Hammond under pressure for U-turn on self-employed National Insurance hike

Philip Hammond is facing growing pressure to back down on a A 2 billion National Insurance hike for the self-employed, as former work and pensions secretary Iain Duncan Smith added his voice to calls for a rethink of the move. In a round of post-Budget broadcast interviews, the Chancellor insisted that the decision – along with a cut in tax-free dividend allowances which will also hit the self-employed – was “fair and appropriate”.

Why it took 28 years to bring Martin Scorsese’s ‘Silence’ to the screen

Why it took 28 years to bring Martin Scorsese’s ‘Silence’ to the screen Funding, legal issues and rewrites delayed the iconic filmmaker’s religious epic. Check out this story on thetimesherald.com: http://usat.ly/2ic2WqG Andrew Garfield and Adam Driver star as 17th-century missionaries who travel to Japan and face persecution as they try to rescue their mentor, played by Liam Neeson.