Rip-off News round-up. Our pick of the last week's media (Thu 19th July)

NHS pays £1,600 a day for nurses as agency use soars to cope with rising staff shortages

Experts said the disclosures show how hospitals' attempts to improve their efficiency have backfired. Jobs are being cut, only for temporary staff to be hired at vastly inflated rates - with private agencies receiving more than seven times the rate paid to nurses on the pay roll. TELEGRAPH

Miliband slams pension fees 'rip-off'

At present, some people are paying up to 4% or 5% in fees and charges on their pension schemes, which could swallow up as much as £50,000 of every £100,000 they pay in over the course of their working life, he said. INDEPENDENT
("We decided to do nothing about this during our 13 years in government, and then bring it up in opposition. Genius!" he didn't say)

Was the petrol price rigged too?

Motorists may have been paying too much for their petrol because traders may have manipulated oil prices in the same way they rigged LIBOR interest rates. TELEGRAPH

("What else do you expect us to do in our lunch breaks?" said a LIBOR trader)

Labour attacks lettings agencies who 'rip off' landlords and tenants

Labour will look at how to cap rising rents in the private sector, said Hilary Benn, the shadow secretary of state for communities and local government. He also admitted that Labour made a mistake in office by not building enough "social homes", thereby creating problems for the current housing market. GUARDIAN

Mobile Firms Accused Of £90m Price Hike

Mobile phone companies have been accused of making £90m a year by legally using "hidden" contract clauses to raise the cost of fixed-rate tariffs during customers' contracts. SKY NEWS

("When we said we'd 'fix' the rate, we meant it literally" said their spokesman through puffs of cigar smoke)

Cops Drafted In After G4S Staff Fail To Show for Olympics Security Duty

First 3,500 soldiers are drafted in to fill the G4S shortfall. Days later less than 10 G4S guards reported for duty out of an expected 58 staff, as Northumbria Police Federation called the security firm's blunder "shambolic". SKY NEWS
(A growing number of stand up comedians are finding themselves out of work as G4S issues another press release.)

HSBC slammed by US as 'Pervasively Polluted' and accused of turning a blind eye to billions in laundered drug money

"The culture at HSBC was pervasively polluted for a long time," said the chairman of the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations. HSBC Bank Mexico transported $7bn (£4.5bn) in cash in armoured vehicles to the bank in 2007 to 2008 - judging the client to be "low risk".  SKY NEWS

("We don't use HSBC 'cos they're corrupt, but 'cos they've got fantastic rates on their savings accounts" said all the local drug lords)

Barclays repeatedly sailed close to the wind, Bank of England governor says

Sir Mervyn King told MPs: "They [Barclays] have been sailing too close to the wind across a wide number of areas." King denied he was out of touch, but then admitted he only heard of the resignation of the Barclays chairman by reading it on the BBC website. BBC NEWS
(And in other news, Mrs Mervyn King speaks to the BBC: "Please tell my husband I've put his dinner in the oven. He'll no doubt hear this from you before he works out what that hot metal box in the kitchen is doing")