Financial Education in Schools - with predatory companies and pusillanimous regulators, we must educate the children

Martin Lewis, of moneysavingexpert.com fame, started an e-petition to the British government: “Make financial education a compulsory part of the school curriculum”. To see the petition, now closed, click >>HERE<<. The petition successfully exceeded the 100,000 needed to be considered for debate in Parliament. The higher the number of signatures, the harder it will be for MPs with their ignominious record of failing to legislate against rip-offs to consider and reject debating this in parliament.We share an objective with Martin Lewis....

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Our invitation to guest bloggers:

Some of the most valuable insights on the Ripped-Off Britons blog have been sourced from insiders and professional observers of our subjects. A few of these insiders and observers have themselves made valuable written contributions to the blog:Richard Murphy, loved and loathed as one of Britain's most effective campaigners against tax abuses by powerful companies, individuals, and the government, gives us his checklist for 'good capitalism'.Stefan Stern, visiting professor at the Cass Business School, asks why Truth in public life has gone even...

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Our invitation to guest bloggers:

Some of the most valuable insights on the Ripped-Off Britons blog have been sourced from insiders and professional observers of our subjects. A few of these insiders and observers have themselves made valuable written contributions to the blog:Richard Murphy, loved and loathed as one of Britain's most effective campaigners against tax abuses by powerful companies, individuals, and the government, gives us his checklist for 'good capitalism'.Stefan Stern, visiting professor at the Cass Business School, asks why Truth in public life has gone even...

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The Occupy protesters at St Paul's...

Chris and KJ have pretty strong opinions on certain peo...

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Supermarket price promises really are a lottery!

Chris and his wife try and find the best bargains while shopping in a supermar...

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“Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations” - the law that legalises ripping-off in Britain

The right to rip-off Britons is enshrined in British law, most explicitly by the ironically named “Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations”. It is not our contention that the rip-offs we write about in this blog are illegal – just that they are rip-offs. But that is the problem: as you will read in the rest of this blog, the rip-offs are not in breach of the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations so long as they rip-off no more than half their target market.The preamble in this legislation tells us that the law...

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Opting out of pensions … at the double

KJ and his pal have a drink while they discuss pensions and debt. But who's payi...

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Liebrary: Energy companies' profit margin is reasonable? See the accounting trick

Another addition to our Liebrary: In October 2011 OFGEM reported that energy companies' profit margins had leaped from an average £15 to £125 per dual-fuel customer per year. They claim that this equates to a 9% margin.The industry claims that this margin is a reasonable return on their costs. The reality is that over 50% of what they charge is down to the commodity cost of the fuel plus the VAT.This 50% for commodity and tax is just a pass-through cost. The retailer buys it from the wholesaler, and delivers it unchanged to your house.It...

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Energy bills: taking the nation's temperature

The gang debate David Cameron's call for action from the big six energy suppli...

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Liebrary: Wholesale energy price graphs reveal the dismal fibs behind latest retail price rises

Another addition to our Liebrary: How is it that our leaders, including the well coiffed Cameron and the buff Huhne, are so poorly briefed about wholesale energy prices? So poorly briefed that Cameron and Huhne went to a high profile showdown to 'get tough' with the Big Six energy companies and come away mesmerised by the idea that retail prices are driven up by wholesale prices? Coming away preaching that the solution is for us all to wrap up warmly and search the internet for a lower tariff:"We should be switching if we're not on the cheapest...

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Paying the price of the Banking Crisis - are we really all in it together?

David Cameron, prime minister of the UK, when speechifying about the cuts claims that we are “all in this together”. We must all, he insists, make sacrifices to pull the British economy out of the crash. A mantra repeated by leaders around the world to explain the all the sackings and the cuts. And to defend the additional money being poured into the banks even today as the Euro crisis rumbles on. All done, we are told, to save us all who are, it is stated, in it together.Of course the assertion that 'we are all in this together' is a lie. The...

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