It's finally happened. After months of will-we, won't-we speculation, the UK economy has finally succumbed to recession. The ONS revealed this week that a drop in GDP in the final three months of 2023 meant that Britain had racked up two consecutive of negative growth - and thus the dreaded R word is here. But is this a bad one, why does the term 'technical recession' keep being bandied about and do these backward-looking figures mask things already getting better? Georgie Frost, Helen Crane and Simon Lambert look at what recession means for the UK and you. Plus, who are the villains among big banks and building societies when it comes to sky-high standard variable rates for mortgage borrowers, and is it them or the customers themselves to blame if somone ends up paying almost 10% interest? Also — the customer turned down for a switching bonus by HSBC because they had a Midland account 21 years ago. And finally, electric car sales aren't growing as fast as the government or car makers want. Does that mean it's time to drive a bargain?
