Rip-off News round-up. Our pick of the last week's media (Thu 8th November)

All in this together? Boomtime in the boardroom as top bosses enjoy 27% pay rises
The average director in Britain’s top 100 companies saw their total earnings jump by 27%, despite pay and bonuses being cut. The report found top bosses are still coining it in thanks to share windfalls from previous years. MIRROR

Almost one in three MPs aren't paying staff a Living Wage

According to the Commons watchdog, 181 of 650 MPs are failing to pay all their staff the minimum "living wage" rate which was raised this week to £7.45/hour (£8.55 in London). MIRROR

("At least I gave my interns free laptops," said Denis McShane, sacked this month for falsifying his MP's expense claims for such things as, errr... free laptops.)

Pension pots to plunge under new rules
Millions of savers will see the predicted value of their retirement pots plunge by almost 40% after the financial regulator, the FSA, ordered pension firms to cut their growth forecasts due to the global economic slowdown. The FSA said unrealistically high growth forecasts gave savers the “false impression that they are likely to get huge returns”. TELEGRAPH 
(“But that’s the only way we get anyone to buy these pensions,” said roomfuls of unhappy pension salesmen.)

Barclays facing record $470m fine in US for rigging energy market
Barclays suffered another huge blow to its reputation yesterday as America's main energy regulator said it wants to fine the bank a record $470m (£292m) for rigging the Californian electricity market. INDEPENDENT
(All of a sudden the UK's human rights-breaking extradition agreement with the US looks worth preserving for a little while longer...)

HSBC warns it could be fined more than £1bn in the US and face criminal prosecutions over illegal money-laundering

The bank said that it had yet to reach an agreement with US regulators on the ultimate size of the fines following accusations it had handled money that derived from Mexican drug cartels and rogue nations such as Iran and Sudan. TELEGRAPH

(Ditto.)


HMRC wants divorcees to turn in their tax evading ex-es

The taxman is turning to disgruntled divorcees and former employees for information on tax evaders, as pressure mounts from the Treasury for an increase in tax revenue. Last year the Revenue paid £373,780 to informers including former spouses and business partners. DAILY MAIL
("That's what I call good grounds for divorce," said millions of unromantic yet hard-pressed and honest taxpayers.)

Workers' rights on health and safety to be scaled down
Injured workers may be forced to prove that their employer was directly to blame for their accident before they are eligible for compensation. Figures released this week by the Health and Safety Executive show that last year 173 people died as a result of workplace accidents and 22,433 were seriously injured. The government says it will cut unnecessary red tape. INDEPENDENT
(Don't cut that tape!!!... ...now look what you've done.)

Foreign firms could owe UK £11bn in unpaid taxes
The £11bn represents 44% of the total £25bn wrongly withheld by all companies. Foreign companies named include Starbucks, Amazon, Facebook and Google. There are concerns that giant corporations use accounting strategies to divert profits earned in Britain to their parent companies or to lower tax jurisdictions, via royalty and service payments, or by so-called transfer pricing. TELEGRAPH

More QE money printing may not just be ineffective but "counterproductive”
A former senior economist at the Bank of England has admitted that QE caused pension scheme deficits to balloon, which forced companies to plough money into the schemes that might otherwise have been used to invest in jobs and growth. Pensioners have also seen their incomes fall as a result of low annuity rates, impacting spending. TELEGRAPH