Drivers also told to take caution after complaints rise about long-stay meet-and-greet services
Terence Baxter* had booked a meet-and-greet service to park his Volkswagen at Heathrow airport while he and his wife went on holiday. The couple handed over the keys at the drop-off site and were driven to the terminal – and that was the last they saw of their car. On their return they were informed by the company it had been stolen.
Their case comes as airports and police forces are warning travellers to be wary of “unofficial” operators advertising cheap long-stay parking after a rise in complaints.
Several car-sharing companies are considering launching or expanding in London, with the imminent closure of Zipcar’s UK operation leaving a large gap in the market in one of Europe’s biggest cities.
Free2Move, owned by the carmaker Stellantis, said it was “closely monitoring the London market”, and “actively assessing” options for its services. It already operates fleets in cities including Berlin, Paris, Rome and Washington DC.
Your flexible spending account (FSA) funds expire soon, and if you don't use them, you lose them. In fact, roughly half of FSA holders in recent years have ended up forfeiting funds to their employers, according to the nonprofit Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI).
First, make sure to double-check with your employer about your FSA's Dec. 31 deadline, along with any potential rollover or grace period. After that, it's time to scan your medicine cabinet, make a list of anything you need to stock up on, and click "add to cart."
The FSA store is an obvious choice for making the most of your remaining funds, but you can also turn to your go-to retail giants. Amazon, Target, Walgreens, and more all offer a dedicated FSA/HSA Shop to help you find eligible items quickly.
How to shop FSA-eligible items on Amazon
Here's how you can take advantage of Amazon's FSA-eligible items before the end of the year.
2. Look for the "FSA/HSA Eligible" label on product listings
3. Use the FSA/HSA filter in search results
4. Pay with your FSA debit card at checkout
Similarly, Target has an FSA filter in their healthcare section, and pharmacies like CVS and Walgreens have dedicated online FSA shops.
What to buy with your remaining FSA funds
Many over-the-counter medications and health items are FSA-eligible, including pain relievers, cold medicine, bandages, dental care products, menstrual products, and more. But did you realize you can also snag these kinds of goodies:
Again, most FSA plans require you to spend funds by Dec. 31, though some offer grace periods. Check with your plan administrator for specific deadlines. Just make sure to save receipts for all FSA purchases in case you need to verify eligibility with your plan administrator after paying.
However you choose to spend your FSA funds, don’t let that money go to waste. After all, this money already came out of your paycheck.
We would like to hear from young people who have left the UK in recent months –or are planning to do so
Young people are leaving the UK in high numbers and we’d like to find out more about the reasons why.
Is it about finding a better salary abroad or concerns about rising costs and tax in the UK? How did you choose where to move? How have you found the experience?
We’d like to hear from people in Britain who have turned to family or friends to borrow money instead of to banks, and how this has affected them
Britons often turn to family and friends to borrow money now, a new survey has suggested.
The survey of more than 4,000 adults commissioned by non-profit Fair4All Finance found that while 25% of respondents had taken out a Buy Now Pay Later loan, 26% had borrowed from family and 15% from friends this year.
Snuggle up under oak beams in front of a deep inglenook fireplace, stay warm with underfloor heating or enjoy your own wine cellar for festive entertaining
The question “what present do you recommend for …” will be tapped into phones and computers countless times over this festive period, as more people turn to AI platforms to help choose gifts for loved ones.
With a quarter of Britons using AI to find products, brands are increasingly adapting their strategies to ensure their products are the ones recommended, especially those trying to reach younger audiences.
Christmas shopping – some love it, to others it’s a chore, and this year for the first time many of us will outsource the annual task of coming up with gift ideas to artificial intelligence.
While traditional internet search, social media – especially TikTok and Instagram – and simply wandering a local high street will still be the main routes to presents for most this year, about a quarter of people in the UK are already using AI to find the right products, according to PricewaterhouseCoopers.
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Fast Company: More and more people are turning to GoFundMe for help covering the cost of housing, food, and other basic needs. The for-profit crowdfunding platform's annual "Year in Help" report, released Tuesday, underscored ongoing concerns around affordability. The number of fundraisers started to help cover essential expenses such as rent, utilities, and groceries jumped 20%, according to the company's 2025 review, after already quadrupling last year. "Monthly bills" were the second fastest-growing category behind individual support for nonprofits.
The number of "essentials" fundraisers has increased over the last three years in all of the company's major English-speaking markets, according to GoFundMe CEO Tim Cadogan. That includes the United States, Canada, United Kingdom and Australia. In the United States, the self-published report comes at the end of a year that has seen weakened wage growth for lower-income workers, sluggish hiring, a rise in the unemployment rate and low consumer confidence in the economy. [...] Among campaigns aimed at addressing broader community needs, food banks were the most common recipient on GoFundMe this year. The platform experienced a nearly sixfold spike in food-related fundraisers between the end of October and first weeks of November, according to Cadogan, as many Americans' monthly SNAP benefits got suddenly cut off during the government shutdown.
Michael Saylor's software company Strategy, formerly known as MicroStrategy, built a financial model that some observers called an "infinite-money machine" by stockpiling hundreds of thousands of bitcoins and issuing stock and debt to buy more, but that machine appears to be breaking down. The company's stock peaked above $450 in mid-July and ended November at $177.18, a 60% decline. Bitcoin fell only 25% over the same period. The gap between Strategy's market cap and the value of its bitcoin holdings has nearly vanished.
At one point last week, the company's market value dipped below the value of its bitcoins after accounting for debt. Strategy announced it had built a $1.4 billion dollar reserve by selling more stock to cover required dividend payments to preferred shareholders over the next twelve months. The company also disclosed it might sell some of its coins if its value continues to fall, a reversal from Saylor's February tweet declaring "Never sell your Bitcoin." Professional short seller Jim Chanos, who had questioned the strategy's sustainability, told Sherwood he made money by shorting the stock and buying bitcoins.
Consumers in Great Britain moving to a new home will have about two weeks to set up an energy account before their lights go out, under plans to cut growing gas and electricity debt.
Energy meters could soon be remotely switched to prepayment mode when the previous resident moves out, under proposals put forward by the industry regulator, leaving the next resident £30 of credit to settle into their home.
Why proposals for a shorter working week are winning over teachers and parents – despite the logistical headaches
“A wonderful idea”, “Bring it on!”, “Yes!”, “Brilliant!”, “Absolutely”. If enthusiasm were all it took to change policy, a four-day week in England’s schools would be all but guaranteed.
A Guardian report this week saying that the 4 Day Week Foundation has urged the government to pilot a four-day working week in schools in England and Wales to boost teacher wellbeing and recruitment attracted hundreds of thousands of readers.
A reader says they overpaid their national insurance, but seem to be lending the government money with no interest
I have two roles within the NHS, which has resulted in overpayments of national insurance each year.
Since Covid, the refund system has slowly ground to a halt. I was told in October that I am owed £2,200 and that it could take 33 weeks to receive the payment.
Forget sprawling mansions or quirky architecture, Zoopla’s most-viewed listing in 2025 was notable for being relatively affordable and surrounded by countryside …
An investigation has revealed how stablecoins -- cryptocurrencies pegged to the US dollar that exist largely beyond traditional financial oversight -- have become a practical tool for criminals and sanctioned individuals to move funds across borders almost instantly and convert them back into spendable money, often without detection.
A Chainalysis report from February estimated that up to $25 billion in illicit transactions involved stablecoins last year. A New York Times reporter tested the system by converting $40 cash at a crypto ATM in Weehawken, New Jersey, into stablecoins and then using a Telegram bot to generate a Visa payment card without any identity verification. The card-issuing service, WantToPay, is incorporated in Hong Kong and led by a Russian entrepreneur in Thailand; it advertises to Russians blocked by US sanctions. Britain last month arrested members of a billion-dollar money laundering network that had purchased a bank in Kyrgyzstan to convert proceeds from drug trafficking and human trafficking into Tether, the most popular stablecoin.
Further reading: China's Central Bank Flags Money Laundering and Fraud Concerns With Stablecoins.
A surprising economic bubble is making it hard for anyone to buy Pokémon cards – especially children
Pokémon has been huge since the late 90s. Millions of people have fond memories of playing the original Red and Blue games, or trading cards in the playground for that elusive shiny Charizard (if your school didn’t ban them). The franchise has only grown since then – but, where the trading cards are concerned, things have taken an unexpected and unfortunate turn. It’s now almost impossible to get your hands on newly released cards thanks to an insane rise in reselling and scalping over the past year.
Selling on your old cards to collectors has always been part of the hobby, and like baseball cards or Magic: The Gathering, Pokémon cards can sometimes go for thousands of pounds. However, the resale market for Pokémon has climbed so high that even new cards are valued at hundreds, before they’ve even been released. The latest set, Phantasmal Flames, had a rare special illustration Charizard that was being valued at more than £600 before anyone had even found one. When a pack of cards retails at about £4, there’s a huge potential profit to be had.
Easy-to-guess words and figures still dominate, alarming cysbersecurity experts and delighting hackers
It is a hacker’s dream. Even in the face of repeated warnings to protect online accounts, a new study reveals that “admin” is the most commonly used password in the UK.
The second most popular, “123456”, is also unlikely to keep hackers at bay.
Meta has officially confirmed it is shifting investment away from the metaverse and VR toward AI-powered smart glasses, following a Bloomberg report of an up to 30% budget cut for Reality Labs. "Within our overall Reality Labs portfolio we are shifting some of our investment from Metaverse toward AI glasses and Wearables given the momentum there," a statement from Meta reads. "We aren't planning any broader changes than that." From the report: Following Bloomberg's report, other mainstream news outlets including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and Business Insider have published their own reports corroborating the general claim, with slightly differing details...
Business Insider's report suggests that the cuts will primarily hit Horizon Worlds, and that employees are facing "uncertainty" about whether this will involve layoffs. One likely cut BI's report mentions is the funding for third-party studios to build Horizon Worlds content. The New York Times report, on the other hand, seems more definitive in stating that these cuts will come via layoffs. The Reality Labs division "has racked up more than $70 billion in losses since 2021," notes Fortune in their reporting, "burning through cash on blocky virtual environments, glitchy avatars, expensive headsets, and a user base of approximately 38 people as of 2022."
Millions of real trees are sold each year, and costs vary widely – we ask experts how to find good deals
For many Britons, putting up their tree is the ritual that marks the official start of Christmas, with the second week of December a popular time to deck the halls.
While surveys suggest that about two-thirds of the population will opt for an artificial tree, millions of real ones will be sold this month. As usual, the competition is fierce on the high street, with some supermarkets selling the most popular tree – the Nordmann fir – for under £15.
Michael and Susan Dell pledged $6.25 billion to boost participation in the new "Trump Accounts" child investment program. "The historic gift has little precedent, with few single charitable commitments in the past 25 years exceeding $1 billion, much less multiple billions," notes the Associated Press. "Announced on GivingTuesday, the Dells believe it's the largest single private commitment made to U.S. children." From the report: Its structure is also unusual. Essentially, it builds on the "Trump Accounts" program (PDF), where the U.S. Department of the Treasury will deposit $1,000 into investment accounts set up by Treasury for American children born between Jan. 1, 2025 and Dec. 31, 2028. The Dells' gift will use the "Trump Accounts" infrastructure to give $250 to each qualified child under 10. Though the "Trump Accounts" became law as part of the president's signature legislation in July, the Dells say the accounts will not launch until July 4, 2026. Michael Dell said they wanted to mark the 250th anniversary of U.S. independence.
[...] Under the new law, "Trump Accounts" are available to any American child under 18 with a Social Security number and their families can fund the accounts, which must be invested in an index fund that tracks the overall stock market. When the children turn 18, they can withdraw the funds to put toward their education, to buy a home or to start a business. The Dells will put money into the accounts of children 10 and younger who live in ZIP codes with a median family income of $150,000 or less and who won't get the $1,000 seed money from the Treasury. The Dells hope their gift will encourage families to claim the accounts and deposit more money into it, even small amounts, so it will grow over time along with the stock market. The report notes that the timed rollout of the $1,000 deposits gives Republicans a strategic political advantage by delivering money to voters during the 2026 midterms and halting the benefit right after the 2028 presidential election.
Zillow has removed climate risk scores from over a million home listings after real estate agents argued the data was scaring off buyers. TechCrunch reports: Zillow first added the data to the site in September 2024, saying that more than 80% of buyers consider climate risks when purchasing a new home. But last month, following objections from the California Regional Multiple Listing Service (CRMLS), Zillow removed the listings' climate scores. In their place is a subtle link to their records at First Street, the climate risk analytic startup that provides the data.
"When buyers lack access to clear climate-risk information, they make the biggest financial decision of their lives while flying blind," First Street spokesperson Matthew Eby told TechCrunch via email. "The risk doesn't go away; it just moves from a pre-purchase decision into a post-purchase liability." First Street's climate risk scores first appeared on Realtor.com in 2020, where they remain. They also still appear on Redfin and and Homes.com. The New York-based startup has raised more than $50 million from investors including General Catalyst, Congruent Ventures, and Galvanize Climate Solutions, according to PitchBook.
Art Carter, the CRMLS CEO, told The New York Times that "displaying the probability of a specific home flooding this year or within the next five years can have a significant impact on the perceived desirability of that property." He also questioned the accuracy of First Street's data, saying he didn't think that areas which haven't flooded in the last 40 to 50 years were likely to flood in the next five.
BrianFagioli writes: Newegg's new partnership with PayPal is another sign that mainstream e-commerce is shifting control from users to AI-driven intermediaries. Instead of shoppers visiting Newegg directly, PayPal's agentic commerce system pushes product discovery through AI platforms like Perplexity where recommendations, checkout, and fraud checks all happen inside someone else's controlled environment. Newegg stays the merchant of record, but the real influence shifts to the platforms that decide which products their AI agents mention. That may sound convenient, but it also means discovery becomes guided by training data and commercial integrations rather than user intent.
Slashdot readers will likely notice the other issue. This setup puts PayPal deeper into the shopping pipeline at a time when many users already avoid the company over account freezes and dispute policies. An AI-mediated shopping experience where PayPal becomes the silent gatekeeper by default is not going to sit well with everyone. And with AI agents shaping purchasing decisions based on behavior and context, the concept of intent-driven shopping starts to look a lot like quiet nudging rather than empowerment. Newegg may see this as the future, but the community will probably ask whether users truly want AI systems and PayPal deciding how they shop.
OpenAI will need to raise at least $207 billion in new funding by 2030 to sustain operations while continuing to lose money, according to a new analysis from HSBC that models the company's cloud computing commitments against projected revenue. The bank's US software team updated its forecasts after OpenAI announced a $250 billion cloud compute rental deal with Microsoft in late October and a $38 billion deal with Amazon days later, bringing total contracted compute capacity to 36 gigawatts.
HSBC projects cumulative rental costs of $792 billion through 2030. Revenue growth remains strong in the model -- the bank expects OpenAI to reach 3 billion users by decade's end, up from roughly 800 million today -- but costs rise in lockstep, meaning OpenAI will still be subsidizing users well into the next decade. If revenue growth disappoints and investors turn cautious, the company's best option might be walking away from some data center commitments.
This post-Thanksgiving weekend, a growing number of Americans have pledged that they won't be camping outside stores or refreshing their browsers for deals. Instead, they're participating in coordinated boycotts that aim to turn one of the biggest shopping events of the year into a statement about economic power, inequality, and corporate influence in American life.
What are the Black Friday boycotts?
Two major boycott campaigns are underway during the 2025 holiday shopping season. The first, called "Mass Blackout," is a coalition effort involving grassroots groups including Blackout the System, The People's Sick Day, American Opposition, the Money Out of Politics Movement, and The Progressive Network. Running from Nov.25 through Dec. 2, this weeklong economic protest asks Americans to stop shopping at major retailers, halt their streaming service subscriptions, avoid nonessential travel, and even refrain from working if possible.
“No spending. No work. No surrender. The system isn’t broken. It’s working exactly as designed—for the wealthy,” says the homepage of the Mass Blackout website. This isn't about hurting small business or communities, but targeting major corporations that "that profit from injustice, fuel authoritarianism, and crush worker power.”
The second campaign, "We Ain't Buying It," is spearheaded by organizations like Black Voters Matter, Indivisible, and Until Freedom. This effort specifically targets major retailers, including Amazon, Target, and Home Depot, during the crucial Black Friday through Cyber Monday period.
Both campaigns share similar goals: to demonstrate that everyday consumers and workers hold real economic power, and to protest what organizers see as a political and economic system that serves billionaires and corporations rather than ordinary Americans.
Why the Black Friday boycotts are happening
The timing of these campaigns is no accident. The five-day period from Thanksgiving through Cyber Monday (also known as the "Cyber Five"), accounts for approximately 17% of all holiday season sales. It's when retailers are most vulnerable to consumer action—and when consumers have the potential to make the biggest impact.
The movements are responding to what they see as an increasingly divided economy, one in which the gap between the richest and poorest Americans continues to widen. "This isn't about left versus right," reads the Mass Blackout website, "this is about people versus power." The goal is a collective refusal to participate in a system where special interests and billionaires shape policy, while working people are exploited and democratic norms are eroded.
LaTosha Brown, co-founder of Black Voters Matter Fund, said on CNN that the effort isn't a mere boycott, but a consumer action: "We're sending a message to companies that when they align with policies that harm us, we will not support them," she said. In other words, don't let the word "boycott" make you think this is solely an economic movement. It's a political and personal one, too.
These aren't isolated protests either—nor are they as fruitless as they may seem to cynics. Throughout 2025, boycotts have proven effective in shifting corporate behavior. Target recently reported declining sales partially attributed to customer backlash over its rollback of diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives. This points to the fact that consumer action really can impact even retail giants.
How to meaningfully participate in a Black Friday boycott
Participating in these boycotts (or consumer actions) doesn't require taking dramatic action. The core principle is simple: pause unnecessary consumption during this period, and reconsider your relationship with shopping. It's not just about "not spending," but actually rerouting that time and money back into your own community.
If you're interested in participating, here's what organizers suggest you do:
Avoid major corporations. The boycotts specifically target large retailers that dominate the market. If you need to make purchases, support small, local, or independent businesses instead. Small Business Saturday on Nov. 30 is explicitly excluded from the boycott for this reason.
Reduce digital consumption. Log off streaming platforms, cancel or pause subscriptions you're not using, and avoid ad-driven platforms unless you're using them for organizing. This removes your engagement from the attention economy that drives corporate profits.
Consider a "working strike." Remember "quiet quitting?" For those who can't take time off work, organizers suggest working to rule (doing only what's required), going slow, or simply showing up without extra effort.
Stop impulse shopping. Black Friday has become synonymous with deals that create urgency, with "limited time only" sales designed to trigger immediate purchases. Before buying anything, ask yourself: Do I actually need this, or am I responding to marketing? Will I still want this item in a week? This pause alone can be powerful, and give you time to reconsider shopping at local businesses instead.
If you're unable to join the economic shutdown directly, or if you're looking for a way to support those who are, you can take action by donating to mutual aid here.
Apolitical reasons to consider participating in a Black Friday boycott
Even if you're not politically motivated to participate in these boycotts, there are compelling personal reasons to step back from Black Friday shopping this year.
First, most Black Friday "deals" aren't as good as they appear. Retailers often inflate original prices to make discounts look more impressive, or offer deals on older models and inferior products. Whatever sense of urgency you feel when shopping this week, remember it's by design. Even if you aren't compelled by the bigger political movements going on, it's worth taking a step back from Black Friday shopping for your own sanity (and wallet).
Perhaps most importantly, participating in a boycott—even partially—is an opportunity to reclaim agency. In a consumer culture that constantly pushes us to buy more, choosing not to participate can be surprisingly liberating. It's a chance to align your spending with your values and to recognize that you have power in the economy.
The bottom line
Whether or not these boycotts significantly impact retail sales remains to be seen. Economists note that short-term boycotts often face challenges because consumers simply shift their spending to other times. However, organizers argue that the act of participation itself matters—it demonstrates economic consciousness and solidarity that can build into long-term collective action.
What is already clear is that these movements reflect growing frustration with economic inequality and corporate power. They're attempting to transform Black Friday from a celebration of consumerism into a moment of collective reckoning about who holds the power in the American economy.
You don't have to join a political movement to benefit from stepping back this Black Friday. Simply pausing, questioning whether you really need to shop, and avoiding impulse purchases you'll regret later is a form of participation. Before you reach for your wallet or click "add to cart," take a moment to consider: What if you just didn't? What if instead of shopping, you spent time with people you care about, engaged with your community, or simply rested? In a culture that equates shopping with happiness and consumption with success, sometimes the most radical thing you can do is nothing at all.
"The passage of Trump's signature legislation earlier this month proved there are still plenty of Big Beautiful Billable Hours for K Streeters, but the ground game is changing fast. 'Lobbying used to be Congress-focused, but they're not driving the show anymore,' said one Republican lobbyist. 'They are all now taking orders from the administration.' ... To have juice in this town these days means having access to the president and his allies, and the old bulls of lobbying no longer have as much of it."
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