is poor
Fewer than one in 10 mortgage intermediaries are providing acceptable advice, putting consumers at risk of taking out an unsuitable mortgage.
Which? Money said four out of 50 advisers based at banks, estate agents and individual firms visited by its researchers during a mystery shopping exercise provided adequate advice.

Home cooked
Soaring food prices could lead to the rebirth of traditional home cooking.
Jimmy Doherty, of the BBC Television series Jimmy's Farm, said families should copy older generations and be more inventive in their meal choices.