Fixed-term annuities give income for a set period – such as five or 10 years – and an agreed lump sum at the end

Financial firms are reporting growing demand for a product that helps bridge the gap between stopping work and getting your pension.

Sales of retirement annuities have risen sharply during the last couple of years, and now advisers are seeing a fresh surge of interest in what they say is one of the market’s “lesser-known” options.

Some say party risks ‘looking twee’ by focusing on small fixes amid growing nervousness that budget lacks ambition

In the days since Labour’s annual conference, party insiders have been sharing a word cloud produced by the pollsters More in Common, which shows the phrases voters most associate with Andy Burnham.

Such polling is rarely flattering for politicians, and the prime minister’s version had its fair share of negatives. But one of the most prominent words in the cloud – and the one that has caught the imagination of Labour strategists – was “trying”.

Readers respond to an article in which Larry Elliott argues that Andy Burnham must challenge neoliberal nostrums

Larry Elliott’s column on the rightwing economic myths constraining Andy Burnham’s government should be required reading before John Healey’s budget (Rightwing economic myths could derail Burnham’s project – to destroy them, look to Keynes, 1 October).

I spent 20 years trading bonds, and agree that the household budget analogy bears no relation to how the UK state finances itself. Parliament votes on the spending, the Treasury instructs the Bank of England, and the Bank credits accounts in the private sector. Taxes withdraw money afterwards.