The Reporter

The Reporter

Vote for me ... pleaseWe may well be two years from a general election, but already the bribes have started to appear. Gordon Brown this week unveiled a package of measures designed to save his skin ... er, sorry, revive the battered housing market. The headline-grabbing move was the suspension of stamp duty on houses costing less than £175,000. Ministers have temporarily raised the threshold at which 1% stamp duty is paid from £125,000, a change that will save eligible homebuyers up to £1,750. And there was yet another revamp of the government's dog-eared HomeBuy shared equity scheme. The new version aims to help up to 10,000 first-time buyers into negative equity ... sorry, home ownership.

Thanks, Darling If that doesn't tickle your fancy, how about if chancellor Alistair Darling were to stuff a few tenners into your pocket, with the promise of more to come? Well, you're in luck. As many as 22 million people are set to receive an extra £60 in their wage packets this month - money that will be a welcome boost for millions of households feeling the pinch. It's the result of changes following the 10p tax U-turn this year. As well as the lump sum of £60 in their September wages, most people under 65 who pay basic rate tax of 20% will enjoy a £10 increase in their take-home pay each month after that until the new tax year in April, say accountants KPMG. That adds up to a not-to-be-sniffed-at.....continued below

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£120.

Cashing in You've just got back from holiday and you've got a bit of foreign currency in your wallet or purse. What do you do with it? Most people tend to stuff any unused euros or dollars in a drawer in anticipation of their next trip abroad. But Travelex.co.uk says it has seen a big leap in number of holidaymakers converting spare currency into pounds on their return. It's the latest evidence that, in these credit-crunched times, we are keen to get our hands on every piece of spare cash that we can.

Married in a 5p dress More news from the credit crunch frontline. Heather Saint is delighted after buying her dream wedding dress on eBay for a mere 5p. She found the antique white lace and silk gown on the internet auction site, and was stunned when her bid was successful, according to the Daily Mail. "It is gorgeous and I was very proud to tell everyone at the wedding just how much it cost. It's made by a designer from Singapore. There was a £40 postage charge, but the dress itself was just 5p."

Winning smile Forget the Mona Lisa, Julia Roberts has the best smile of all time. New research reveals that, 18 years after her starring role as prostitute Vivian Ward in Pretty Woman, almost half the great British public reckon Roberts has the most beautiful and genuine smile around. Some will be surprised to see The X Factor main man Simon Cowell ranked second - though the striking size and glowing whiteness of his and fellow judge Cheryl Cole's gnashers have certainly been a talking point among those of us with the teeth of mere mortals. Victoria Beckham topped the list of worst fake smilers. The research was done for internet bank Smile.